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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 8:08 pm
(November 15, 2013 at 8:23 am)Jacob(smooth) Wrote: Was listening to Prof Dawkins on the way to work this morning. He described a spectrum of agnosticism from
1, KNOWING there is a god,
2 Being almost certain there is
3 more probable than not,
4, even odds,
5, more probable than not that there isn't,
6, almost certain there isn't, and
7. KNOWING there is no God.
He described himself as a 6, and cited the celestial teapot, which may or may not be orbiting the sun, as an example (it's probably not but he couldn't be certain).
So my question is, where are you on Dawkins scale?
On a scale of 1 to 7, I'd be an A.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 8:09 pm
7. Apophenia exists, God does not.
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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 8:19 pm
I would honestly say I'm a six.
I'm not going to make a definitive claim that there are no gods, simply because it's impossible, at this point, to know this as a fact.
I am, however, fairly certain that there are none.
Playing Cluedo with my mum while I was at Uni:
"You did WHAT? With WHO? WHERE???"
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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 8:26 pm
(November 15, 2013 at 8:23 am)Jacob(smooth) Wrote: So my question is, where are you on Dawkins scale? I reject Dawkin's scale because I've never seen a decent explanation for how you can measure the "probability" of God's existence. If you can't measure it, it makes no sense to even state things like "completely certain" or "more likely than not" or even "50/50".
I just prefer calling myself an agnostic atheist. I don't believe in a God, but I also don't make any claims of knowledge concerning the existence of God.
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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 8:27 pm
Peg the arrow as far to the absolutely certain as possible. 7+
I like the ball sac singing option though..
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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 8:37 pm
I'm a 6.9
I could round up to seven, but...nah, I'd better not. I'm not a 7 because absolute knowledge is impossible, and because if an omnipotent god did exist, it would be possible for it to hide itself indefinitely. As to why it would do that, I don't know (assuming it would be the god of any known religion, that is). If you were to expand the definition of "god" to something more vague and impersonal, I might go as low as a six.
Maybe.
John Adams Wrote:The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.
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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 8:53 pm
(November 19, 2013 at 8:26 pm)Tiberius Wrote: (November 15, 2013 at 8:23 am)Jacob(smooth) Wrote: So my question is, where are you on Dawkins scale? I reject Dawkin's scale because I've never seen a decent explanation for how you can measure the "probability" of God's existence. If you can't measure it, it makes no sense to even state things like "completely certain" or "more likely than not" or even "50/50".
I just prefer calling myself an agnostic atheist. I don't believe in a God, but I also don't make any claims of knowledge concerning the existence of God.
I can think of nothing which is less likely than a universe-creating God except for any religion's specific examples of a universe-creating God. That's the agnosticism which flavors my atheism. It would literally be the biggest surprise imaginable if any terrestrial religion got it right.
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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 9:13 pm
(This post was last modified: November 19, 2013 at 9:19 pm by Simon Moon.)
Pretty much a 6 on the Dawkins' scale with regards to some definitions of a god. Like a god of first cause, for example.
Pretty much a 7 with regards to any of the omni, prayer answering, human interfering, Prophet sending, miracle working, gods of ancient supernatural texts.
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.
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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 9:30 pm
(This post was last modified: November 19, 2013 at 9:41 pm by Whateverist.)
I'm entirely certain that I've never heard a coherent description of God. In the absence of knowing what the hell we're talking about, I can't be bothered to formulate a likelihood prediction for god knows what.
I do believe that other people experience something they know as God. I'm aware of the way some of them describe this experience. But I expect this is nothing more than a splinter of their own consciousness. Of course I could be wrong but then so could they. Clearly it matters to them. It doesn't matter to me.
No number for me, thank you. Sure I'm agnostic but I'm also ignostic, apatheist and atheist. None of these describe what I am but rather only what I'm not. Meh.
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RE: How atheist are you
November 19, 2013 at 9:34 pm
Number one is not strong enough.
But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.
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