(May 18, 2013 at 11:15 pm)ebg Wrote: Atheist don't want religion because they feel guilty. They don't want anything to interfer with all the bad stuff their doing in their life. I keep saying mostly its an attention getter. They feel insignificant in society so somehow going against the norm makes them feel important.

Repeating tired, old Christian slander on an atheist forum isn't a cry for attention?

(May 18, 2013 at 11:15 pm)ebg Wrote: Atheist don't want religion because they feel guilty. They don't want anything to interfer with all the bad stuff their doing in their life. I keep saying mostly its an attention getter. They feel insignificant in society so somehow going against the norm makes them feel important.

Wrongo.

I don't do any "bad stuff" I am a happily married man with three children I don't do drugs or steal or do whatever bad things you imagine me getting up to.

We just don't believe that there is a god because, lets face it, there obviously isn't one.

By the way, round this neck of the woods being an atheist is not against the norm.

As for attention getting, is it the atheists who stand around on street corners shouting about their non-belief in god or is it theists?
Do atheists go knocking on peoples doors telling them about the good news that there is no god or is it theists who bother us on a saturday morning?
Do atheists build enormous buildings to gather in or is it theists?

I can't add much more to this thread than to echo what was already pointed out at least twice in the first page of this thread:

atheists don't actually claim anything - theists do. Atheism is a default position.

If theists want to convince a god exists, then the Burden of Proof lies on them to make a case for that claim.

(May 18, 2013 at 11:15 pm)ebg Wrote: Atheist don't want religion because they feel guilty. They don't want anything to interfer with all the bad stuff their doing in their life. I keep saying mostly its an attention getter. They feel insignificant in society so somehow going against the norm makes them feel important.

Oh really? What bad stuff stuff am I doing in my life, exactly?

(May 8, 2013 at 3:11 pm)JesusHChrist Wrote:

(May 8, 2013 at 2:48 pm)goodnews Wrote: In a nutshell....." ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE IS NOT EVIDENCE OF ABSENCE "

(May 8, 2013 at 2:52 pm)pocaracas Wrote: indeed.... but how did some people come across the notion, in order to claim the existence?

Right, and the absence of evidence does not give one license to poof! all sorts of imaginary characters into existence.

If anything, this should show the theist how very weak their position is, to be on the same level as plutonian unicorns or ten-foot tall invisible martian robot spiders. See? No evidence! But, they are real! Poof!

But I know, their god is speshul and not *at all* like a ten-foot tall invisible martian robot spider.

"Bravo," he whispers, nodding once in silent respect.

---

(May 19, 2013 at 7:33 am)NoraBrimstone Wrote:

(May 18, 2013 at 11:15 pm)ebg Wrote: Atheist don't want religion because they feel guilty. They don't want anything to interfer with all the bad stuff their doing in their life. I keep saying mostly its an attention getter. They feel insignificant in society so somehow going against the norm makes them feel important.

Oh really? What bad stuff stuff am I doing in my life, exactly?

All the everything. All. You are doing all the bad, Nora Brimstone, and should stop it at once.

Or at least that's what the inevitable reply will amount to.



Smoke weed? You're doing wrong. Why? Because they say so. Why do they say so? Because they love to judge, because it makes them feel superior. Love to fuck? You're doing wrong. Why? What did I just fucking say?

Religion is a contrivance devised to allow one set of humans to declare superiority over others with some kind of authority. Only nowadays, we all see how hollow that authority really is. It's vacant, vapid, vacuous, vestigial, a void. Even now, in the twilight of religion's prominence in human history, they still use it for that most petty of desires; dominance over another without putting any effort into achieving dominance. And in so doing, they betray their true colors more and more.

I don't smoke weed. Or anything else for that matter, smoking grosses me out. I haven't even fucked for like a year and a half because of my anti-depressants. I'm a very good girl now! I don't even drink alcohol! lol

But I'm still evil

From conversing with Drich, I understand the Christian position: being human is a crime against god. The point of that particular apocalyptic cult is that we should be sorry for being made the way we are.

I dislike arbitrary rules and i will never feel guilty for breaking one.

Rhythm,

Quote:Then you're in luck, because our existence is handily accounted for, readily and vastly demonstrated, down to the mechanism and even its underlying mechanics, with nary a single fairy accounted for anywhere - or even required.

Great Rhythm your just the person I have been looking for, an atheist who is going to stand up for atheism and once and for all show us why it silly to beileve we're the result of plan and design.

How did the universe come about? How did life start? Why did the universe have the characteristics to allow life even though it didn't plan for it or intend it to happen? I think even the rest of the atheists in here would like to have it explained also.

