(September 15, 2019 at 4:12 pm)Inqwizitor Wrote: [How do I quote just the poster's text, without quoting mine along with it?]
Use the icon that looks like a document to switch to viewing the BB code, then edit out your own response. This is the only way I know of, and I do it often to clean up my responses to people.
(September 15, 2019 at 4:12 pm)Inqwizitor Wrote: If we have no working definition of what a god is, then what does atheism actually mean?
Well... no, that's not really how it works. We don't need a complete, working definition of god to reject the idea. We can work off of the information we do have, as a society, and conclude that, for right now, it isn't a sensible idea. Not having a working definition of god reflects far more on theism and deism than it does on atheists.
(September 15, 2019 at 4:12 pm)Inqwizitor Wrote: The reason for existence is a fascinating idea worth discussing, at least to me (and billions of other people, evidently). That there simply is no reason or that the question is not worth discussing is not any more convincing than religious ideas.
Whether or not there "has" to be something or not is the crux of many a metaphysical debate. Simply asserting one way or the other is one way of dealing with that; but there is no compelling reason to agree.
Well, you can ask that question until the cows come home, if it suits you. I, for one, think it's a meaningless question. As do many other people, atheists and theists alike. Even deists. It's not sensible to me to ask why there's something instead of nothing, when there simply is what there is.
Who said that there being nothing was an option?
No one. This is just some strange paradigm invented by humans.
If you're frightened of dying, and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the Earth.
