Is it possible for atheism to ever be anything more than critical theory?

[ding]

I don't believe it is possible for atheism to ever be anything more than critical theory because there is no affirmative case for atheism. The only argument of atheism is to argue against religion and to criticize religion.

So my question is... Is it possible for atheism to ever be anything more than critical theory?

No it’s not, they continue to promote the Big Bang Theory...

What's wrong with space and time having a beginning?

Nothing, who created space and time is the question...

Have you ever heard of inflation?

I have, what’s the relevance to our creator and the universe?

Well, several actually. Existence had a beginning and it was created from nothing following the laws of conservation and quantum mechanics which means the laws of nature were in place before space and time itself. Laws which predestined that beings that know and create would eventually arise. Which means the potential for intelligence existed before space and time itself, and that intelligence existed before space and time itself too. And of course the only solution to the first cause conundrum is something which is eternal and unchanging which means that it can be no thing as matter and energy cannot exist forever without reaching thermal equilibrium and intelligence is no thing.

Other than that not much.

 

[Karl Rand]

I don't believe it is possible for atheism to ever be anything more than critical theory because there is no affirmative case for atheism. The only argument of atheism is to argue against religion and to criticize religion.

So my question is... Is it possible for atheism to ever be anything more than critical theory?

No it’s not, they continue to promote the Big Bang Theory...

What's wrong with space and time having a beginning?

Nothing, who created space and time is the question...

Why ‘who’?

 

[GWV5903]

I don't believe it is possible for atheism to ever be anything more than critical theory because there is no affirmative case for atheism. The only argument of atheism is to argue against religion and to criticize religion.

So my question is... Is it possible for atheism to ever be anything more than critical theory?

No it’s not, they continue to promote the Big Bang Theory...

What's wrong with space and time having a beginning?

Nothing, who created space and time is the question...

Why ‘who’?

Then ‘what’?

 

[Karl Rand]

No it’s not, they continue to promote the Big Bang Theory...

What's wrong with space and time having a beginning?[/QUOTE]

Nothing, who created space and time is the question... [/QUOTE]
Why ‘who’?[/QUOTE]

Then ‘what’? [/QUOTE]
Why do we assume we’ll ever be able to ‘prove’ this one way or the other and why does it matter apart from keeping a few cosmologists in employment and giving the religious an imaginary ‘proof’ that a creator was a necessity ? It would appear that for many members of our species the ultimate pain is uncertainty. I can understand those who need to believe in life after death out of a simple fear of ceasing to be but to want to know the ‘answer’ to questions that are almost impossible to ask in a sensible manner is more than just a waste of time, it’s weird.

 

[dblack]

All our time discussing religion? Silly me. Here I thought all those posts in the Sports forum were about sports.

I was talking about this room.

I love sports though. I’m a big fan of golf.

There have been discussions on ethics as well. But when I see threads started denigrating atheists, yes I tend to step in and see what is being said.

Yes, but that would be the exception. Surely you do not deny what some atheists are doing here, right?

Yes, there are atheists who come here just to attack religious beliefs. Just as there are religious people who come here to attack atheists. I do not see much difference between the two.

Neither do I. They are rival religions. Although socialism is a special case of religion.

Yep - I knew you come around to that one. Atheism is not a religion.

 

[ding]

I was talking about this room.

I love sports though. I’m a big fan of golf.

There have been discussions on ethics as well. But when I see threads started denigrating atheists, yes I tend to step in and see what is being said.

Yes, but that would be the exception. Surely you do not deny what some atheists are doing here, right?

Yes, there are atheists who come here just to attack religious beliefs. Just as there are religious people who come here to attack atheists. I do not see much difference between the two.

Neither do I. They are rival religions. Although socialism is a special case of religion.

Yep - I knew you come around to that one. Atheism is not a religion.

It all depends on the atheist whether or not he or she has elevated his atheism to a religion. Atheism in and of itself is not a religion.

 

[norwegen]

Former Christians have made a case for atheism. Israel-Only atheists are something of a fringe group, to be sure, even among preterists, but they make a logical case, nonetheless.

Jesus tells a Syrophoenician woman that he came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt 15:24). In fact he calls her a dog because she is not numbered among them, his people. (In the parable of the prodigal son, he likens foreigners to pigs, but that may be another discussion.) He also instructs his disciples to take the message of the kingdom only to the Israelites, not to the Gentiles (Mt 10:5-6).

St. Paul tells his contemporaries in the Galatian churches that Christ came to redeem them because they were under the law (Gal 4:4-5). The law, of course, was Mosaic; it subjugated only Israelites and Judeans, not foreigners.

