Quote:theistic or atheistic
Look, I can't speak for any one else but I make no claims. I merely state that there is no evidence for your god or any other god. Period. There is an amazing tendency among theists to attribute everything to "belief" but please don't tar me with that brush. Atheism is not a 'world-view.' It is a denial of superstition. We have atheists here who believe in Ancient Aliens tampering with australopithicus DNA. This has nothing to do with atheism and they are as free to believe as you are to believe that a dead carpenter came back to life.
Quote:I do not take "bizarreness" to be a particularly enlightening indicator of which claims we should view with suspicion. If we took some of the scientific claims we make about the universe to people in the past I think we would hear plenty of cries of "bizarre". What we consider to be "bizarre" mostly stems from particular views of rationality and metaphysics that have taken hold of the Western academic world.
Yes, but science investigates itself and changes its opinions based on accumulated evidence. Religion merely claims that its bizarre beliefs are really true and, where they can get away with it, throws rocks at the heads of those who doubt. This is more than a question of two equivalent systems. Science is better than religion.
Quote:We always have to be open to the possibility that we are wrong,
Please tell the pope and all the other con artists who pretend to know what happens after death. I already agree with you there.
Quote:Like me, you also have a set of beliefs about the world
Again, I take exception to the word "belief" which has a highly derogatory meaning. People have evidence to support the big bang and evolution that does not require magical beings and a rather pointless old book of dubious authorship written originally to keep primitive goat herders in line.
