curbyIII

I have noted that many of you take an aggressive and even hostile stance towards Christians (and other religious people). I personally hate religion and I sincerely believe the world would be a much better place if everyone were an atheist. The evidence for atheism is overwhelming. People that can't understand it intellectually must be retarded. But most Christians are average people and many are quite intelligent. The reason they won't accept atheism is because they don't want to. Religion is a comfortable and fuzzy blanket and most people don't want to give up such a safe delusion. These people will not listen to you, they will not accept your arguments and will become angry with you if you try to show them they are wrong (trust me I know). They maintain their delusional world by not questioning it. Religious people that are here are either fanatics or people seeking truth. The very fact that they are here often means that they may be questioning their faith. This is a great thing and these people should be welcomed not abused. The key is to open their minds.

Unrelated Topic

Have you noticed that religions praise faith and condemn doubt? But faith closes minds while doubt opens them.

Amie

Hi curbyIII
Aside from the "People that can't understand it intellectually must be retarded" part I thought that was a very nice post.
I think most of the members here are very sweet. They may not agree with me but they are friendly none the less.

I have a question for you though. You mentioned faith closes minds. In your opinion how so?

curbyIII

I was in a whimsical mood.

Faith is by definition a belief in something without evidence. You believe in what somebody else tells you. An open mind seeks the truth and is willing to consider the evidence and viewpoints of others. Since faith is not based on evidence, a person with strong faith will not be swayed by evidence no matter how ridiculous his viewpoint is. A person who is not swayed by evidence and sticks only to his own viewpoint is closed minded. Doubt on the other hand makes a person reconsider whether or not his beliefs are actually true. This person is willing to listen to evidence and to the viewpoints of others. This is an open minded person. So faith closes minds while doubt opens them.

I don't think that my previous statement: "People that can't understand it intellectually must be retarded" is unreasonable. I see no real difference between faith in God and faith in Santa. How would you describe adults who sincerely believe in Santa Claus? Severely retarded or mentally ill. Abandoning faith is mostly a matter of maturity. When we grow up we face the harsh reality that there is no Santa Claus. Many people never grow up to realise that there is no God.

rainbow walking

Hi curbyIII,
How do you know there is no god? Do you have any proof of this claim or do you just choose to believe that because you have no proof there is a god? If so, how is your faith any different than the faith of a christian's?

Shadownought

He's probably talking about the Christian god specifically. If so, then I agree with him- the standard image presented of the Christian god (omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent) makes no sense, and in fact causes more problems and questions then it solves (hell, the problem of evil, free will, and so on). From all this, I conclude that the god of Christianity doesn't exist.

However, I don't believe that there is no possibility of any gods, anywhere- after all, a "god" could be practically anything.

rainbow walking

Hi Shadownought,
Are incomprehensibility to humans and logical inconsistency a carte blanche proof that a thing doesn't exist?

Baloo

(emphasis mine)

Well, technically, yes. It's called a proof by contradiction. If I start with an assumption, and show that it leads to a logical inconsistency, then either there is a flaw in the argument, or I've proved the assumption wrong. Unless a "carte blanche" proof is different from a the mathematical definition of a proof, that is.

Baloo

Um, rainbow walking, when did curby say he "knows there is no god"? Do you know there is no Santa? Now do you see what he's driving at?

RW, when did curby say he had proof of the claim that there is no god? Do you have proof that there is no Santa? When did he say that he didn't believe in god as a result of a lack of proof in that god? Is your disbelief in Santa based only on the fact that nobody has proven to you that Santa exists? Why are you pulling lawyer-like tactics here, and questioning curby on points he never made?

How is your belief that there is no Santa any different than that of a five year old listening for hoofs on the rooftop Christmas Eve?

Darth Dane

I have faith in doubt




DD - Faithy Spliff

pug846

I have noted that many of you take an aggressive and even hostile stance towards Christians (and other religious people). I personally hate atheistic philosophies and I sincerely believe the world would be a much better place if everyone were a theist. The evidence for theism is overwhelming. People that can't understand it intellectually must be retarded. But most atheists are average people and many are quite intelligent. The reason they won't accept theism is because they don't want to. Atheistic philosophies are a comfortable and fuzzy blanket and most people don't want to give up such a safe delusion. These people will not listen to you, they will not accept your arguments and will become angry with you if you try to show them they are wrong (trust me I know). They maintain their delusional world by not questioning it. Atheistic people that are here are either fanatics or people seeking truth. The very fact that they are here often means that they may be questioning their faith. This is a great thing and these people should be welcomed not abused. The key is to open their minds.

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If any Christian were to come in here and use as many fallacies as above, most of you would jump all over the person. I hope the reasoning above looks as ridiculous to you whether the word “atheism” or “theism” is used.