5 bombshells some atheists are not aware of

[ManMachine]

---

None of these are bombshells.

But you are incorrect on Dawkins, unless you want to play semantics games.

1. Darwin never once uses either the word ‘ape’ or ‘apes’ in his work ‘On The Origin of Species’, so he could never have said Humans were descendants of or shared a common ancestor with apes.

This should be more surprising to creationists.

It is true, he does not mention human evolution in 'The Origin...". He does in "The Descent of Man", however.

2. Richard Dawkins has never called himself an atheist, he actually considers himself to be agnostic.

This is incorrect. He states that he is a '6' on his "Spectrum of Theistic Beliefs" scale.

6. "De facto atheist. Very low probability, but short of zero. "I don't know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there."

3. Early on in Dawkins’ book, ‘The God Delusion’, he points out that no one can have total certainty that God does or does not exist.

This is the position of the majority of atheists.

I do not claim to know with certainty that a god does not exist. But I do not believe one does. This makes me (and Dawkins) an agnostic-atheist.

4. Darwin had little faith in fossil records ever proving his theory of Evolution, he considered them too incomplete.

So...

Darwin also got a lot of other things wrong about evolution. We've come along way in the last 160 + years since Darwin. But everything that has been discovered since Darwin has completely confirmed his central thesis, random mutation and natural selection drives changes.

Hell, he didn't even know about DNA.

5. Sir Isaac Newton had an interest in the occult, he studied alchemy and believed he would discover The Philosopher’s Stone, a material capable of turning base metal into gold. He also believed that metals ‘possessed a sort of life’.

Very true. Other than his monumental works in math, his other beliefs were batshit crazy.

---

"... There was surprise when Prof Dawkins acknowledged that he was less than 100 per cent certain of his conviction that there is no creator.

The philosopher Sir Anthony Kenny, who chaired the discussion, interjected: “Why don’t you call yourself an agnostic?” Prof Dawkins answered that he did."


[Source: Dawkins - 'I can't be sure that god doen not exist']

I think there are certain Christian groups that would want to categorise him as an atheist to justify their own simplistic view of the issues, and Dawkins certainly has anti-theist views (The God Delusion' case in point) but in his own words he is agnostic with anti-theist views. I'm not calling him agnostic, I'm just reporting that he calls himself agnostic.

MM

---

---

Following on from a recent post in another thread I decided to drop a few very interesting bombshells.

None of which were bombshells, but continue...

These can all be verified with a little effort (I'm not doing all the work for you).

Clearly not since I'm going to correct you.

1. Darwin never once uses either the word ‘ape’ or ‘apes’ in his work ‘On The Origin of Species’, so he could never have said Humans were descendants of or shared a common ancestor with apes.

We're all cousins, not just with apes, so not only does he not have to specify anything about apes, but common descent covers all lifeforms. I'm pretty he did go through apes in The Descent of man and he certainly did in other work. He did come to the conclusion that we came from a common ancestor, despite not having all the evidence we have today. It was still brilliant enough evidence to publish a book that stood as the cornerstone of modern biology until we learned more in the next century.

2. Richard Dawkins has never called himself an atheist, he actually considers himself to be agnostic.

Such bullshit, he has said he is both, you can be both. I could pull up videos but I'll just link you to his site.

http://www.richarddawkins.net/foundation...ut-atheism

3. Early on in Dawkins’ book, ‘The God Delusion’, he points out that no one can have total certainty that God does or does not exist.

How the is that a bombshell? you don't have to be certain to be an atheist.

4. Darwin had little faith in fossil records ever proving his theory of Evolution, he considered them too incomplete.

No kidding, because there wasn't as much information in the fossil record yet, hell he didn't even know about genetics yet. But the logical inference was STILL common descent.

5. Sir Isaac Newton had an interest in the occult, he studied alchemy and believed he would discover The Philosopher’s Stone, a material capable of turning base metal into gold. He also believed that metals ‘possessed a sort of life’.

Did you just watch Cosmos or something? I'm willing to bet most of us already knew Newton had crackpot theories and religious woo.

Enjoy,

MM

---

Did not enjoy,

QT. (because writing your name at the end is so unique and original)

Aww, Mr Grumpy.

I don't understand why you are arguing with me, I'm just a messenger, these are facts, what you chose to do with them is up to you. If you have an issue with Dawkins' agnosticism then take it up with him, he said it, not me.

You need to redirect your ire where it will better serve you.

MM