Atheist believe in aliens but not God? (page 4)

MadGiant

“Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe in telepathy?

— in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle?

— in life after death?

No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no. One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out "Don't you believe in anything?"

Yes", I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”

― Isaac Asimov

cantleave

Oh really? Mars in my veiw does not have the conditions, I don't think its probable at all. Which planet has good conditons for alien life forms? What are the good conditons? Steven Hawkings tells fairy tales imo

Where did I mention Mars?

There are billions of galaxies in the Universe, each with billions af stars. Are you telling me Kate, that there is no possibility that with the trillions of planets revolving around those stars, none possess the correct conditions for life? Life is what chemistry does, given the ideal conditions life will occur.

Phizzy

Absolutely CL, it is just the distances involved that make any contact difficult, if not impossible at present.

Of course Bible believers do not like the concept, as it does away with the idea of Original Sin and the "Question of Sovereignty" and all that crap.

If there is life on other planets, and it would be against all odds if there weren't, either they were perfect servants of god, or they all sinned or whatever, but either way the question has already been dealt with.

I am a non-Theist , I do not "believe" in anything. "Belief" meaning trusting that something is factual with no evidence.

At present we have no proof for life elsewhwere, but that does not mean it does not exist, the possibility is there, so in common with most rational people, I allow for that possibility.

I saw a story many years ago that was later condensed in to a cartoon, the cartoon showed the Aliens looking down on Earth, seeing us fighting wars, half of Humans very prosperous, half starving, cars polluting and smashing in to each other, and the Aliens shot off, declaring we were all mad down here.

That may well have happened, we could well be considered as less important and intelligent than pond life by them, and definately not worth getting to know.

adamah

Atheism is a single-position statement that deals ONLY with the non-existence of SUPERNATURAL deities, AKA God(s).

In contrast, alien life (which is NATURAL, NOT SUPERNATURAL) is not only possible, it's quite LIKELY, given the probabilities derived from the Drake Equation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

However, given the immense distances encountered in space, and the length of time needed to get to a Planet where alien life may be found, whether we'd likely encounter alien life forms is another matter entirely. There's no guarantee that they'd be more advanced than us, i.e. they may be more akin to bacteria.

I'm always amazed when people want to travel to other Planets to encounter alien life forms, when we KNOW that other life forms exist on OUR PLANET, yet we spend little effort on trying to understand their "languages" to communicate with them, and even are quite willing to drive many species extinct even before they're discovered.

Yet some want to export our destructive mindset to conquest other Planets?

Phizzy said-

I am a non-Theist , I do not "believe" in anything. "Belief" meaning trusting that something is factual with no evidence.

You're confusing the definition of 'belief' with 'faith' (belief without any evidence to support the belief). You have beliefs (eg you believe in gravity, don't you?), it's just you don't have faith, which often REQUIRES an absense of evidence, or even requires one to believe DESPITE evidence to the contrary).

Adam

Bart Belteshassur

Phizzy-"I am a non-theist"

I prefer the word NORMAL,

"I do not "believe" in anything"

Belief in anything is self delusion, no matter whether you believe you are Nepolean, or there is an invisable inactive superman.

Bart Belteshassur

Adamah- "which is NATURAL, NOT SUPERNATUREL"

Something which is naturel we can quantify and therefore produce a probability for it's repition, the supernaturel is only that which we are unable to quantify and therefore can not assign a probability to it. Due to this we would difine it as impossible, but just because we are incapable of assigning probability does not make such events improbable under the laws of quantum physics.

adamah

Bart said-

Something which is naturel we can quantify and therefore produce a probability for it's repition, the supernaturel is only that which we are unable to quantify and therefore can not assign a probability to it. Due to this we would difine it as impossible, but just because we are incapable of assigning probability does not make such events improbable under the laws of quantum physics.

Yeah, I'm reminded of Arthur C Clarkes words, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" (and you can replace 'magic' with 'supernatural').

If/when God makes himself known or we stumble across Him, rather than worshipping Him, some science-minded types will be trying to figure out the source of his power (in fact, an old Star Trek episode featured that very premise, called "Who Mourns for Adonis?", when the crew came upon a Planet which was the source for the ancient beliefs in the Greek Gods pantheon).

http://www.cbs.com/shows/star_trek/video/620425674/star-trek-the-original-series-who-mourns-for-adonais-

Adam

KateWild

cantleave- you didnt mention Mars, scientists did a few months ago. They think they found eveidence of water, and micro-organisms. Now I dont see that as evidence of aliens, I expect neither do you. Do you?

Are you telling me Kate, that there is no possibility that with the trillions of planets revolving around those stars, none possess the correct conditions for life?-cantleave

Can an Atheist with all confidence say that God did not create this vastness of potential, if an atheist chooses not to call him God, then at least a superior intelligent being? I think it is very possible a planet like this earth may exist, but I don't think it is very probable, there is no evidence to support that those alien beings have been into space yet, like we humans have.

What Steven Hawkings has to say on the topic is very interesting, but I think he is living in his own little imaginary world, some of his theories are really far out, but he has a higher IQ than me. So I can't really criticise him.

Kate xx

adamah

Kate Wild said-

Can an Atheist with all confidence say that God did not create this vastness of potential, if an atheist chooses not to call him God, then at least a superior intelligent being? I think it is very possible a planet like this earth may exist, but I don't think it is very probable, there is no evidence to support that those alien beings have been into space yet, like we humans have.

Well, there's part of the problem: you don't understand that science doesn't OFFER complete certainty on ANYTHING, since claiming to possess it is a FALLACY, and that's something that theists have NO PROBLEM falsely claiming to possess. People seemingly prefer a false claim of ABSOLUTE certainty over a more-honest and accurate assessment of some doubt.

We need to learn to LOVE and embrace and accept uncertainty, since it IS part of life, like it or not (heck, even the Bible admits that unforeseen events befall all, although it also makes claims to the contrary, as well). Accepting uncertainty requires awakening to TTARR (the truth about religion vs reality).

(See my prior post on the Drake Equation re: the likelihood of ET life.)

Adam

KateWild

At present we have no proof for life elsewhwere, but that does not mean it does not exist, the possibility is there, so in common with most rational people, I allow for that possibility.-phizzy

Many atheists have said, I do not believe there is a God as there is no proof. But that does not mean proof of God does not exist, the possibility is there. So phizzy do you think if one has belief in God they are irrational, but if one has belief in aliens they are rational?

common with most rational people-phizzy

Are you trying to intellectually intimidate me? Steven Hassan enlightened me to this strategy. LOL!

Kate xx

Atheist believe in aliens but not God?

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