by passwordprotected 232 Replies latest jw friends
Mouthy says,
"Although in MY Humble? opinion,it takes more faith to believe
there IS no God,than there is to believe in one,with all the beauty
around us...."
There's beauty and ugliness mouthy. As for me I am a Cosmic Pantheist walking in the footsteps of Carl Sagan. That also makes me an atheist. As far as it's being blind faith quite the contrary. It is based on science the practical method of discovering truth.
villabolo
Atheism can be either the rejection of theism , [1] or the position that deitiesdo not exist . [2] In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities . [3]
The term atheism originated from the Greek ?θεος (atheos), meaning "without gods", which was derogatively applied to anyone thought to not believe in the accepted gods, or to believe in false gods, no gods, or doctrines that stood in conflict with established religions. With the spread of freethought , skeptical inquiry , and subsequent increase in criticism of religion , application of the term narrowed in scope. The first individuals to self-identify as "atheist" appeared in the 18th century. Today, about 2.3% of the world's population describes itself as atheist, while a further 11.9% is described as nontheist . [4] Between 64% and 65% of Japanese describe themselves as atheists, agnostics, or non-believers, [5] [6] and up to 48% in Russia. [5] The percentage of such persons in European Union member states ranges between 6% (Italy) and 85% (Sweden). [5]
Atheism tends towards skepticism regarding supernatural claims, citing a lack of empirical evidence. Common rationales include the problem of evil , the argument from inconsistent revelations , and the argument from nonbelief . Other arguments for atheism range from the philosophical to the social to the historical.
In Western culture , atheists are frequently assumed to be irreligious or unspiritual. [7] However, religious and spiritual belief systems such as forms of Buddhism that do not advocate belief in gods, have also been described as atheistic. [8] Although some atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as humanism , [9] rationalism , and naturalism , [10] there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere. [11]
The fools of atheism
When there is no evidence for or against something, do it require some sort of 'faith' that it doesn't exist? Do you 'put faith' in the idea that there are no fairies? There is no evidence whatsoever that an elephant was walking around in my basement last night while i slept - does that mean it requires 'faith' on my part to assume there was no elephant in the basement? Absolutely not - it only requires an ounce of critical thinking.
It doesn't take much 'faith' for atheists to 'not believe' in God either, just education on the natural forces at work on earth and an ounce of critical thinking. If there is some sort of superior intelligence, his presence was not needed to construct the earth (there is plenty of hard evidence for evolution now - watch the presentations from the Dover trial shredding creationist claims that there 'is no evidence', and theories on abiogenesis are becoming very detailed and entering a realm of real possibility now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6QYDdgP9eg).
So from an atheist point of view - who cares if a magic invisible man was or was not in the basement thousands of years ago? He didn't leave a shred evidence, and he certainly isn't there now.
- Lime
@The Almighty Homer
Your links don't work on your post. What was your source? I want to read up on some of those arguments. Your comments on both these threads have been great, btw.
Oh, and I would say that Bill Gates practiced vile things (at least in the past)... After all, he brought the scourge of Windows upon us all!!!
Wiki atheism , there the links are active
A fourth dimensional purple unicorn appeared out of nowhere and stole my car keys. I will not provide any empirical evidence to support my claim.
If you don't accept my claim, are you doing so out of "blind faith"?
"Every human being is born an atheist,"
Well, I wouldn't put it quite this way. Everyone is born lacking any belief or disbelief in anything, including God. People get conditioned to believe in God over the course of their lives, or they arrive at a conclusion there is no God because there is no verifiable evidence for one.
True Poppers, gods are indeed a learned concept !
On the other hand there is evidence throughout human history of dire consequences plagued on to humanity for having faith upon varied deities.
Some of these dire consequences revolve around the belief in a god known today as Jehovah
The flip side of my previous comment is the question: do theists really believe in the kind of "God" atheists cannot disprove? "Outside of nature, etc."?
Some certainly do; but I would submit that many (including the most vocal apologists for theism) don't. The God a lot of Bible fundamentalists believe in has not the subtle discretion of, say, Aristotle's First cause. He is supposed to have interacted directly with nature and history big time. He should have left huge and deep footprints which simply are not there. This God imo can be disproved pretty easily, even though other versions of God cannot. And to me shifting Gods along the argument is a bit disingenuous.
