This about sums up my experience with the atheists among us: (Merry Christmas, happy holidays)
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Bashing someone for not believing in your fairy tales about Jesus and The Bible? Why? If I don't believe in it, I just don't. Why would you want to force someone to believe in something?
So, how was it created? Where did the universe come from? What energy created it, and from what source?
Science is an ongoing process of education and discovery. There is no doubt in my mind that as humans progress, at some point, how something came from nothing will be fully explained scientifically. Religiously, the same explanation has been put forth for centuries. Religious believers today use the same explanation as humans did centuries ago, despite the fact that we have learned and discovered a huge amount of information since then.
On the other hand, scientists throughout the ages have continuously made new discoveries through research and experimentation. We can scientifically explain things now that could not be explained years and centuries ago and will continue to do so. The best theologians can come up with is that "you must have faith and simply believe (in magic)". I prefer proof and hard evidence. Religion gives you the illusion of control over the universe and your life. Science actually gives you real control. Also religion seems to provoke wars and science does not.
For the record, I do not care if people celebrate Christmas or nothing or put the Nativity in the yard or a snowman. There will always be extremists and activists on both sides who are offended or who force their beliefs on others. I am confident in my belief in science so the religious believers really don't bother me (unless of course, it is someone pushing religious materials on me at my door or on the street).
"But the question of why there was a Big Bang or any quantum particles at all was presumed to lie safely out of scientific bounds, in the realms of philosophy or religion. Now even that assumption is no longer safe, as exemplified by a new book by the cosmologist Lawrence M. Krauss."
Atheists don't give two hoots what is in your front yard. Public property is another thing entirely.
Atheists do not have "faith" that "something came from nothing." We will abandon the currently held scientific view as soon as there is more persuasive evidence for a contrary view. Science corrects and updates itself, which is exactly what distinguishes it from the tomfoolery of religion.
LOL! Scientists have been known to hold on to outdated beliefs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jacqueg
This liberal atheist doesn't care *at all* what you believe.
What I do care about - government favoring one religion over another, and government favoring any religion over non-religion.
What I do care about - teaching religious stories as science and/or history, without being supported by the standard avenues for peer-reviewed evidence.
Other than that, have at it.
Edited to add - I personally am not anti-christmas, nor do I know any other atheists or atheist organizations who are. If christians want to piggy-back their relatively recent celebration onto the ancient european solstice rites, that's great by me - the more the merrier!
The very act of atheism is an act of idiocy. To be so certain about things which are unknowable is a perfect description of a fool. Same with the religious fundamentalists like in Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc.
The very act of atheism is an act of idiocy. To be so certain about things which are unknowable is a perfect description of a fool. Same with the religious fundamentalists like in Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc.
There are different types of atheism. If you're referring to strong atheism, that asserts no deities exist, I'd tend to agree with you. Weak atheism makes no such assertion. A weak atheist doesn't believe in deities (in my case, for lack of evidence), but does not assert that they don't exist.
Even this goes further than my actual worldview. To me, such questions don't need answering.
Nope. I doubt you'd find a single atheist who would argue that.
What you will find is that atheists will not accept that "god did it" resolves the issue, because it doesn't. All it does is raise an even bigger question.
You need to get out more. I hear that argument all the time: "I KNOW there isn't a God". That is said a LOT.
Theists just move the question from one level to another. Atheists can't explain where the universe came from. Theists postulate that it came from God, but then that provokes the obvious question of where did God come from? Theists cannot answer that one either, can they?
The answer I was given is that we don't understand the concept of "no time". We don't understand the concept of "no beginning, no end". Time is man made, after all.
LOL! Scientists have been known to hold on to outdated beliefs.
Yes, some scientists do hold onto outdated beliefs long after most scientists have moved on. None, however, have held on for over 5000 years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana
Where is the bold going on? Be specific.
Nowhere currently in the US as far as I know. Not because of creationist restraint, though. They're still trying.
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