Jesus did not come to rescue from the law the Romans or the Greeks or anyone else who was not descended from Abraham or David. He came only for his own people.

Israel-Only atheists read the Bible very critically – a sacred text written for, about, and to the Israelites. These atheists comprehend audience relevance and the time statements and the biblical narrative in general, and are very difficult to argue with. The age ended in AD 70 when the temple burned down and Judea lost its identity. Jesus accomplished his mission; he came in judgment and now resides with the Father and his elect. Humankind is on its own.

Of course I have issues with this, as preterists do, but not all of it. Certainly not the premise. I see how they can argue for atheism; or maybe not atheism per se, but at least that God no longer interacts with His creation.

These people are atheists at any rate and make their argument not from disbelief but from belief.

 

[edthecynic]

An atheist does not believe in the spiritual. An atheist does not believe we are anything more than matter. An atheist does not believe that anything exists beyond the material world.

More critical theory as you define it!
Actually Atheists are more spiritually connected than Deists like you who are filled only with the spirit of hate for all who do not accept their pontifications. An Atheist sees the spirituality of music, for example, as something that lives on long after the composer has died when the listener is moved emotionally upon hearing the composition.

True spirituality has nothing to do with the existence of God, which you would know if you knew anything at all about spirituality!!!

 

[ding]

An atheist does not believe in the spiritual. An atheist does not believe we are anything more than matter. An atheist does not believe that anything exists beyond the material world.

More critical theory as you define it!
Actually Atheists are more spiritually connected than Deists like you who are filled only with the spirit of hate for all who do not accept their pontifications. An Atheist sees the spirituality of music, for example, as something that lives on long after the composer has died when the listener is moved emotionally upon hearing the composition.

True spirituality has nothing to do with the existence of God, which you would know if you knew anything at all about spirituality!!!

Wrong. Atheists by definition are materialists. They only believe in a material world. No criticism at all. Just reality.

 

[edthecynic]

And of course the only solution to the first cause conundrum is something which is eternal and unchanging which means that it can be no thing as matter and energy cannot exist forever without reaching thermal equilibrium and intelligence is no thing.

Pure hogwash!

 

[edthecynic]

An atheist does not believe in the spiritual. An atheist does not believe we are anything more than matter. An atheist does not believe that anything exists beyond the material world.

More critical theory as you define it!
Actually Atheists are more spiritually connected than Deists like you who are filled only with the spirit of hate for all who do not accept their pontifications. An Atheist sees the spirituality of music, for example, as something that lives on long after the composer has died when the listener is moved emotionally upon hearing the composition.

True spirituality has nothing to do with the existence of God, which you would know if you knew anything at all about spirituality!!!

Wrong. Atheists by definition are materialists. They only believe in a material world. No criticism at all. Just reality.

Bullshit!
Music, as I have shown, exposes the lie of your pontification. The soul of the composer lives on in their composition long after their material existence has ended.
You as a Diest are simply not honest enough to ever admit that your hate motivated pontifications could ever be wrong.

 

[WinterBorn]

An atheist does not believe in the spiritual. An atheist does not believe we are anything more than matter. An atheist does not believe that anything exists beyond the material world.

More critical theory as you define it!
Actually Atheists are more spiritually connected than Deists like you who are filled only with the spirit of hate for all who do not accept their pontifications. An Atheist sees the spirituality of music, for example, as something that lives on long after the composer has died when the listener is moved emotionally upon hearing the composition.

True spirituality has nothing to do with the existence of God, which you would know if you knew anything at all about spirituality!!!

Wrong. Atheists by definition are materialists. They only believe in a material world. No criticism at all. Just reality.

Perhaps by YOUR uneducated definition. But that is not reality.

I am an atheist (or as close to it as can be). I raised 4 children. My 3 biological children and a step-child. All 4 of them never questioned my love for them. Is that "materialistic"? I have marched against injustice. Is that being a materialist? I have been an artist for the art, not for money (which is good because there wasn't any). Is that materialist?

I have also donated time and money to various charitable organizations. Not because I was told to do so. Not out of fear of retribution in the afterlife. But because there is a need. Is that materialistic?

 

[dblack]

An atheist does not believe in the spiritual. An atheist does not believe we are anything more than matter. An atheist does not believe that anything exists beyond the material world.

More critical theory as you define it!
Actually Atheists are more spiritually connected than Deists like you who are filled only with the spirit of hate for all who do not accept their pontifications. An Atheist sees the spirituality of music, for example, as something that lives on long after the composer has died when the listener is moved emotionally upon hearing the composition.

True spirituality has nothing to do with the existence of God, which you would know if you knew anything at all about spirituality!!!

Wrong. Atheists by definition are materialists. They only believe in a material world. No criticism at all. Just reality.

