If God did not exist

[pacer]

Still pretty piss poor, honestly.

First off, I never said true or false. Just because a philosophical opinion can't be proven doesn't mean they're not worth considering. Certainly there are philosophies that you prefer over other philosophies for various reasons? Hopefully you don't base that preference on which people propose which philosophies.

Now, if one must ignore the philosophical opinions of anyone with an philosophical agenda, there's really no reason to look into the thoughts of any philosopher ever.

If by agenda you're referring to something more nefarious, a hidden agenda, that's different, to a degree. However, your basis for that statement is that dude might've had a secret agenda to promote sex with children. When he essentially said that feeling a child up isn't as bad as fucking one, I don't think that the message he was trying to get across was that sex with kids is awesome. Given the statement in question, it's pretty hard to make the logical leap that his problem with Christianity is that it doesn't approve of his pedophile agenda, but if I've misinterpreted, please point out where I should've made that connection.

Next, and perhaps most importantly, I wasn't discussing whether or not the guy was "worth looking into". The idea that I was getting at is that, WHEN YOU ARE PRESENTED WITH A THOUGHT, it seems to me that, if you're confident in your own ability to reason, you can take or leave that thought based on the merit of the thought itself, rather than slipping on your horse-blinders if you find out its from someone of whose morality you disapprove. If you don't want to read his book because you think he's a pedophile, cool, I wouldn't either. However, you came to this post like I did and already read the shit, so what's the point in not processing it? Seems silly as shit. If you're already here to argue, why not argue the point in stead of playing attack the messenger?

Well said!

 

[koshergrl]

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death. (Richard Dawkins)

Dawkins is certainly ethical.

I know I'm pretty much floored by how ethical he is in his commentary about *mild* pedophilia, and how sending a child to Sunday school is a worse form of child abuse than sexually abusing the same child.

 

[koshergrl]

I mean, that's certainly educated, and sympathetic, and socially apt. Don't you think?

 

[pacer]

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

Correction, it was Albert Einstein who was quoted as saying the above.

 

[koshergrl]

Ya huh, lol.

 

[daws101]

It does to the believer.

Can the rest of us not respect that? Should we?

imo we should take it with a grain of salt.

In my opinion we should take it with a bucket of salt.

Skepticism about a belief does not equate to disrespect of the believer.

to most believers it does ..sad but true.

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

It does to the believer.

Can the rest of us not respect that? Should we?

Miracles are the cornerstone of religion and faith. Without them people would abandon hope. They fuel our every movement...well many of us. LOL

That's an odd claim considering the rather large number of people who don't believe in miracles and yet aren't prepared to put a bullet in their heads.

I didn't think it was a claim. In general, people believe in miracles unless you live on Mars.

 

[pacer]

That's an odd claim considering the rather large number of people who don't believe in miracles and yet aren't prepared to put a bullet in their heads.

I agree. There are no miracles today. Except for a handful of so-called miracles of the Bible (for those who choose to believe), most phenomena today including those described in the Bible can be explained by science.

 

[orogenicman]

Miracles are the cornerstone of religion and faith. Without them people would abandon hope. They fuel our every movement...well many of us. LOL

That's an odd claim considering the rather large number of people who don't believe in miracles and yet aren't prepared to put a bullet in their heads.

I didn't think it was a claim. In general, people believe in miracles unless you live on Mars.

In general, not everyone believes in miracles. And those who don't are not, in general, hopeless. See how that works?

 

[Not2BSubjugated]

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

Correction, it was Albert Einstein who was quoted as saying the above.

LMFAO! In terms of argumentative tactics, I gotta hand it to you. This shit right here nigga. . . BEAUTIFUL

When the statement comes from Dawkins, it's bullshit because his ethics are in question.

When you clarify that it's an Einstein thought, suddenly I see no argument against it.

I'm seriously giggling my ass off right now.

Thank you, sir. Anyone trying to identify sheep, talk to this guy!

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

That's an odd claim considering the rather large number of people who don't believe in miracles and yet aren't prepared to put a bullet in their heads.

I didn't think it was a claim. In general, people believe in miracles unless you live on Mars.

In general, not everyone believes in miracles. And those who don't are not, in general, hopeless. See how that works?

I don't believe anyone is hopeless, do you?

I don't see much evidence around of God either.

 

[orogenicman]

I didn't think it was a claim. In general, people believe in miracles unless you live on Mars.

In general, not everyone believes in miracles. And those who don't are not, in general, hopeless. See how that works?

I don't believe anyone is hopeless, do you?

I don't see much evidence around of God either.

Except for what you said:

"Miracles are the cornerstone of religion and faith. Without them people would abandon hope"

 

[Ropey]

I never could figure out why atheists are always so hell bent on convincing other people there is no God?? ..

Actually, its the other way around.

You'll never open your door on a Saturday morning to a rude little granny, little kid in tow, loaded down with tracts they want you to read.

What's actually fascinating is that almost all cultures have had the need for a super being to believe in, lean on, blame and credit.

Seems like that's a very basic weakness that we humans all share.

It's not a weakness, Bro'.... It's a productive cost of our greatest gift: Sentience.

The thing that separates the Monkeys from the monkeys and other animals is that Monkeys understand that death is inevitable. Animals just deal with the next moment as it comes.

Man is an animal that dies very reluctantly its entire life, not just at the end. Various beliefs in life-after-death scenarios and a psyche that embraces religious beliefs makes evolutionary sense to me, considering how productive humans got as they learned to organize around common beliefs.

Say what you will about religion... without it, modern society would not be possible.

Religion taught humans to organize, the greedy industrialized the concept, and 10,000 years later, here we are.

A simple read of history tells the cost of Religion. Same can be said of the cost of Industrialization. WYGD?

Here's something to put in your pipe and smoke on... 'Religion' made 'Government' necessary.

​

I agree with that single point of separation. It's not the only one and it's not the main one imho.

Reverence brother. That's the real difference. Humans bury their dead all the while revering their lives.

monkeys throw shit.

^ True Story

 

[AVG-JOE]

Funerary activities play right in to the whole fear of death creating a need for religion which introduced organized activity which all led to what little Sentience Monkeys currently display.

We're getting there, Brother. Evolution works.

On to the Stars!​

 

[Ropey]

Funerary activities play right in to the whole fear of death creating a need for religion which introduced organized activity which all led to what little Sentience Monkeys currently display.

We're getting there, Brother. Evolution works.

On to the Stars!​

Very possibly there was a time when it was just to hide the body from the carrion eaters and we just adopted it as a tradition which then became a reverence due to cultural and religious indoctrination.

I get you. We did think the sun revolved around the Earth.

Evolution has given the monkey no cause for concern and this Monkey has no concern for the cause unless it's to pause for the cause.

 

[Youwerecreated]

Good book!

Professor Lennox takes your buddy to school over some of his comments in this book,you should watch the debate.

 

[pacer]

Where can I find the debate?

 

[pacer]

"Why would anybody be intimidated by mere words? I mean, neither I nor any other athiest that I know ever threatens violence. We never threaten to fly planes into skyscrapers. We never threaten suicide bombs. We are very gentle people. All we do is use words to talk about things like the cosmos, the origin of the universe, evolution, the origin of life. What's there to be frightened of? It's just an opinion." (Richard Dawkins)

 

[AVG-JOE]

 

[AVG-JOE]

Where can I find the debate?

The internet, Bro'. The internet.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0UIbd0eLxw]Lennox Vs. Dawkins Debate - Has Science Buried God? - YouTube[/ame]