(March 26, 2017 at 12:21 pm)val5662 Wrote: Stimbo...
You said "I withhold belief in gods until there is sufficient evidence to support belief".
If you look around and see so many complex living beings, and you still need proof that it was designed by a Supreme Being?
Simple bad example would be a car.If you look at one you know he had to be made by somebody with intelligence.
Regarding God: Just because you cannot prove something exists does not mean it doesn't exist.
[url=https://www.google.ca/search?num=40&q=intelligence&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMuvCryfTSAhUC9YMKHaAQCzwQvwUIGSgA&biw=1360&bih=628][/url]
Many of us have been reading about science and religion and debating it for years and even decades. And if you think only Christians use "life is pretty and complex" as an argument, you'd be wrong. The fallacy of "design" has been used by Jews and Muslims and Hindus too.
Sure life has pretty and complex things in it so what? It also has some nasty and complex things in it. Bacteria and viruses are made up of DNA too, and those things depending on species can be very nasty and deadly. If humans are so well designed then why do bacteria and viruses and cockroaches outnumber humans? If we are so well designed then why can we choke on our food because we share the same eating and breathing tube?
Kittens are cute sure, but cancer in children is not. The stars in the night time sky on a calm night is pretty, but I would not suggest you go up in a shuttle, take a space walk, and take your helmet off. "life is pretty" isn't an argument. That is merely your emotional reaction to things you find pleasing. I find lots of things in life pleasing too, so? You ignore that both the pretty things and nasty things are both natural and don't need a cosmic sky hero or ground villain to fill in the gap.
My mom was awesome, an example of the good in life, but that didn't stop her from dying. Hurricanes are not caused by the ocean god Poseidon and Thor does not cause lightening. You assume a magic invisible factory boss exists, but that really is nothing more than a projection of your own human qualities in your fears and desires, insecurities and narcissism.
Atheists DO find lots of good and pretty things in life and we can and do enjoy those things. But there are also very bad things in reality. We simply don't assign either to a fictional sky hero.
Science is the best way to explain both what we find pleasing and what we want to avoid, such as cancer and tornados an even violence. Human psychology is the science that explains why we do what we do. Evolution is the science that explains how life evolved. Things like astrophysics and quantum mechanics explain how the universe works. Humans do bad too, evolution produces violence between species and even violence between humans. Our planet, solar system, galaxy and universe also has tons of nasty crap, like meteors, black holes, super novas that are quite powerful in destruction.
