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ohifwinterends
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 Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:06 am Post subject: Atheism might as well be considered a religion. |
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It takes an incredible amount of faith to completely rule out all possibility of there being a God. Is this not correct?
Agnostics are really the ones with the least amount of faith in anything.
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RadicalDreamer
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:27 am Post subject: |
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How about someone who is apathetic to it all and doesn't care?
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Guyest85
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:33 am Post subject: |
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I like to think of atheism as sort of like a religious void in that it is a lack of belief in deities, higher power, all that.
This is always a sore spot for everyone. You know I think the key as with anything else in life is to go into a discussion like this with respect.
I believe in a higher power, whether it be god, aliens, buddha, a flying pizza what have you. I don't have a name for this power. Not neccesarily sure it's possible for man to comprehend it. But I do believe its there.
I have a couple of my own theories on this. I challenge people to look up the singularity theory. It doesn't prove god or anything as such. What it does prove is that whatever started the big bang was a chain reaction of infinite power. Can you imagine infinite? Something we've never even come close to witnessing. Even if we did the shock would probably kill us.
Just shows that there are things out there impossible to comprehend yet infinite in their magnitude. Makes a belief in a diety seem rather tame if you think about it. |
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RadicalDreamer
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:48 am Post subject: |
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I think people call whatever their explanation for nature is, god. Whatever knowledge is out there will be taken in account in the explanation of the truth at the given moment. Can the definition of deity be modernized?
One argument against the theory of evolution that I've seen is that it hasn't been reconstructed in a lab. No one has reproduced it, thus it requires faith to accept it as truth.
Is atheism to reason as religion is to spirituality? Society is governed by Science and it's wonders and not miracles.
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Guyest85
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:55 am Post subject: |
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| makes sense, almost like the 2 address different things |
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Annabel_Lee
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 11:16 am Post subject: |
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| RadicalDreamer wrote: | | One argument against the theory of evolution that I've seen is that it hasn't been reconstructed in a lab. No one has reproduced it, thus it requires faith to accept it as truth. |
That sounds like a pretty faulty counterargument. There are a lot of theories that describe natural phenomena and hence aren't exactly replicable in the conventional sense of a lab. However, fossil records and paleontological evidence, studies of embryology and comparative physiology, evidence from biochemistry and genetics can all be thought of as micro labs that formulate the evidence to affirm the theory. Yeah we haven't recreated another parallel creation with our knowledge of evolution, but anyone who is familiar with even the basics of evolution would find this an absurd premise for a counterargument. Faith only enters the picture here if belief in the scientific method qualifies as faith.
| RadicalDreamer wrote: | | Is atheism to reason as religion is to spirituality? Society is governed by Science and it's wonders and not miracles. |
I somehow don't see a parallel in that analogy.
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Guyest85
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 11:38 am Post subject: |
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| Are all beliefs faiths in a sense? |
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Guyest85
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 11:41 am Post subject: |
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| I think he meens Science is addressing concrete mechanics where as Religion address Spirituality. |
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Stuckasfook
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 11:57 am Post subject: |
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Atheism does approach the whole empirically empty assumptions that most religions practice. But only certain types. There are two very different defintions of atheism.
And also, it is not fair or just to reality to say that an agnostic lacks faith in anything. They are taking a step that tries to just lack faith in things that aren't part of sensory and viewable lifestyle. I wouldn't call agnosticism a lack of faith in anything, so much as I would call the religious views (religious atheism included) an excessive faith in everything. |
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CorruptAsHell
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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I thought that video was a joke. Are they really meeting in hotels?
You can be atheist and still do God's will. |
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Stuckasfook
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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And you can theoretically be God and be doing an atheist's will.
We could also all be in the matrix.
Our imaginations are wonderful things, no? |
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KNL
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RadicalDreamer
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Annabel_Lee wrote: | | RadicalDreamer wrote: | | One argument against the theory of evolution that I've seen is that it hasn't been reconstructed in a lab. No one has reproduced it, thus it requires faith to accept it as truth. |
That sounds like a pretty faulty counterargument. There are a lot of theories that describe natural phenomena and hence aren't exactly replicable in the conventional sense of a lab. However, fossil records and paleontological evidence, studies of embryology and comparative physiology, evidence from biochemistry and genetics can all be thought of as micro labs that formulate the evidence to affirm the theory. Yeah we haven't recreated another parallel creation with our knowledge of evolution, but anyone who is familiar with even the basics of evolution would find this an absurd premise for a counterargument. Faith only enters the picture here if belief in the scientific method qualifies as faith. |
Here tell him that:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/reed/reed59.html
| Quote: | | RadicalDreamer wrote: | | Is atheism to reason as religion is to spirituality? Society is governed by Science and it's wonders and not miracles. |
I somehow don't see a parallel in that analogy. |
The enlightenment was a time when reason was used to counteract superstition. Deism was the religion for rational people. It is half way there to atheism. The clockmaker god needed to be removed.
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RadicalDreamer
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 1:05 pm Post subject: |
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| KNL wrote: | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theological_noncognitivism
Ye gods! |
George H. Smith uses an attribute-based approach in an attempt to prove that there is no concept for the term "God": he argues that there are no meaningful attributes, only negatively defined or relational attributes, making the term meaningless. Smith's position is that noncognitivism leads us to the conclusion that "nothing named 'God' exists", proving strong atheism.[3]Lets test this. GEORGE H. SMITH IS GOD!
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Zephr
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| Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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Is not believing that aliens are kidnapping people to experiment on them a religion? Certainly it takes some faith to dismiss the opinions of so many people? Faith is not the only requirement for a religion.
If I choose to have faith in what I perceive for myself, and to a lesser extent what other, rational people claim to perceive, that's not the same as having faith in my imaginary friend. I'm sick to death of having to pretend I'm agnostic because people get all butt-hurt when I make claims about my own personal beliefs, or lack thereof. You know what? I'm not a fucking atheist. I don't believe in Santa, but that doesn't make me an aclausist. I refuse to define myself by what I don't believe. Sure, I don't know everything. I could be wrong. I don't believe that I am though.
Sorry, all that crap about hiding himself to test faith sounds like exactly the kind of crap a person would make up to defend his religion when somebody pointed out that there's no evidence it's correct. God certainly didn't seem to have any problem revealing himself to Moses, according to pretty much every holy book ever. Does that mean Moses had no faith? And don't give me that crap about how that was back in some "age of miracles" or some garbage like that. Oh yeah, I'm sure it's totally a coincidence that miracles stopped happening at the same time that we started keeping accurate records. Totally no meaning to that. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell everyone this, but if the only place evidence for something exists is inside your own head it's probably because inside your own head is the only place it exists.
I'm really just tired of being treated like some sort of bizarro moon creature every time I mention that I don't believe in god. If you disagree with me, that's fine. Despite how that previous paragraph sounds, I understand that not everyone has the same experiences as me, and therefore sane, logical people can come to conclusions that make no sense to me. I'm fine with that.
I'm just sick of feeling like I have to live a lie, because people in this country treat people that don't believe in god differently. No other group is as universally villainized, not even homosexuals. I just want to be able to walk around in public without knowing that everyone's acceptance of me is based off something that isn't true. Is that so much to ask?
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