Welcome, thatwhichisnt.
Our stories share some similarities. It's important to recognize that religious belief is anchored by a set of beliefs or suppositions that we accept uncritically. Once you overcome the programming, you can see the extent to which theists are still hobbled by that; note how often their arguments in favor of god's existence rely on the assumption that god exists. It's particularly humbling when you can see yourself making those same arguments in the past, but so incredibly liberating to realize that you've shaken off chains that you did not know you were bound with.
Our stories share some similarities. It's important to recognize that religious belief is anchored by a set of beliefs or suppositions that we accept uncritically. Once you overcome the programming, you can see the extent to which theists are still hobbled by that; note how often their arguments in favor of god's existence rely on the assumption that god exists. It's particularly humbling when you can see yourself making those same arguments in the past, but so incredibly liberating to realize that you've shaken off chains that you did not know you were bound with.
"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
