Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Justin Humphrey on May 31, 2011 at 5:22am

America is at a social stand still right now, and it is almost all due to the old idealistic tactics of the christian faith.

People can't keep up with what techology is giving us. Take stem cell research for example. It is the future, there is almost no limit to what it could possibly accomplish. Yet they think 150 human cells have a soul, because of the they refuse to allow research of such a great thing.

So yes, I think actively helping people open their minds to how idiotic their beliefs are in an ALL MIGHTY being is a good thing. How this is done however, should be careful. Most christians attack you with their beliefs. They refuse to discuss something they do not already believe in.

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Permalink Reply by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on May 31, 2011 at 12:24pm

True! Stone age, ambiguous and conflicting morals inscribed into stone for people to turn into their own version of absolute and infallible law. (And I don't mean only the ten commandments.)

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Permalink Reply by Doubting Thomas on May 31, 2011 at 5:45am

leave suicide trigger happy guys & religious people at it... imagine if every atheist leave that the people who wanted state from religion separate thought that way?

they're the majority, we are the minority & if we don't hiss and show we know we will be stepped on!

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Permalink Reply by Sassan K. on May 31, 2011 at 7:02am

We have the constitution behind us.

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Permalink Reply by Sassan K. on May 31, 2011 at 8:16am

Admit it you guys, those who say they are "not sure" and claim to be atheists; or those who claim to belief in some supernatural "spirits" or "energies" and claim to be atheist are not atheist!!!! No intellectual or rational atheist would consider them fellow atheists regardless of a strict dictionary definition. This includes Christopher Hichens, Richard Dawkins, or Sam Harris. They still believe in superstitious crap or are "unsure"!!

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Permalink Reply by Evolvingmind on May 31, 2011 at 1:02pm

Being an atheist doesn't make you a skeptical Sassan. Even if famous atheist are skeptical that doesn't mean that your "daily life" atheist doesn't believe in supernatural things. Some of them are begining with the atheist position so don't expect the same things for all the atheist in the world.

 

I think that you are commiting a logical falacy. "All atheist must be skeptical, this man/woman who claim to be an atheist is not skeptical at, all therefore he/she is not an atheist"

 

If there is some mistakes in my writting please excuse me, I'm still working on my english.

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Permalink Reply by Mo Trauen on May 31, 2011 at 3:02pm

Sorry, Sassan, but you are wrong on this one.  No one is completely certain of anything.  Which is not to say that we can't be certain at all.  What I mean is that there is no absolute, objectively correct yardstick by which to measure factual certainty.  There is an extremely remote, infinitesimal chance that you do not exist, but are a hallucination my brain has manufactured.  Surely, you have heard all this before.  Yes, I know that it is hogwash in a sense, but it is instructive hogwash.  What it tells us is that we are on our own when it comes to defining certainty.

 

http://goodatheistarguments.blogspot.com/2010/11/solipsism-and-agno...

 

I am about as certain that the god hypothesis is false as I am that the fairy hypothesis is false, but does that make me completely certain?  It all comes down the level of uncertainty one is willing to write off as negligible.

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Permalink Reply by oneinfinity on May 31, 2011 at 3:40pm

This is actually the MOST RATIONAL position to take. Saying with 100% certainty that something DOES NOT EXIST is not rational.

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Permalink Reply by Arcus on May 31, 2011 at 5:18pm

Bertrand Russel is not amused. ;)

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Permalink Reply by oneinfinity on May 31, 2011 at 7:11pm

I don't see how that contradicts what I said at all. It isn't the skeptic's business to disprove the claim (god or teapot, whatever), and therefore also not the skeptic's business to make positive statements about the non-existence of the claim because that would require a proof. In practical terms the actual outcome is the same, the claim is dismissed as being profoundly unlikely.

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Permalink Reply by Arcus on June 1, 2011 at 6:43am

Here's the scientific way: Observation-->Theory-->Evidence-->Explanation-->Refinement 

It's not right or wrong, just righter and wronger. The Ptolemeic theory was very good at explaining the observations regarding the Universe up until about 500 years ago, when Copericus refined the system. Just like today we have a 4 dimensional Einsteinian explanation of the Universe, it's not necessarily sufficient to explain the next 2000 years of observations (or even the ones we have today). 

Likewise, Goddunit was a good explanation up until about.. The death of Akhenaten around 3500 years ago or so? ;)

But, just like the people who believe the Ptolemeic theory to be true today are ignorant idiots, the people who believe in the God theory are too.

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Permalink Reply by Isaac on May 31, 2011 at 3:24pm

Belief and knowledge are two separate things. Atheism deals with what you don't believe in. Being sure or not sure deals with what you know. Therefore, one can be not sure if there isn't a god and still be an atheist. Personally, I don't even think that it is possible for a god to exist, but I can't be both 100 percent certain of that and be intellectually honest at the same time. I could be wrong. I have no reason to think that though.

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