"The debate is over."
As this thread proves...it's NEVER over. It goes on ad infinitum, an endless tangle of points, arguments, and counter-arguments, and alas, ultimately, as freethinkers, our greatest strength and virtue [for lack of a better term] is also our greatest hindrance in this eternal debate; that our arguments are based in evidence. Our knowledge is finite. There is ultimately a point in which we suddenly come to a stop, the very limits of human knowledge, and beyond that point is darkness, the unknown, where there is no certainty. The greatest detractor, the largest downside to the theistic stance, is ultimately its greatest asset in the eternal debate; its lack of basis in reality. We must stop our argument at the borders of human knowledge; the theists can dance right out into it, dancing gleefully; the "god of the gaps" is, to them, proof. Never mind for a moment that this is a fallacy of logic; the theistic, the credulous, the faithful? To them, that they can simply outlast the argument of evidence with their beliefs is all the "evidence" they need of their supremacy. Never mind the thousand points we win; the ultimate goal, the "god goal," to them, is untouchable, and in their minds' collective eyes, since it can never be touched, it endures.
Anyone free of credulous thought and solipsistic wishful thinking, of course, sees this for the lunacy and stupidity that it is. Alas, then we get people like Fr0d0 who have never heard of the logical issues with the slippery slope involved with belief and simply pick-and-choose their way into a solipsistic means of comfort. Fine by me, naturally. The theists can do what they will. If they ever learn to shut the fuck up and quit bringing up the topic, I will never feel the need to tear them apart.
Unfortunately I cannot go a week without someone genuinely trying to drag their silly beliefs into a real-world context and then they get all pissy when I, in turn, make my opinions known. If you don't like it, keep your own fucking opinions to yourself, because MY opinions will hurt your feelings.
For the record: Yeah, Dawkins IS an absolutely ignorant idiot when it comes to discussion religion, which is why he doesn't discuss the point of religion itself but discusses the general, overall points that religions have always tried to make that science has long since torn to pieces and tossed into the fire. I know a ton about Christianity; every point the man makes on the topic of Christianity in a real-world sense is spot-on the bullseye every single time. To expect the man to drag himself down to the intellectual level of kindergarteners [the only age range people should still believe in a fucking talking snake and a man coming back to life and rising into the sky and angels] to argue the nuances and intricacies of such illogical, impossible, unfounded unscientific BS is unbelievably [see what I did there?] ridiculous and earns little more than a deep, jolly belly laugh from me.
But me, personally, I'd rather use "god is not Great" as an introduction book on questioning beliefs and religion in general.
As this thread proves...it's NEVER over. It goes on ad infinitum, an endless tangle of points, arguments, and counter-arguments, and alas, ultimately, as freethinkers, our greatest strength and virtue [for lack of a better term] is also our greatest hindrance in this eternal debate; that our arguments are based in evidence. Our knowledge is finite. There is ultimately a point in which we suddenly come to a stop, the very limits of human knowledge, and beyond that point is darkness, the unknown, where there is no certainty. The greatest detractor, the largest downside to the theistic stance, is ultimately its greatest asset in the eternal debate; its lack of basis in reality. We must stop our argument at the borders of human knowledge; the theists can dance right out into it, dancing gleefully; the "god of the gaps" is, to them, proof. Never mind for a moment that this is a fallacy of logic; the theistic, the credulous, the faithful? To them, that they can simply outlast the argument of evidence with their beliefs is all the "evidence" they need of their supremacy. Never mind the thousand points we win; the ultimate goal, the "god goal," to them, is untouchable, and in their minds' collective eyes, since it can never be touched, it endures.
Anyone free of credulous thought and solipsistic wishful thinking, of course, sees this for the lunacy and stupidity that it is. Alas, then we get people like Fr0d0 who have never heard of the logical issues with the slippery slope involved with belief and simply pick-and-choose their way into a solipsistic means of comfort. Fine by me, naturally. The theists can do what they will. If they ever learn to shut the fuck up and quit bringing up the topic, I will never feel the need to tear them apart.
Unfortunately I cannot go a week without someone genuinely trying to drag their silly beliefs into a real-world context and then they get all pissy when I, in turn, make my opinions known. If you don't like it, keep your own fucking opinions to yourself, because MY opinions will hurt your feelings.
For the record: Yeah, Dawkins IS an absolutely ignorant idiot when it comes to discussion religion, which is why he doesn't discuss the point of religion itself but discusses the general, overall points that religions have always tried to make that science has long since torn to pieces and tossed into the fire. I know a ton about Christianity; every point the man makes on the topic of Christianity in a real-world sense is spot-on the bullseye every single time. To expect the man to drag himself down to the intellectual level of kindergarteners [the only age range people should still believe in a fucking talking snake and a man coming back to life and rising into the sky and angels] to argue the nuances and intricacies of such illogical, impossible, unfounded unscientific BS is unbelievably [see what I did there?] ridiculous and earns little more than a deep, jolly belly laugh from me.
But me, personally, I'd rather use "god is not Great" as an introduction book on questioning beliefs and religion in general.