Nope. The definition of atheist is just someone who doesn't believe in gods. The are not necessarily, nor by definition, materialists. I'm an atheist and I believe in lots of non-material things (love, liberty, the human mind, etc ...)

 

[anotherlife]

Plus the other problem with atheism is that it is a purely political stunt. Mostly used by Marxist political strategists. In contrast, religions offer personal enrichment.

The problem with atheism is that god can't be fully proven nor fully disproven.

Its always going to be a problem for anyone to prove or disprove an idea that’s essentially meaningless.

Interestingly, the Bible actually does say, that the word of God is meaningless to the doomed.

 

[edthecynic]

Plus the other problem with atheism is that it is a purely political stunt. Mostly used by Marxist political strategists. In contrast, religions offer personal enrichment.

The problem with atheism is that god can't be fully proven nor fully disproven.

Its always going to be a problem for anyone to prove or disprove an idea that’s essentially meaningless.

Interestingly, the Bible actually does say, that the word of God is meaningless to the doomed.

And it is just as meaningless to the "saved."

 

[dblack]

Plus the other problem with atheism is that it is a purely political stunt. Mostly used by Marxist political strategists. In contrast, religions offer personal enrichment.

The problem with atheism is that god can't be fully proven nor fully disproven.

Its always going to be a problem for anyone to prove or disprove an idea that’s essentially meaningless.

Interestingly, the Bible actually does say, that the word of God is meaningless to the doomed.

And it is just as meaningless to the "saved."

I don't think of it as meaningless at all. More the opposite. Meaning is the point.

 

[mosser]

Just my 2 cents' worth:
Theology, if not religion, is very much critical. At the same time, not all arguments for atheism are critical, or even rational for that matter. Theology and atheism have been regarded as mutually exclusive things of late, but an argument for atheism could be an a theological exercise in that it is about the negation of God (Source: The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft (4th Edition)).
Ultimately, atheism is more than just an individual preference. I say this because if it's a critical theory, which I don't think it is, it will engage with the question of life-worlds. Life-worlds is anthropological jargon for "a given socio-political context." On the other hand, many atheistic figures have been responsible for shedding light on the business-like and fundamentalist nature of religions, and I am grateful for that.

 

[james bond]

hahahahahahah
troll
and atheism is not even a ''real''/sensible/etc term because there is no god
for someone not to believe in a god, there has to be a god first

Thanks for proving my point.

I am quite happy for you to not believe in God. It’s not for everyone.

I don't don't believe in god
it's impossible to not not believe in god--there is no god

Good for you. That’s the spirit.

you are like the people hundreds of years ago that believed in witches/ghosts
and comets/etc were supernatural

No. The supernatural is only in Genesis. The Bible tells us to not believe in witches, ghosts and what??? comets haha. It includes fortune tellers, mediums and the like who want your money.

 

[james bond]

Why worry about people who don't believe that a supreme being exists? Why worry that there are some people who simply do not know? Why worry about people who think that more than one god/goddess exists?

Nobody is keeping you from your thoughts.

Because theists are for the most part arrogant authoritarians who need to compel conformity and oppose dissent.

Indeed, in the mind of most theists to tolerate religious dissent is to is to acknowledge the falsity of their religious dogma.

The arrogance, intolerance, and authoritarianism common to far too many theists – such as Christian Dominionism – is what renders religion a chronic threat to a free, secular, and democratic society, and why the Framers wisely mandated the separation of church and state in the Constitution.

Nothing outrages them as much as someone saying.......I just don’t believe what you claim is true

Would it outrage you if someone like your boss at work you that God exists? If my boss said that Jesus doesn't exist after wishing him Merry Christmas, then it wouldn't bother me. I'd just think he's going to hell haha.

I think we are enraged by questioning science such as Stephen Curry stating (as a joke) he didn't believe the moon landing happened and that it was staged. That local podcast statement probably was heard around the world. Another that gets a reaction is a public figure stating we didn't evolve from monkeys and evolution is a lot of hooey.

 

[harmonica]

hahahahahahah
troll
and atheism is not even a ''real''/sensible/etc term because there is no god
for someone not to believe in a god, there has to be a god first

Thanks for proving my point.

I am quite happy for you to not believe in God. It’s not for everyone.

I don't don't believe in god
it's impossible to not not believe in god--there is no god

Good for you. That’s the spirit.

you are like the people hundreds of years ago that believed in witches/ghosts
and comets/etc were supernatural

No. The supernatural is only in Genesis. The Bible tells us to not believe in witches, ghosts and what??? comets haha. It includes fortune tellers, mediums and the like who want your money.

you people believe in a fairy tale--plain and simple