Atheism: Love it or Leave it? - Part 2

[Jerry Siegel]

I don't believe that any god, goddess, or pantheon of god(desse)s, exists. I accept the possibility. It is irrational not to. But it is equally irrational to believe that at least one god or goddess exists. There is no supportive evidence.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most Jainists and Buddhists are a type of atheist, correct? By that I mean, most of their sects believe in spirits and demons, but they do not believe in an all powerful God nor do they think the universe was created. Is that right?

I don't know much about Janism, but there are plenty of different types of Buddhist and ways of thinking.

Some buddhists don't believe in reincarnation or spirit either. My dad is a buddhist monk and has no such beliefs.

 

[SuperFerret]

I wouldn't say Buddhism is atheistic. You can be Buddhist and believe in a god or gods, and much of the spirituality side of it suggests you can become one if you work hard enough at it.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

I don't believe that any god, goddess, or pantheon of god(desse)s, exists. I accept the possibility. It is irrational not to. But it is equally irrational to believe that at least one god or goddess exists. There is no supportive evidence.

I can disprove the existence of God no more than I can disprove the existence of never never land, leprachauns or fairies.

It doesn't stop me from considering them fantasy.

And for some reason, I don't think anyone would call you irrational for saying that you don't see the existence of leprachauns as a possibility.

Which by that logic, I suppose you should.

 

[Jerry Siegel]

I can disprove the existence of God no more than I can disprove the existence of never never land, leprachauns or fairies.

It doesn't stop me from considering them fantasy.

And for some reason, I don't think anyone would call you irrational for saying that you don't see the existence of leprachauns as a possibility.

Which by that logic, I suppose you should.

Never Never Land was invented by J. M. Barrie.

If leprechauns or fairies existed, we'd probably spot one every once in a while in the back yard. gods are supposed to be invisible and intangible and spend most of their time on some higher plane of existence anyway. I think it's safe, and sane, to say neither leprechauns nor fairies, nor Never Never Land, exist. I don't think it's safe or sane to say that a god can't possibly exist when we can't possibly know.

 

[redhawk23]

Never Never Land was invented by J. M. Barrie.

If leprechauns or fairies existed, we'd probably spot one every once in a while in the back yard. gods are supposed to be invisible and intangible and spend most of their time on some higher plane of existence anyway. I think it's safe, and sane, to say neither leprechauns nor fairies, nor Never Never Land, exist. I don't think it's safe or sane to say that a god can't possibly exist when we can't possibly know.

Many people claim they have.

 

[Franklin Richards]

If there was a God he either died or stopped caring or we're in some elaborate experiment of his making. If I did believe in a God then I don't think I'd worship him.

 

[Jerry Siegel]

Many people claim they have.

And we all know where those people spend most of their time, don't we?

If there was a God he either died or stopped caring or we're in some elaborate experiment of his making. If I did believe in a God then I don't think I'd worship him.

"If there is a God, if there is, I think most reasonable people might agree that he's at least incompetent, and maybe, just maybe, doesn't give a ****. Doesn't give a ****, which I admire in a person, and which would explain a lotta these bad results."

- George Carlin

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Never Never Land was invented by J. M. Barrie.

And once upon a time, ancient civilisations invented the concept of Gods to explain things they couldn't understand.

We've moved on from that. We understand things a lot better now. But God or Gods are such a comforting idea, so ingrained in society and culture, that it hangs on.

If leprechauns or fairies existed, we'd probably spot one every once in a while in the back yard.

1. People do. And those people are no less sane than someone who says their prayers were answered, they witnessed a miracle or even prophets who say god 'spoke' to them.

2. I don't see wild boars in my back garden. Does that mean they don't exist?

gods are supposed to be invisible and intangible and spend most of their time on some higher plane of existence anyway.

And yet most religious ideas stem from times that God 'spoke' to someone, an angel appeared or some other worldy happening.

I think it's safe, and sane, to say neither leprechauns nor fairies, nor Never Never Land, exist.

I don't think it's safe or sane to say that a god can't possibly exist when we can't possibly know.

How can you possibly know fairies and leprechauns do not exist?

Seriously, show me the proof.

 

[Jerry Siegel]

And once upon a time, ancient civilisations invented the concept of Gods to explain things they couldn't understand.

We've moved on from that. We understand things a lot better now. But God or Gods are such a comforting idea, so ingrained in society and culture, that it hangs on.

J. M. Barrie never said Never Never Land was real.

1. People do. And those people are no less sane than someone who says their prayers were answered, they witnessed a miracle or even prophets who say god 'spoke' to them.

2. I don't see wild boars in my back garden. Does that mean they don't exist?

1. I consider all those groups of people equally insane.

2. No.

Spoiler

And yet most religious ideas stem from times that God 'spoke' to someone, an angel appeared or some other worldy happening.

