(July 9, 2012 at 3:40 am)Selliedjoup Wrote: Why would anyone actively non-believe something, unless you believe that you're privvy to some sort of truth, and/or previosuly had some emotional attachment to that which you now deny. And yes the infallibility of science, this is an article of faith. Tick tick tick, it's as if you know me.
How does one "actively nonbelieve" something? The atheists here actually are privy to a truth of sorts- that there isn't a lick of evidence to support the claim that a God exists.
Who here has said that science is infallible? I'll tell them they are just as wrong as you are. I doubt anyone has said that and I even suspect you made that up, but whatever.
(July 9, 2012 at 3:40 am)Selliedjoup Wrote: Most days I don't know, some days I lean either way. My bias is not believing humanity must possesses the qualities to assess the problem, or obtain the 'evidence'. I think that is where we'll always differ. I think in an age where religion is seen as superstitious we require some philosophical 'certainity', science fills in this void for some.
What do you mean whe you say, "most days I don't know, some days I lean either way"? Some days you know, some days you don't?
This is the problem I have with people who label themselves "agnostic": they are either dedicated fence-sitters, or they are ignorant.
You either believe, or you don't. You either know, or you don't. But these categories are separate. It doesn't mean anything for one to exclaim their lack of knowledge that God exist, because a theist could say that just as honestly as an atheist.
It's simple. Science is the best grasp we have on reality, the best tool mankind has to evaluate the universe. To muddle this with philosophical certainty or "truth" is to salt the well of skeptical thinking.
My conclusion is that there is no reason to believe any of the dogmas of traditional theology and, further, that there is no reason to wish that they were true.
Man, in so far as he is not subject to natural forces, is free to work out his own destiny. The responsibility is his, and so is the opportunity.
-Bertrand Russell
Man, in so far as he is not subject to natural forces, is free to work out his own destiny. The responsibility is his, and so is the opportunity.
-Bertrand Russell