Quote:"God" accounts for nothing, it doesn't even begin to offer an account for anything, it's a non-starter, an added word. You're partial to the word, that much is obvious. But lets at least try to be a little more candid, if only with ourselves..eh?

I'd be happy to have you put this mystery to rest...

Texas Sailor,

Quote:HUH? I'm gonna need you to explain how you have a particular knowledge of a particular God, and therefore have a particular knowledge about the sorts of things IT normally produces by which you must base this "feasibility" on. I presume that you can explain all of this right? If you have NONE...there is absolutely nothing "feasible" about it. It is not a logically grounded supposition, and is actually...unfeasible, and illogical. If you have no basis for that which a God can be credited for "creating", you have no grounds to insert it as a conclusion!

As I have mentioned several times I'm a philosophical theist, not a religious theist. This means I believe our existence is the result of a transcendent being commonly referred to as God who caused, planned the universe and life to exist. If you want to see the case the evidence check the thread The Case for Theism. Unlike the atheists in this forum I was willing to make a case for my belief.

Quote:How likely would you say such a claim is? 50/50? You seem to be avoiding the shadow of probability that blurs your assessment. Your claim is no more grounded than a person claiming they have a unicorn in their pocket.

The standard of proof in a civil course is a mere preponderance of evidence in favor of a belief, meaning more for than against. I subscribe to theism because available evidence favors that explanation. You'll have to explain to your fellow theists how the case for theism is as weak and unfounded as a claim for a unicorn in my pocket because most of the atheists I have debated in this thread aren't willing to deny there is a unicorn in my pocket...they just lack that belief. Isn't that pathetic?

Quote:Improbable claims of all sorts can be rightly dismissed on the same grounds.

I agree but which claim is more improbable? That we owe our existence to a universe that was designed and engineered to cause sentient life or that we owe the existence of universe, life and sentient life to mindless lifeless forces that somehow bootstrapped themselves into existence and created something totally unlike itself...life and sentience? What makes your counter claim (if atheism is true) less improbable?

Quote:A more intelligent approach would be to just say...There's an answer to the questions I have...I don't know what it is...and because I do not know anymore than anyone else, it would be impossible for me to invoke an answer, and then arbitrarily assign it any value of feasibility. I don't know what it is, but I also have ZERO reason to believe in this thing called "God", whatever it is...and so...I just don't know, but am open to new information that is grounded in reality and correlates with truth and verifiable experience.

That would be a reasonable approach but its not the approach you take. Instead you claim belief in God is no more probable than the claim I have a unicorn in my pocket.

Quote: I'm afraid you have a LOT of explaining to...starting with what reasons that any God theory is any more feasible than a celestial teapot.

See the thread titled The Case for Theism...

Esquilax,

Quote:I'm not obligated to defend what other atheists believe, and I'm certainly not obligated to defend what you think other atheists believe, because... well, I'm absolutely willing to bet you're wrong, simply due to the fact that no two atheists have exactly the same beliefs, nor does atheism ascribe an actual cause to the universe. Atheism is a single position, a disbelief in the existence of gods. Not a belief that there are no gods, not the belief that the universe came about through naturalistic means, just that singular disbelief in theistic claims.

Atheism is a single position, a disbelief in the existence of gods. Not a belief that there are no gods Does that sentence make sense to you? That would be like saying I disbeileve in the existence of football, not a belief there is no football.

You're mistaken, atheists may not have explanations for how the universe came about or how life came about or why the universe has laws of physics that allow our existence, but they do claim that however it came about it did so without the benefit of a creator or designer or God. The fact they don't have any counter claim or explanation how such came about only underscores how weak the case for atheism is. Its so pathetic that while you claim to be an atheist, even you don't deny God exists...you just lack that belief, right?

Quote:What you think atheists believe doesn't mean a single fucking goddamn thing.

I think atheism means the following...


a·the·ism
[ey-thee-iz-uhm] Show IPA
noun
1.
the doctrine or belief that there is no God.
2.
disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings.


It means that whatever the explanation for the existence of the universe and life is...it wasn't created by a transcendent being known as God. The fact atheists don't seem to believe in any naturalistic (non-god) explanation for the existence of the universe and life only underscores how pathetically weak their case against the existence of God is. No wonder even you as an atheist are unwilling to deny God exists.

Well, put a fork in it; this one's done. No matter how much you try to explain the burden of proof and the null hypothesis, he just simply responds with, "You don't know the answer, therefore, mine is correct." On top of that, he speaks as if admitting you don't know something is just a weakness, and it would be better to just arrogantly declare you have all of the answers.

Save your energy, folks, and move along.

Yeah, I saw this one yesterday, took a look at it, snorted back a laugh at the guy's responses, and navigated to something more interesting. Like boobs or something. I hate broken records.