There's nothing in my life that appeared by magic. Everything I have I worked for, bought, was given to me as a present by another human, or made myself.
There's nothing in my life that appeared by magic. Everything I have I worked for, bought, was given to me as a present by another human, or made myself.
lol.......
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the belief in no god, is a faith, just like belief in a god is a faith. There is absolutely no evidence to support your belief and while I respect your right to believe as you will, I find your tone to be counterproductive. Sneering with derision at those who do believe is just bad manners. Only death will answer the question, you will either cease to exist and that will be the end, or there may be something more.
...by God's grace.
The way i see it, humans have faith in things that cannot be measured, manipulated, or observed. This means, we can not scientifically study god. Therefore there is no scientific evidence for a god. BUT, there is also no scientific evidence that there is NOT a god.
basically, science can't say there is or isn't a god
So, the most logical answer is actually "we don't know" and that is not based on faith. It is based on the lack of scientific evidence. My point is, the belief that we cannot know there is/isnt a god is not faith based.
hope I'm not coming across as snide or rude, Im trying not to....
Nope, atheism is the lack of belief/faith. Some analogies to this common misconception about what atheism is: If atheism is a belief, then bald is a hair color...if atheism is a belief, then health is a disease.
Please point to a quote of mine where I "sneered with derision". Every explanation I gave I attributed to myself. I'm thinking you're referring to my saying they sounded "ridiculous". When I said "they" it was clear I was referring to the idea of said object as I interpreted it. I was not referring to people that believe in it.
You can play semantic word games, but in the end the atheist have faith that the universe either arose from nothing or has existed for all time, where as the religious person has faith that there exists a god who either arose from nothing or has existed for all time, and created the universe. Either way there is clearly something that is beyond our understanding. I do not pretend to have the answers, though I have pondered these questions for many decades. My philosophy is to allow each individual to make his own way in this world.
IndVet, perhaps I took your post out of context, but if I did, I do not think I was alone.
IndVet, perhaps I took your post out of context, but if I did, I do not think I was alone.
It isn't semantic word games. Beliefs (or lack of) about how the universe started can be totally independent about beliefs (or lack of) in any of the hundreds of gods. That is, I know many atheists that have no belief/faith in anything regarding the "beginning"...they don't care about it at all. Other atheists may have an agnostic approach to the "beginning"...but it's quite inappropriate to stereotype what "atheists" believe in, in the ways you are.
