(March 14, 2013 at 11:49 am)EGross Wrote: After hopping on more than one Atheist forum, I see some bible thumpers pounding away in a sort of religious masterbation, spewing where they can where atheists reside. It's an odd thing that caused me to ponder.
Hopefully it's an attempt at validation. When I was a believer I never dared to stray even near to forums like this, or any kind of discussion that might attack my beliefs. Thankfully, the weakness of my belief system did that all its own, but I wonder how much faster that might have happened if I'd put it to the test.
Even if someone visits atheist sites with a mind towards "showing them that they're wrong" and even if they resist any attempt at rational discourse, their willingness to engage is useful. I wonder what the percentage is of believers who make an earnest effort at understanding atheists, and wind up doubting or rejecting their own beliefs?
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
