(May 22, 2015 at 3:06 pm)Freedom4me Wrote:(May 22, 2015 at 2:49 pm)Stimbo Wrote: Bullshit. You're going to need to cite something if you're going to tell us what we believe and how we think - especially after having it explained to you numerous times.
I know the definition of the word, "atheism" and atheism (and theism), is about as far from skepticism as one can get.
Atheism, for the vast majority of atheists, is a byproduct of our skepticism.
Skepticism in practice, is simply disbelieving claims that are not supported by evidence and reasoned argument.
And I'm willing to bet that you use this method all the time. For example; do you believe in bigfoot, UFO abductions, the Loch Ness monster, etc?
We just simply applied that method to the god claims, and the result is that there is insufficient evidence to justify belief.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
