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Originally Posted by KnifeMissile
I have avoided the multi-faceted aspect of the word to avoid confusion. "Ah, you believe something too! All viewpoints are the same, I knew it!" They are not the same. Some are reasonable and some are ludicrous and I'm trying hard to show the difference...
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So here it is. Atheism is reasonable and religion is ludicrous. Or, at least Christianity is because you admittedly don't know alot about other religions. Maybe something about your exposure to Christianity in the past has led you to this point. If so, I understand, believe me. I have witnessed the ignorance and hypocracies of extreme Christian dementia.
BUT, being back in the real world, I give respect to the fact that there are very
reasonable people practicing the world's religions. And for many of them, the stories in scripture and other religious texts are not what gives them their faith. It is experience and wisdom and reflection. So I stand back and give them room for their beliefs and I respect them. Just as I respect yours. If your atheism prevents you from doing that then to me you are no different in attitude than the evangelists and proselytizers of Christianity.
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Well, I'm sorry if I "rub you the wrong way." I'm not trying to win a popularity contest here nor am I trying to win people over through charisma. I'm trying to offer a sober argument that's hard to deny. My conviction may "begin and end" with me but my hope is that common sense will not.
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It's not hard to deny. I deny that the truth of your belief is as evident as the law of gravity.
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I don't know how literal your examples were meant to be but saying that our "conscience" is evidence of God makes as much sense as saying the colour blue is evidence of Him. Santa Clause and God are both fairy tales told to us by another person. If you can't see this then there truly is nothing I can say that can persuade you of anything you don't already want to believe.
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I didn't say that our conscience is evidence of god. Only that such is the
argument I have been given by Christians as evidence of god. In fact, I have stated multiple times on this thread that I don't believe in deities. I have not committed myself to any formal philosophical understanding. As I said before, my own path runs closest to that of Taoism in that I suspect the unknowable may reside within its obvious manifestations in the natural world.
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Exception to what, exactly? You say it was addressed but roachboy didn't say, specifically, what he took exception to so I'm left wondering. Was it my depiction of the chapter on metaphysics as "bullshit?"
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It was your depiction of
philosophy as bullshit. But I understand now you didn't mean to say that philosophy is bullshit.
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Okay, I'll remember this...
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Buddhism is a very interesting religion and some facets of its ancient understanding of the universe correlate with some facets of quantum physics. I'm not too familiar with that subject, though.
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Atheists also know that there are things they don't know with certainty. Atheism doesn't stop anyone from attributing some kind of meaning for mankind. Religion is simply not necessary except for those who need more in their lives than reality...
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I don't know whatever became of it, but there was a book written by a scientist who claimed to find some evidence of a "god gene" or rather, a gene that may have predisposed those who carry it to religious experience. Perhaps there is something like this at play in our genetic make-up. Who knows...