(September 15, 2010 at 2:02 pm)dave4shmups Wrote: Ok, so we just talked on the phone, but he said that why not just look at porn magazines, why not just "live it up", because you're not accountable to anyone??
Here we have Page 18 of the Creationist Playbook. If you don't believe in their deity, you have no morals because "you're not accountable to anyone".
What crap.
As has already been pointed out by Adrian, we are all accountable to family, friends, co-workers and society at large. Next.
Quote:He also said, where are you going to go when "your hear melts down", ie, hard times hit?
What is he implying here? Because you're an atheist you'll run around robbing and killing when hard times hit? Plenty of believers already do that. In any case, an atheist will turn to the same people a believer will turn to in hard times: family, friends relief organizations and the government (probably in that order).
Quote:Finally, he said that morals come from somewhere,
Ask him where morals come from. When he says "from God", you can say that you'd rather not get your morals from a being that says it's okay to keep slaves. You can also say, "If morals are from God, then there should be no confusion or disagreement about what is moral." You could then point out that devout believers disagree on moral issues such as birth control, gambling, drinking alcohol, the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, etc... Surely, this brilliant being would have provided us with clear, unambiguous instructions as to what and what is not moral. But he didn't. Why is that?
Quote:and that we are getting worse rather then better, as human beings-presumably without Christianity.
Yes, everything was better in the good old days.
More hogwash.
Ask for examples of how "we are getting worse". Then point out how chaotic things were in the 1930s. Prohibition plus a depression created criminal enterprises that literally killed anyone who got in their way. Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, etc... caused mayhem unequaled today. You can also mention how blacks were regularly lynched, intimidated and lived in constant fear. An interracial couple could not walk down a street pretty much anywhere without a real risk of being attacked. Gays wouldn't even think about revealing their secret. Things are immeasurably better today than they were years ago. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.
Science flies us to the moon and stars. Religion flies us into buildings.
God allowed 200,000 people to die in an earthquake. So what makes you think he cares about YOUR problems?
God allowed 200,000 people to die in an earthquake. So what makes you think he cares about YOUR problems?