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I think it's impossible to be termed an atheist. Everyone, deep down, believes there is SOMETHING. Why not Agnostic? To believe that something COULD be out there. It's pretty cocky and arrogant to say 100% that there is NOTHING out there. We don't even know 99% of space, but we can say there is nothing out there? No God? No driving force? No chance that something (whether you call it God or being or something else) controls the world?
hi there....
i think this boils down to semantics. since there is no position that is called a-deist... so the
being that would be considered to be a the first uncaused cause, the prime mover as it were, who isn't concerned with humans problems isn't what is being debated. the theists position is to have access to a third party revelation of the all encompassing moral authority of the universe which often times marginalizes people (homosexuals and women in particular). so really, in my opinion it is very easy to be an atheist as it is the neutral position...."make a claim, prove it"
and since we know that our tiny little blue bubble is surrounded by the chaotic events in the universe, our disposition is to try to make sense out of it...why? as rational thinking beings we have no choice but to....
I think it's impossible to be termed an atheist. Everyone, deep down, believes there is SOMETHING. Why not Agnostic? To believe that something COULD be out there. It's pretty cocky and arrogant to say 100% that there is NOTHING out there. We don't even know 99% of space, but we can say there is nothing out there? No God? No driving force? No chance that something (whether you call it God or being or something else) controls the world?
Nope, the impossible (or is really really difficult) is for those taught, indoctrinated, programmed, brainwashed into the concept of gods to dislodge that concept from their mind. This training started for most victims long before they learned to control their bladder.
After all how long has man been 'looking' and with advances in technology that have improved mans ability to see, everything seen goes to disprove the existence of fictional gods, not just the one, but all of them.
Speak for yourself. I evaluate all the evidence that is presented before me and I modify my world view, regardless of whether it "suits" me or not, to fit the evidence. If you go around picking and choosing the evidence that fits your agenda then so be it.... but do not do it while thinking everyone else does too.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skilldeadly
I think it's impossible to be termed an atheist. Everyone, deep down, believes there is SOMETHING. Why not Agnostic? To believe that something COULD be out there. It's pretty cocky and arrogant to say 100% that there is NOTHING out there. We don't even know 99% of space, but we can say there is nothing out there? No God? No driving force? No chance that something (whether you call it God or being or something else) controls the world?
Really?
How many Christians, Muslims or Jews believe in Thor, Zeus, Zoroaster or Horus?
If they are atheists about those gods, meaning they don't believe in them, what's so hard to fathom that an atheist does not believe in your god?
There is something....the chicken shwarama at al-Amir....it is to die for.
Only a god-thing could have created something so delightfully delectable. That, and gyros. And Skyline Chili. And Moo Goo Gai Pan.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skilldeadly
Why not Agnostic?
Because it is neither what I believe or know to be true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skilldeadly
It's pretty cocky and arrogant to say 100% that there is NOTHING out there.
There is nothing out there.
Even the people who are "out there" are nothing (even though they are "out there").
Quote:
Originally Posted by skilldeadly
We don't even know 99% of space, but we can say there is nothing out there?
Aside from various forms of electromagnetic radiation, a lot of dust and debris from destruction, and planetary bodies and stars, there is nothing out there.
In space, no one can hear you scream....or say anything at all for that matter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skilldeadly
No God?
No god.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skilldeadly
No driving force?
A driving force is not a god-thing....note that a 7 Iron or rapid combustion --- like from an explosive device --- are driving forces.
So are pieces of metal.
Shrapnel from an RPG blew off a guy's leg and the force drove the leg through the air until it hit my radio operator and knocked him to the ground (which most likely saved his life).
Should I set up an altar and shrine to the RPG or to the Air Mobile Traumatically Amputated Leg?
A holiday for the Air Mobile Traumatically Amputated Leg tomorrow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skilldeadly
No chance that something (whether you call it God or being or something else) controls the world?
I think right now, Stupidity controls the world. Mircea
Lol ... I saw comedian Lewis Black recently. He said that it would surprise most people that he is an optimist. "I wake up every morning with the innocence and enthusiasm of a newborn evangelical Christian! I know that people can't be this stupid FOR EVER. Surely today is the day that everyone will wake up and quit being idiots. And then I have my morning coffee and start reading the newspaper, and I say, "S__T!". Well ... maybe tomorrow.
Lol ... I saw comedian Lewis Black recently. He said that it would surprise most people that he is an optimist. "I wake up every morning with the innocence and enthusiasm of a newborn evangelical Christian! I know that people can't be this stupid FOR EVER. Surely today is the day that everyone will wake up and quit being idiots. And then I have my morning coffee and start reading the newspaper, and I say, "S__T!". Well ... maybe tomorrow.
Well obviously not. Many of us are termed "atheists"...
Quote:
Originally Posted by skilldeadly
Everyone, deep down, believes there is SOMETHING. Why not Agnostic? To believe that something COULD be out there. It's pretty cocky and arrogant to say 100% that there is NOTHING out there.
For someone who just finished presuming to know what the entire world believes (that "there is SOMETHING"), that means a lot.
Well, as others have told you, atheism isn't necessarily a belief that there isn't a god; it's just a lack of belief in one. The terms 'theist' and 'atheist' pertain to belief or lack of belief in the existence of any deities; the terms 'gnostic' and 'agnostic' pertain to belief or lack of belief in the possibility of knowing whether there is a god. So, ultimately:
You can be agnostic while being either theist or atheist.
Gnostic Theist - "I know there is a god!"
Agnostic Theist - "I don't know there is a god, but I believe. That's why they call it faith."
Gnostic Atheist - "I know there isn't a god!"
Agnostic Atheist - "I don't know if there is a god, but I don't believe there is."
That's me, in the last group.
And I think it's just as "arrogant" to think you know there is a god, particularly if you think this god (creator of the entire universe and time itself) cares all that much about little old you. But to each his own.
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