The following statements are made: (1) Most Americans believe in God. (2) Siddhartha is an American. (3) Therefore, Siddhartha probably believes in God.
There is critical information that could weaken or discount the conclusion that Siddhartha probably believes in God. One piece of information involves the validity of the proposition or statement: "Most Americans believe in God." If this statement about Americans is wrong, then the inference that Siddhartha believes in God is likely to be wrong. Additionally, the qualifier "most" also weakens the conclusion of the statement because "most" is not a finite number. The term "most" is up to interpretation and leaves the possibility that Siddhartha is not like "most" Americans in believing in God.
An example of critical information that could weaken or discount the conclusion would be specific information about Siddhartha's views of religion. For example, if Siddhartha were interviewed and revealed that he did not believe in God, that direct evidence would contradict the conclusion that Siddhartha probably believes in God.
Another example of critical information that could weaken or discount the conclusion that Siddhartha believes in God is the fact that Siddhartha means "he who has attained his goals" in the Tibetan language. If Siddhartha were in fact named after or in honor of Siddhartha Gautama, who is the founder of the Buddhist religion, then it is unlikely that Siddhartha believes in God. The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama is believed to be the first human being to understand through meditation the true nature of the Universe and to become awakened or enlightened. Thus, it seems unlikely that a person with this name would be as likely to believe in God as a randomly selected American.
Some of the weaknesses of this argument could be eliminated if it were restated in one of these forms:
Form 1. It is a proven fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans bel...