August 11th Atheist Attack: Miracles are impossible. The simplest reason that miracles are unlikely to happen anywhere under any conditions derives from the fact that miracles are never observed under controlled conditions. This is not conclusive proof that a miracle cannot ever happen or that a miracle could not have happened in antiquity, but it is proof that the existence of all miracles is very improbable. This is because the "sample size" (the number of attempted experiments) is huge without ever producing a single success. The math behind this reasoning is uncontroversial. The only possible arguments are that the supernatural agents behind these miracles resist testing or that there is a grand conspiracy among scientists to suppress the truth about miracles. The supernatural only seems to lurk in superstition and sloppy reasoning. When the experiment is well designed natural causes always win out. After all of this experience, an explanation involving natural cause and effect becomes like a racehorse that has won every race for the last 500 years. One would be a fool to bet against that horse without very reliable information.

What is the best way to respond to this argument?

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