(June 25, 2015 at 9:59 pm)Louis Chérubin Wrote: Hi everyone!
I'm not sure whether this is the right place to post this, but I'd really appreciate some answers to some/all of the following questions. I'm interested in how an average atheist thinks about these topics. It would be great if you could give some explanation for your answers. I'm coming from a protestant worldview.
1. Does God exist?
2. Where did the universe come from?
3. Does my life have a purpose?
4. Why do people suffer?
5. Is there life after death?
6. Can I distinguish right from wrong?
7. Can people know truth?
Sorry for being point form.
I'll play...
1. Which God?
I do not see sufficient demonstrable evidence to support the claim that a god does exist, therefore I do not believe one does. My disbelief is not dogmatic, and I am willing to alter it given sufficient evidence.
2. This is currently unknown. All the evidence points to a natural explanation, no gods needed.
But the important thing is, just because the answers are currently unknown, does not mean that saying "god did it" becomes the best explanation, by default.
3. Everyone's life has purpose. It's the one we all give ourselves.
4. It is the natural result of a universe and a planet that is not here just for our benefit.
5. There is drastically insufficient evidence to support believing that there is.
6. Yes. Using our naturally evolved sense of empathy, altruism, cooperation, we are able to distinguish behavior that is best for humanity's well being.
7. Please define 'truth' as you mean it.
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.
