Re: I'm an atheist
Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 1:52 pm
Zoe, you are right on the money. While Dawkins' grasp of theology and philosophy is shockingly naive, he certainly understands the implications of his own worldview.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." (Psalm 19:1)
https://discussions.godandscience.org/
To Zoegirl - In your reply you try to associate atheists with murder and rape. This is unfair and irresponsible. Empathy and compassion seem to be sources of decent behaviour. I cannot tell you if empathy and compassion are an integral part of human nature as I do not know. I am no expert in this area. Some report I read highlighted a study that pyscopaths lack empathy and compassion. Did they learn to be pyscopathic or are they born that way? I do know that decent/kind people can be found amongst religious and the non-religious groups. Those with less welcome behaviours can be found in both groups too.
Isn't that a common error amongst Atheist? No one, and I repeat no one is saying that Atheist can't act morally. Of course they can, and do. We are just saying that they have no foundation to support a reason for such. And so they have to stand on our worldview to attempt to discredit it. At least some of the things Dawkins says are consistent with his worldview.DannyM wrote:Try again. And read Zoegirl's reply carefully, as you appear to have very little grasp of your worldview and its implications.
Science is not a religion, but people will ALWAYS inject their philosophical beliefs into it.. One's religion and science must conflict because science and religion deal with the same thing. Human life. But they try to understand it under different types of considerations.kopepod wrote:DannyM - Don't expect science to behave like religion. It is not an 'incoherent religion'. It is not a religion. Personally I'm not worried about there being no meaning in the physical environment. One can still live a meaningful interesting life without religion and I do..
The reason I asked that is because I wondered if you realized that there -is- actually positive evidence of the existence of God. More than some might think, actually. It's rather silly to dismiss it outright. I think it's an important thing to note that for 2000 years, Christianity has stood its ground with intellectual integrity, and good (and increasingly better) evidence. I find that alone to be evidence in favor of Christianity's unique claims. If you are open to evidence, the main site has much and I'd also check the Resources forum. I know you mentioned that you were going to avoid discussion for a while, but I hope you'll take the time to look into all of that.kopepod wrote: Marcus - I said, if there was enough evidence to convince me I would convert. You ask how much evidence. I don't know in what form that evidence would arrive, if it was ever to transpire. .
Actually, this isnt really true...Gman wrote:Good point... I believe there is no such thing as philosophy free science. Everyone says you can divorce philosophy from science, or that evolution is "neutral" toward science, but if you give completely naturalistic explanations for life then by default you are upholding the naturalistic view. All you have to do is add time, chance, and natural selection as your god and whola, you have your own philosophy/religion.
Forgive us, Kopepod, but you just come across as yet another ill-informed atheist; ill-informed not only about religion and faith but your own worldview to boot.kopepod wrote:Direct insults at myself - (I have been called a hypocrite without any justification on this site, and my argument has described as 'crock' ) do not strengthen the case for the existence of God. Most of the 'arguments' returned,and I use that word 'argument' with reservation, have missed the mark. I have even been accused of saying things I haven't said. In many instances my comments have been taken out of context, either deliberately or otherwise. Other arguments posted here have been impressively verbose but generally boil down to empty rhetoric.
I guess you feel very united in trying to destroy any atheists who dare to assert anything at all on this site. I say this as the tone of many of your posts are very hostile. At least I had the inquisitiveness to look around this site and whilst doing so have been accused of being blinkered. I've even been told that I am religious; that everybody is religious in fact. If respecting a method of enquiry is a religion, then the term 'religion' has been so far stretched that the word means nothing.
Well you can keep preaching to one another, the converted, constantly backing one another up with further bogus cases for God's existence. Enjoy the delusion.
Zoegirl - Make sure you stick to the ten commandments fully and rigidly lest you become a hypocrite and make your assertions more clear in any future dealings with atheists.
