Fuck off.

Careful! I can almost imagine a preacher in his pulpit coming out with those exact words!

(May 31, 2012 at 9:56 am)StatCrux Wrote: God has implanted knowledge of himself within every person, each individual has this knowledge, becoming aware of it is what differs from each individual. Some people deny it but are still aware of it. Some people don't relate it to what they understand from the term "God" this is because the term itself is misunderstood. But that awareness of something transcendent and numinous exists in all of us and is self evident to anyone who seeks it.

Prove it

(May 31, 2012 at 10:02 am)Zen Badger Wrote:

(May 31, 2012 at 9:56 am)StatCrux Wrote: God has implanted knowledge of himself within every person, each individual has this knowledge, becoming aware of it is what differs from each individual. Some people deny it but are still aware of it. Some people don't relate it to what they understand from the term "God" this is because the term itself is misunderstood. But that awareness of something transcendent and numinous exists in all of us and is self evident to anyone who seeks it.

Prove it

If I tell you that I see the colour red how can I prove it, especially if you deny the colour red exists, I can never prove it to you, but it doesn't mean thr colour doesn't exist.

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(May 31, 2012 at 9:59 am)Chuck Wrote: Fuck off.

genius

What is it with people whose names have "stat" in them and which makes them dull and incapable of reason?

Stat, religion has never "inspired" people. What has inspired people is imagination, and religion trades heavily on that-but it has no monopoly on the stuff. Put it this way, your fantasy is of a supreme being who created the heavens and earth, man and beast, blah, blah, blah. Your imagination of this inspires you. What inspires me is the beauty of what I see in human potential, and I do not need religion for that, even though, largely, it is an act of imagination.

By the by, what great works has your theism inspired you to create?

(May 31, 2012 at 6:47 am)StatCrux Wrote: I didn't use the word "essential" I said religion inspires people to create great works of art. Its the visible expression of connecting with the transcendent and luminous. Atheism creates a mindset that closes peoples minds to that aspect of existence and stifles creativity. Is it merely coincidence that the majority of great works of art, poetry, music etc are created from a mind that believes in some from of transcendent reality? While not "essential" it definitely is conducive to great works of art.

It's certainly not a coincidence that great works of art were made to please the people who commissioned them, often churches or believers trying to demonstrate their piety by acting as patrons for relgious artwork. I've not noticed a slowing-down of art in countries where the percentage of non-believers has become significant.

Is this what you're reduced to? You've given up on finding a good reason to believe God exists and are trying for 'even if he doesn't exist, belief in him produces nice things'?

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(May 31, 2012 at 8:15 am)StatCrux Wrote: Really? You think that evolution is a creative process? Please explain to me how evolution created life? I'm all ears, coz I'm dense as you say...

When being sarcastic about how dense you are, you should be careful you don't demonstrate it. Evolution isn't the explanation for the origin of life, it's an explanation for the mad and wonderful diversity of life.

(May 31, 2012 at 10:09 am)StatCrux Wrote: If I tell you that I see the colour red how can I prove it, especially if you deny the colour red exists, I can never prove it to you, but it doesn't mean thr colour doesn't exist.

We can prove that the color red exists as it's just light energy and wavelengths. Poor analogy.

(May 31, 2012 at 9:56 am)StatCrux Wrote: God has implanted knowledge of himself within every person, each individual has this knowledge, becoming aware of it is what differs from each individual. Some people deny it but are still aware of it. Some people don't relate it to what they understand from the term "God" this is because the term itself is misunderstood. But that awareness of something transcendent and numinous exists in all of us and is self evident to anyone who seeks it.

You're asserting this fact but it is not axiomatic, you are simply asserting it is, and almost certainly convinced it is.

As one of my favourite sayings goes, private subjective evidence is useless because it is indistinguishable from the illusion of it.

(May 31, 2012 at 6:13 am)StatCrux Wrote: Christianity and religion have inspired great works of art, poetry and literature. Is there any evidence of atheism inspiring anyone to create anything? Even if religion or belief in God are delusional the power to inspire people to great things is unquestionable. I can't think of any poetry, art, music or literature inspired by atheism..

Look up Greydon Square. Or Ashes Divide. Or Tool. Or A Perfect Circle. Look up Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking. Look up a lovely little poem called "Churchgoing." Look up Alfred Hrdlicka, Sebastian Horsley, Marcel Duchamp, Brendan Powell Smith, and countless others.

You can't think of any because you didn't look and you didn't want to. I have a harder time remembering them by name than I do if they even exist because there's so many of them.

(May 31, 2012 at 10:13 am)Epimethean Wrote: Stat, religion has never "inspired" people. What has inspired people is imagination,

By the by, what great works has your theism inspired you to create?

Your imagination is what is inspired, imagination doesn't inspire. Your imagination needs inspiration. Ever heard the term "Inspires the imagination"

inspiration is not limited to works of art, we can be inspired to be altruistic good people through religion, or inspired to become better people, because ultimately our lives and actions do have meaning and purpose.