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Permalink Reply by Unseen on April 15, 2012 at 12:37pm

There is some question whether one can conceive of self contradictions. Just because you can form a sentence embodying a contradiction doesn't mean you can conceive of it beyond the mere words. Take "the spherical cube which is sitting on that table." You can imagine a table but what do you see in your mind as to the object sitting on it. Chances are, if you can picture anything in your mind it is an object that oscillates between being a discrete sphere and a discrete cube. It might be argued that with additional dimensions something like a spherical cube might be possible, but you still have the problem of picturing it in your mind.

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Permalink Reply by Boothby171 on April 15, 2012 at 12:59pm

That was my first response to him!  Pretty much along the lines of, "You've already shown that you have no problem conceiving of a giant telekinetic invisible humanoid that rules the world..."

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Permalink Reply by Jewelz on April 19, 2012 at 8:15am

I didn't think they existed either, but they do.

However, I will note that he was only against pills, IUD's, emergency contraception, implants, patches, and any forms that allow possible fertilization of an egg but not implantation. An atheist can certainly believe that personhood begins at conception and fertilized eggs deserve all basic rights to exist therefore most birth control = murder.

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Permalink Reply by Unseen on April 19, 2012 at 8:20am

While I'm sure most atheists would fall into the so-called pro-choice camp, the two topics are totally disconnected. There is nothing about opposing abortion that is inconsistent with a lack of belief in a theistic deity.

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Permalink Reply by Jewelz on April 19, 2012 at 6:47pm

The question was whether or not an atheist could believe that a potential human had the right to exist and would oppose birth control for non religious reasons. The answer is yes and one non-religious reason is strong opposition to abortive methods of birth control. How exactly are those two topics disconnected?

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Permalink Reply by Unseen on April 19, 2012 at 10:40pm

I was saying only that being an atheist doesn't necessarily imply a position one way or the other on abortion, which is a totally different question. Similarly, not all theists are opposed to abortion. There is the disconnection.

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Permalink Reply by Jewelz on April 19, 2012 at 11:24pm

Your responses seem to imply that I claimed opposition to abortion is inconsistent with atheism when I actually stated the opposite as a logical reason why an atheist might oppose birth control. I also cited an example of one such atheist on this very site to answer to the title question of this post.

I didn't claim being an atheist or theist necessarily implies a position one way or another on abortion.

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Permalink Reply by Boothby171 on April 19, 2012 at 11:39pm

No fighting you two!  I'll turn this thread right around!

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Permalink Reply by Unseen on April 20, 2012 at 12:15am

I repeat: I was saying only that being an atheist doesn't necessarily imply a position one way or the other on abortion, which is a totally different question. Similarly, not all theists are opposed to abortion. There is the disconnection.

We don't disagree.

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