I don't think you have understood my point.. If you believe it is completely possible to come to the view that there is a God, and from a "naturalistic" perspective, you are injecting your philosophical views into your science just the same way as an atheist would inject their atheistic views into their science and say their isn't a god. This is all done by looking at the same evidence.. It's just that the perspective has changed.Legatus wrote:Actually, this isnt really true...Gman wrote:Good point... I believe there is no such thing as philosophy free science. Everyone says you can divorce philosophy from science, or that evolution is "neutral" toward science, but if you give completely naturalistic explanations for life then by default you are upholding the naturalistic view. All you have to do is add time, chance, and natural selection as your god and whola, you have your own philosophy/religion.
I believe it is completly possibly to come to the view that there is a God, and from a "naturalistic" perspective, and God agrees, he said so here "Rom 1:19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
This is not science vs religion, this is a battle between two different fundamental philosophies. Two different world views.kopepod wrote:Direct insults at myself - (I have been called a hypocrite without any justification on this site, and my argument has described as 'crock' ) do not strengthen the case for the existence of God. Most of the 'arguments' returned,and I use that word 'argument' with reservation, have missed the mark. I have even been accused of saying things I haven't said. In many instances my comments have been taken out of context, either deliberately or otherwise. Other arguments posted here have been impressively verbose but generally boil down to empty rhetoric.
I guess you feel very united in trying to destroy any atheists who dare to assert anything at all on this site. I say this as the tone of many of your posts are very hostile. At least I had the inquisitiveness to look around this site and whilst doing so have been accused of being blinkered. I've even been told that I am religious; that everybody is religious in fact. If respecting a method of enquiry is a religion, then the term 'religion' has been so far stretched that the word means nothing.
Kopepod,kopepod wrote:Direct insults at myself - (I have been called a hypocrite without any justification on this site, and my argument has described as 'crock' ) do not strengthen the case for the existence of God. Most of the 'arguments' returned,and I use that word 'argument' with reservation, have missed the mark. I have even been accused of saying things I haven't said. In many instances my comments have been taken out of context, either deliberately or otherwise. Other arguments posted here have been impressively verbose but generally boil down to empty rhetoric.
I guess you feel very united in trying to destroy any atheists who dare to assert anything at all on this site. I say this as the tone of many of your posts are very hostile. At least I had the inquisitiveness to look around this site and whilst doing so have been accused of being blinkered. I've even been told that I am religious; that everybody is religious in fact. If respecting a method of enquiry is a religion, then the term 'religion' has been so far stretched that the word means nothing.
Well you can keep preaching to one another, the converted, constantly backing one another up with further bogus cases for God's existence. Enjoy the delusion.
Zoegirl - Make sure you stick to the ten commandments fully and rigidly lest you become a hypocrite and make your assertions more clear in any future dealings with atheists.
It's true though. We have a hard-wired spiritual capacity in our brains, and no one is 'above' that. I think it might also help if you realize that religion and worldview are pretty much the same thing in a lot of cases. What you've suggested is that you're above the influences of your worldview, but what you've demonstrated is that, since you don't acknowledge it in the first place, it affects you more than you know.kopepod wrote:I've even been told that I am religious; that everybody is religious in fact.
I don't think you understand my point, your belief is irerelivent, as is mine. If I put two things next to two other tings, does it matter if I believe, I mean really BUH-LEEEEVE, that there are four things, for it to actually BE four things? No, of course not, there will be 4 things there whether I believe it or not.Gman wrote:I don't think you have understood my point.. If you believe it is completely possible to come to the view that there is a God, and from a "naturalistic" perspective, you are injecting your philosophical views into your science just the same way as an atheist would inject their atheistic views into their science and say their isn't a god. This is all done by looking at the same evidence.. It's just that the perspective has changed.
If anyone is making these assertions about you, then they should stop. That isn't to say that you should cry foul when you have your worldview challenged. I've seen a lot more reason and logic than I have rhetoric. And I can't help but notice that you simply whistle past the logical challenges that have been posited, and ignore when your own logical fallacies are spelled out for you.Other arguments posted here have been impressively verbose but generally boil down to empty rhetoric.
