No, we do not fully understand the appendix. We have assumptions. Just like we don't arbitrarily take out the tonsils...another mystery.
No it is not what I believe it is fact. What you are doing is simply twisting anything and everything into evidence of something which is not proven. There is no evidence whatsoever to call atheism a parasitical ideology. Just because it is not popular does not make it less than beneficial. Atheists have far more of the beneficial attributes you describe. Religion and its faith cause more violence, suffering and stupidity than atheism. Not having an impact is a good thing as religion and faith have had and continue to have a profound impact and most of it very negative. Better to have no impact it than endless bloody impact - - - Updated - - - Yes we do fully understand it try reading a simple medical school text. There are no mysteries for the appendix or tonsils
To summarize this thread there is no god looking out after us life is combination of random events and biology We are just really complicated animals. Some are destined to have great lives and most will have marginal, if not (*)(*)(*)(*)ty ones, through no fault of their own. This s all biology and random events. One day, we cease to exist. Get every ounce of pleasure out of life you can, at anyone's expense, because the party is soon over. They will be doing the same at your expense
The problem of evil is not one of the stronger criticisms of theism. Not every criticism of theism amounts to much, but that doesn't threaten the position of atheism as much as you imply. The burden of proof, after all, is on the person asserting that something exists, let alone that it has a plan for the universe. On a related note, there is a problem of internal consistency in that the values of the god described in the bible are not moral, particularly in the old testament, and yet it is asserted that god is benevolent. But this criticism only applies to the Abrahamic conception of god, and not theism in general. Theism's primary problem is no evidence. I don't think stubbornness is necessary. I'd actually prefer to believe what you do, I just can't bring myself to believe something just because it would be nice. For example, I'd like to think I'm the smartest person in the world, but I have no evidence for that assertion and the evidence I've seen would actually suggest that is not the case in the areas tested. I might be unusually intelligent in a few ways, but not uniquely. Same thing for believing in god or the afterlife. It's interesting how Christian's always talk about god's plan. It's like their trump card for challenges to faith. The world doesn't match what their bible tells them, so they assume the evidence is simply misleading them because they can't understand the mysterious super-complicated divine plan. The most coherent description I've heard of this is that this tiny planet Earth in this vast universe is some testing ground for fidelity towards an insecure god who gives no real evidence for his existence, and so chooses people to save based upon their ability to believe things without evidence (which is mostly correlated with where they were born in the world), and act appropriately knowing that if they don't regret being the way they were made (sinful) they'll be destroyed or tortured forever. Something random or predictable happens, good or bad, and they think it's all part of god's plan. Doesn't matter what it is. Got a raise at work? God's plan, it's not because you worked hard and your boss wants to retain you. Your child died of leukemia? Must be god's plan, snuffing out the young life, perhaps to test your faith or something your brain cannot comprehend but is super moral and clever. It couldn't really be because of chromosomal translocations in hematopoietic stem cells that occurred randomly through a nondisjunctive mitotic event. But these good/bad things do not appear to be happening in any directed, supernatural way. They're just random. Good and bad people are not affected disproportionately, nor is there any kind of pattern other than what would be expected through chance and natural laws that can be demonstrated in experiments with no evidence of some kind of supernatural extra factor. This doesn't actually have to be a bleak outlook, aside from probably not existing after death. People are perfectly capable of reasoning their way through morality, and finding meaning in their lives without the guidance of an imaginary friend.
If I ever see an argument for the existence of a God that didn't start with an "If", then it would be the first.
No it's not. There are Protestants who believe that the papacy is the seat of the antichrist and that the "Catholic god" is a "distorted" variation of the "true god." The are other Protestants who believe that Jesus is merely a prophet, which is why I said that certain Protestants more closely resemble Islam.
Funny how the exact same thing can be said by Atheists about Deists. An argument could be made that religious faith is itself a delusion designed to provide "spiritual" comfort to those who require it.
Which atheists see it this way? Many speak of a natural cause to all events. That's not the same as saying it's random. If you want to know what's delusional, believing in the supernatural without sensory evidence (the only valid way to know any reality) would seem to come much closer to delusional than anything an atheist will say about the nature of the universe.
You say that atheists believe in a natural cause to all events and I agree with that sentiment. However, the more I learn about all of the natural causes in the universe, the less I can believe that it was all the result of a cold meaningless jumble of matter. The one major point that science doesn't seem to be able to explain is where everything started. I know that the "Big Bang" theory is said to be reliable but honestly what proof do we as humans have. I personally believe that the origin of everything is what causes people to even consider religion. Because even in the big bang theory, that infinitesimally small speck of matter and energy had to come from somewhere.
I have no feelings regarding such threads. No one is forcing atheists to get upset and respond to my OP.
The ultimate origin of everything. Someone who doesn't believe in God or deities. - - - Updated - - - And what causes these natural events to act in the way that they do?
"Some atheists see it that way..." Well, then the atheists who don't obviously don't know what they believe in. If there is no ultimate origin for everything (God), then everything is random. "You have it quite backwards." It isn't believers who are constantly reverting to emotion-based arguments when challenging the notion of an all-powerful Creator ("bad things make me feel bad; God doesn't exist").
Why does it seem that any discussion of atheism, brought up by a zealous Christian (but I'm sure Jews and Muslims do too), always go from "non-belief in any deity"..... to "not believing in Jesus and the God of the Bible (or Quran)"? So that the impression is given that Hindus, Deists, etc. are "atheists"? Or did I answer my own question?
The ONLY reason someone is a theist is because they're told there's a god by religious texts and by religious institutions, and because they fear death. Why else would a human being believe? It's not like you've ever seen or heard your god. There's zero evidence. If there was evidence for your god(s), there'd be no atheists.
Ardant theists (primarily Christian) declare "this or that" is "absolute proof of the existance of God".... which means that 1000s of years of very intelligent atheistic or agnostic philosophers and thinkers are somehow "ignoring" "clear evidence right before their eyes."
Yes it is consistently believers who resort to emotional arguments and not atheists. That is fact. We can find endless examples of people like you persecuting others for challenging their faith. You can find no examples of the reverse.
Unless you're a Jesus freak, you're not going to be on a spiritual high 24/7. - - - Updated - - - No, if God had a cause He wouldn't be God. An eternal being has no cause. - - - Updated - - - When atheists think this to be the case, it's not surprising that some remain atheists.
Who said anything about 7/24 or a "spiritual high"? Generally speaking humans require spiritual comfort in times of emotional turmoil and crisis.
