Quote:
|
Originally Posted by KnifeMissile
Okay, but it is an example of how non-belief in a deity is not faith but simply common sense, something that I think everyone can relate to on some level.
As a side note, at least half of the world's religious people base their faith on scripture...
|
Well, you seem take an irregular exception to the word faith. I don't believe in deities, but I do have faith in many things. Most of them having nothing to do with religion. Do you or do you not have faith in what you believe to be the truth?
Quote:
|
There are plenty of mysteries out there but none of them are cause for religion. I don't think that the answer "we don't know" constitutes faith of any kind...
|
I didn't say that they were. I only meant that if one is looking for compelling reasons to have faith in a religious philosophy they needn't ever open the Bible or any other religious text.
Quote:
|
Do you think this because you know a lot of atheists that say this or is it because it sounds like something an atheist might say? Personally, I doubt many atheists have given the matter much thought. Indeed, I hadn't until I read ustwo's post, hence my response to it. I have always felt that certain individuals needed religion because life truly is hard but I never thought about why it is so popular among the masses and why its existence is largely independent of culture. There's also a highly disproportionate number of atheists in academia which probably contributed to ustwo's condescending conclusion...
|
Well, I know two atheists very well, my mother and my sister. And I know for a fact that they view religious faith as nonsensical and believe many religious followers, and probably the bulk of American Christians, to be intellectually inferior. And I can't say that I disagree with them to a limited extent. I've been around
backwards religious folks enough to know this is true
to some extent (although the word ignorant may more accurately describe these aforementioned Christianfolk). Being that it is human nature to compare and contrast one's self with others, very often favorably of ourselves, I've little doubt that there are atheists who take a bit of narcissistic pride in their atheism.
Quote:
|
Also, feel free to "name names." We all know each other, here. ustwo's been here, literally, for years...
|
Well,
ustwo has been only respectful to me since I came here. It is not my intent to inflame or insult.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ustwo
Now who exactlly said that?
If someone said that only tall people played professional basketball does that mean that everyone who doesn't play professional basketball are short?
|
I inferred it from your previous posts and I'm too tired to look back right now. It will have to wait until sometime tomorrow.
If you are saying that all atheists are of exceptional intelligence I might have to see some proof of that. I don't think one need necessarily have above average intelligence to lose their faith in god, nor to have never had it in the first place.