Legatus.. I see your point, but you are still missing my point. When I speak of a philosophical view, I'm speaking of a view that is attributed to an object. However, an object by itself is theoretically neutral to a scientific view. Example. A rock. A rock is technically what is it, a rock. It holds no scientific viewpoint. Scientifically a rock is a solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.. However, in my philosophical viewpoint, I can also look at a rock and say, gee, a rock, that came from God. Whereas an atheists looks at that same rock and says, gee, that rock came by chance with no God. Either way I'm injecting my philosophical viewpoint into it..Legatus wrote:I don't think you understand my point, your belief is irerelivent, as is mine. If I put two things next to two other tings, does it matter if I believe, I mean really BUH-LEEEEVE, that there are four things, for it to actually BE four things? No, of course not, there will be 4 things there whether I believe it or not.
The same is true of the evidence of the natural world, the universe and it's laws, the evidence of life especially at it's first creation, etc. IF you look at it HONESTLY (quite rare actually), you MUST come to the belief that there is a God, just as if you look at two things next to two other things, you must come to the beleif that there are four things. Therefore, IF you were to look at nature with complete honesty, naturalistic view or no, you would have to come to the view that there is a God, and you would even be able to see some of that Gods attributes from what is seen. Prior belief, or lack of belief, is irrelevant, only HONESTY is relevant.
I have no clue why you are writing this only that you are trying to expound on your philosophical viewpoints.. Which we could say is your reality. However, that reality is a TRUE reality based on the word of God. Either way its what I'm attributing to an object that scientifically carries no viewpoint at all. It simply exists..Legatus wrote:And what did God say to do, to give a REASON for the hope that lies within you. But what do I see here, just a lot of emotional mumbo jumbo. If you are an aethiest, you will have no purpose in life, you will feel bad, so don't be an aethiest. What kind of a REASON is that, just "do it because it feels good"? Do you really think you should just believe something just because it feels good, even if you know it to be wrong? And this reason you give, which is basically, "if your prior belief system were right, you would see it". That is really just saying, you don't beleive because you are a bad, stupid person (unlike wonderfull me, who is a good, smart person). Thus, people who come here with questions feel insulted, and have said so in this thread. And they are right, they ARE being insulted, when you tell them that they simply dont have the right "beleif system" without giving them a REASON to have any other beleif system (you know, facts and stuff). God said in Rom 1:20 that there is an entire world, nay, an entire UNIVERSE, chock full of facts, REASONS, you could give them, as he commanded you to give them. Are you going to do it?
So if people come here with questions, and you don't give them REASONS for the hope that is in you, you need to ask yourself, do you even have any reasons? Are you afraid to look at honest science, the natural world, because you are afraid it will challenge your faith? Do you really take Gods word in Rom 1:20 at face value, and see that the facts of this natural world will not challenge your beleif, if you look at the facts, the whole facts, and nothing but the facts (thus leaving out speculation)?
And as for "world view" or "philosophical view" being nessissary to come to a correct conclusion, that has been shown by history to be not true. To start with, the apostle Paul had a very definate world view, and he did not come to beleif because he first changed his world view, he came to beleif because a FACT stared him in the face, litterally. And he is not the only one. There is a book, called Evidence That demands a Verdict, written by someone who was quite sure that this christianity stuff was all a lot of nonsense. But his students challenged him to look at the FACTS, honestly, and, being that he was the worlds formost expert on legal facts, he did. He came to the conclusion that all that christianity stuff was, indeed, true, not because of his prior beleif system, which was completly apposed to it, but because he saw the FACTS.
This idea that prior world view needs to change first is, in fact, identical to a major religious beleif currently around, which states 'whatever you want to beleive" and "if you are really sincere". They beleive that if you believe, really BUH-LEEEVE something, like that you will go to nirvana, why, then you will, and if you beleive that there is no God, then there isn't. But that latter is really saying (1) There is no God, and (2) and I know it, because I am God. Things can only be true just because I beleive them if it is my beleif that makes them true, which can only happen if I am God and my beleif MAKES them true. The reality is that your beleif, or world view, changes nothing. Facts are facts, they don't care if you beleive them or not.
In short, your beleif is irrelevant. If someone comes here saying "I'm an atheist" and asks for REASONS to change his mind, try something new, ANSWERS.