Pat Condell on Aggressive Atheism

by cantleave 97 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  PSacramento

  PS, you make a great point. It is the human element. As long as there are humans, they will use whatever they have at their disposal to gain power and lord it over others. Be it atheist or theist. I'm not for anybody imposing their beliefs (or lack of) on anybody else.

  Well, I think that we all agree that SOME beliefs must be imposed, I think at issue is the methods by which they are imposed.

  And perhaps a greater issue is WHY those beliefs are the ones to be imposed (what gives them more validity than others).
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  Christ Alone

  People of faith do share a common thread of thinking that their opinions on big issues are reflections of a god. That's a big difference.

  I agree with this statement. Being an atheist does not equal and cannot necessarily be compared with being a believer. Being a believer necessitates a complex world view. Merely not believing in God does not. While atheism is singular in unbelief, belief (especially Christianity) is a complex set of beliefs. If one believes in God, then he uses that belief to explain a host of complex and age old questions. Merely not believing in God necessitates no such thing.
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  NewChapter

  Being a believer necessitates a complex world view. Merely not believing in God does not. While atheism is singular in unbelief, belief (especially Christianity) is a complex set of beliefs. If one believes in God, then he uses that belief to explain a host of complex and age old questions. Merely not believing in God necessitates no such thing.

  True. Being an atheist doesn't require many things. However it does free us up to look for real answer to the complex, age-old questions, as we are unlikely to settle on the god explanation. This has worked out pretty good for everyone.
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  PSacramento

  Lets not forget that atheists simply do not believe there is a God, that doesn't mean they don't believe in other things whether concrete ( Science) or abstract ( love).
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  cantleave

  Being an atheist is about not believing in a supernatural explanation to the universe. However, for most atheists, coming to that conclusion was a journey that started with questioning the idea of such a beginning, and then looking at evidence and coming to the conclusion that there is a natural explanation.
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  Christ Alone

  However it does free us up to look for real answer to the complex, age-old questions, as we are unlikely to settle on the god explanation. This has worked out pretty good for everyone.

  Very true. And perhaps this is a fundamental problem with many religious people. Because they "can" answer everything with "God", then they stop looking for real world answers. It's a sort of thought stop process. Someone can say, "Well what about...." and a person can easily ignore the implications by saying, "God did it."

  It may not appear that way, but I am not content with just believing in God and ignoring everything else. I love reading about science, including evolution, and while my worldview DOES effect it, I feel like I need to know the answers that science can and does provide.

  Interestingly I usually find that science strengthens my faith in God.
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  NewChapter

  I don't know if 'believing' in science is really the correct sentiment. We accept the method as the most effective one we have, and that yields the most answers, but we also know that we don't know what we don't know. Many things are subject to change (be falsified) but each step gets us closer. It seems every time science answers a question, a thousand other questions need to be asked.
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  Christ Alone

  I don't know if 'believing' in science is really the correct sentiment.

  I don't know...I think some people have a sort of reverence to science that compares to those that have a reverence to religion. Some may think that science is always right until they get "new light" and the view is changed. Instead of learning how and why scientists have settled on a certain fact or theory, they just take it as truth and go on repeating it, not knowing the "hows" or "whys" but just taking it in faith.

  Yeah, I used the word "faith"! But if you don't know how or why scientists are reaching a certain conclusion, then you are having faith that those scientists are right.

  I'm not including everyone. Or even most. But many.
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  cantleave

  I don't know...I think some people have a sort of reverence to science that compares to those that have a reverence to religion. Some may think that

  science is always right until they get "new light" and the view is changed.

  A misconception of what science is, does not change what it actually is.
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  rather be in hades

  i've yet to see anyone pray to the god of organic chemistry.