Just because someone believes god spoke to them doesn't mean god spoke to them. Just because someone believes an angel appeared to them doesn't mean an angel appeared to them. Just because something big happens doesn't mean god did it.

How can you possibly know fairies and leprechauns do not exist?

Seriously, show me the proof.

I can't prove they don't exist, you can't prove anything doesn't exist. I think it's safe to say they don't exist because I can't think of any reason to think that they could possibly exist.

 

[Anubis]

Spoiler

.....

 

[Jerry Siegel]

.....

Yo' mama could do with a shave.

 

[Anubis]

A yo mama joke?

You can do better than that.

 

[Marvin]

What's interesting is how visibly active the scriptures describe god being roughly in that 3-2 thousand year ago period. Especially on the engaging with humans level.

It's interesting because that's similar to when the greeks had visibly active deities of their own. However when the question arises when they're not so visibly active in these modern times the answer is obvious.

Human like beings have been around for about 2hundred thousand years(i think) and it's during those revolutionary times that we find the most creator specific acts and mandates take place. Seas parting and god touching down and such. It's very interesting.

 

[Jerry Siegel]

A yo mama joke?

You can do better than that.

You replied with a joke, I replied with a joke.

 

[Jerry Siegel]

What's interesting is how visibly active the scriptures describe god being roughly in that 3-2 thousand year ago period. Especially on the engaging with humans level.

It's interesting because that's similar to when the greeks had visibly active deities of their own. However when the question arises when they're not so visibly active in these modern times the answer is obvious.

Human like beings have been around for about 2hundred thousand years(i think) and it's during those revolutionary times that we find the most creator specific acts and mandates take place. Seas parting and god touching down and such. It's very interesting.

The times have always been revolutionary.

 

[Anubis]

Not a very good one.

How about: "All that proves is that midgets love Gold."

 

[hopefuldreamer]

I can't prove they don't exist, you can't prove anything doesn't exist. I think it's safe to say they don't exist because I can't think of any reason to think that they could possibly exist.

That's exactly how I feel about God.

I just think if your going to call believing there IS NO GOD irrational, then you have to accept that believing any myth or legend, that cannot be substantially disproven, is absolutely not true, is equally irrational.

Hey, I don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in God. I believe there are no such thing as faires. I believe there is no such thing as God.

But if I find some down at the end of my garden, I'll be proven wrong I guess.

Which is about as likely as it is to me, that when I die I'll be proven wrong about God.

 

[Jerry Siegel]

That's exactly how I feel about God.

I just think if your going to call believing there IS NO GOD irrational, then you have to accept that believing any myth or legend, that cannot be substantially disproven, is absolutely not true, is equally irrational.

Hey, I don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in God. I believe there are no such thing as faires. I believe there is no such thing as God.

But if I find some down at the end of my garden, I'll be proven wrong I guess.

Which is about as likely as it is to me, that when I die I'll be proven wrong about God.

You're talking about myths and legends. I never said anything about any particular myths or legends. I'm not saying that it is possible that any heard-of god exists. I'm saying that it is possible that a god exists. It is perfectly rational for you to believe that a myth or a legend is made-up ********. It is perfectly irrational of you to say that, just because none of them are true, there is no god.

 

[Franklin Richards]

I have a cap. Every time I wear it I'm not attacked by tigers.

 

[Marvin]

The times have always been revolutionary.

Religion as we know it had it's biggest "revolution" when the god of Abraham (supposedly)touched down and spoke to his creations face to face, or rather as a direct result of it. Take a look at the structure of our modern(western) calender.

Jew and Islam generally around the same time.

 

[Dr.]

If leprechauns or fairies existed, we'd probably spot one every once in a while in the back yard. gods are supposed to be invisible and intangible and spend most of their time on some higher plane of existence anyway. I think it's safe, and sane, to say neither leprechauns nor fairies, nor Never Never Land, exist. I don't think it's safe or sane to say that a god can't possibly exist when we can't possibly know.

This type of argument does a serviceable job of insulating the deist god. The deist god doesn’t actually do anything – so the complete absence of supporting evidence doesn’t manifestly contradict his/its existence. (To quote Delos McKown: “The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.” )

On the other hand, absence of evidence is pretty devastating to the interventionist/theistic god.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I would say the biggest revolution was the Enlightenment, when the civilized world realized that too much religion could lead to bad things. It only took a few hundred wars and genocides for them to figure that one out.

 

[SuperFerret]

Yeah, now they cling to logic and science, which in turn is also spun and corrupted by politics to control people.

 

[DBryan]

Yeah, now they cling to logic and science, which in turn is also spun and corrupted by politics to control people.

That's... not a very logical statement