I've actually agreed with pretty much 100% of what you've said in this thread.
Congratulations, god, you win. :mad:
Moongoose
quote:
Originally posted by Domesticated
Why do you stoic atheists continue to crusade around trying to make theists see the error of their ways? Woscar, Capitalizt?
There were a couple of religious people here, that are now not religious any more. Far be it for me to claim that their enlightenment was caused solčely by the numerous discussion in the COR and before that PDD, but i like to think that it helped a little. Perhaps by ticking that little grain of doubt in them that was always there, but was never acknowledged or confronted until they stumbled upon a post by one of tranceaddicts great minds.
Capitalizt
quote:
Originally posted by Domesticated
Why do you stoic atheists continue to crusade around trying to make theists see the error of their ways? Woscar, Capitalizt?
It isn't necessarily for those we are actually debating, but for the uncounted people on the sidelines who are watching the various exchanges. If it wasn't for debates on the internet and videos posted online that argued against my position, I'd still be a bible thumper. It was only through observing just how weak theistic arguments were and how little evidence there was that I realized it was irrational and that I had been missing out on so much amazing information due to the confines of a dogmatic upbringing. Education really is the antidote. If you'd rather not bother discussing religion, that's fine..but I'd prefer to live in a world where more people embraced reality on reality's terms and stopped clinging to false and harmful superstitions.
woscar
quote:
Originally posted by Moongoose
There were a couple of religious people here, that are now not religious any more. Far be it for me to claim that their enlightenment was caused solčely by the numerous discussion in the COR and before that PDD, but i like to think that it helped a little. Perhaps by ticking that little grain of doubt in them that was always there, but was never acknowledged or confronted until they stumbled upon a post by one of tranceaddicts great minds.
quote:
Originally posted by Capitalizt
It isn't necessarily for those we are actually debating, but for the uncounted people on the sidelines who are watching the various exchanges. If it wasn't for debates on the internet and videos posted online that argued against my position, I'd still be a bible thumper. It was only through observing just how weak theistic arguments were and how little evidence there was that I realized it was irrational. Education is the antidote. If you'd rather not bother discussing it, that's fine..but I'd prefer to live in a world where more people embraced reality on reality's terms and stopped clinging to false and harmful superstitions.
This, pretty much. Do you have any idea how many people go on their entire lives without having their beliefs seriously challenged at all? One of the stupidest things one can commit is to assume that one is talking to a complete idiot. And with all the scandals that religious institutions have a knack of getting into these days, the amount of fence-sitters that Dawkins describes is larger than you imagine.
rdevito
quote:
Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
Did the kittens deserve it?
ing hilarious! LMAO!!!! :stongue: :stongue: :stongue: :stongue:
Domesticated
Well, I stand corrected. Apologies for being so blunt about it.
Joss Weatherby
quote:
Originally posted by EddieZilker
And what would it take for you to think otherwise; that there is a God and that you're not a fool for believing in him/her/it/et al, even though there was no way for you to prove God's existence to others? It seems a great deal of atheists have a pejorative regard for people who don't see the world as they do. Like a lot of religious people who do the same, there is scant intellectual integrity in such propositions which are ironically reliant on a presumption of having said intellectual integrity.
There is nothing you could do to prove to me that any higher power than humans exists short of literally having that power exerted in some form of known to be impossible demonstration (like a giant hand reaching through the clouds and plucking someone up in front of me).
Since that will never happen, because there is no god, I chose to believe in what is proven, factual and coherent. Something that can be independently verified by repeated methods, not written in a book thousands of years ago.
Calling religious people gullible wits is entirely valid, because they are.
srussell0018
There was a time when Relativity hadn't been proven either. Just because something hasn't been proven yet doesn't mean it never will. I'm not saying I believe in god, but to dismiss his/her/its existence just because you have no way of knowing for sure whether it exists or not is a bit rash. Find out for sure when you die and until then, stop being such a prick just because people believe different things than you.
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by Joss Weatherby
There is nothing you could do to prove to me that any higher power than humans exists short of literally having that power exerted in some form of known to be impossible demonstration (like a giant hand reaching through the clouds and plucking someone up in front of me).
Since that will never happen, because there is no god, I chose to believe in what is proven, factual and coherent. Something that can be independently verified by repeated methods, not written in a book thousands of years ago.
Calling religious people gullible wits is entirely valid, because they are.
Well, even if that happened, there'd be no way to prove that it did, so you're basically screwed from the word, go, on that one. Honestly, not very inventive, either.
I'm more likely to believe I'm schizophrenic, having seen that, than I am in the existence of God.
woscar
quote:
Originally posted by srussell0018
There was a time when Relativity hadn't been proven either. Just because something hasn't been proven yet doesn't mean it never will. I'm not saying I believe in god, but to dismiss his/her/its existence just because you have no way of knowing for sure whether it exists or not is a bit rash. Find out for sure when you die and until then, stop being such a prick just because people believe different things than you.
Do you believe it's "rash" of me to dismiss the existence of invisible pink unicorns or leprechauns living at the end of rainbows given the fact that there is no way of knowing for sure whether they exist or not?
MrJiveBoJingles
We can do the test from one of those Old Testament books where the two guys stand side by side, each trying to call down fire on a sacrifice from their respective gods.
