so, you think you are smarter than everyone around you?
Which town do you live in? I never want to go there.
Remember that the next time someone you love is cured of cancer with science-based medicine.
You got it…that’s the reason I’m a Christian. Also, I believe that even though we’ve advanced scientifically by leaps and bounds within the last 50 years or so, we have not advanced ethically.
So, in less than a page you’ve gone from “science doesn’t have value” (while typing on your computer talking to people all around the world, for crying out loud) to “OK, we’ve advanced scientifically, but not ethically.”
To borrow a phrase: “and you wonder why nobody takes you seriously.”
“With which finger shall I pick my nose today?”
And yes, it sounds like your philosophy boils down to “I’m lazy and not very smart and want someone to give me answers.” If so, congratulations: you have found the perfect faith. Other people can do much more with it, but given the limited set of tools you are working with, blind faith in Christianity is where you should be. It was made for people like you. I beg of you: never become an atheist. Don’t even think about it.
The history of your own religion (and the others, too) suggests otherwise.
Religious people do not question the value of technology…they are wondering when it will lead to an advance in ethics or morals. So far it hasn’t, and it also appears that there is no desire to even go in that direction.
I find myself wondering if the poster in question could actually define a ‘coherent philosophy’.
He apparently has some difficulty with terms and meanings.
This is exactly what I was thinking. Medicine and hospitals all wouldn’t exist if there was no science.
Oh, and how about weather prediction. If there was a huge hurricane approaching your area, you watch the Weather Channel (I hope you do) and evacuate if necessary. If there was no science, then you couldn’t prepare for any natural disaster because you wouldn’t know that it’s coming in the first place. Weather prediction wouldn’t exist without science. Hell, I don’t know what would.
Saying science doesn’t have value is complete bullshit. I’m not an atheist, but at least I don’t neglect science and logic. They are what makes our world a safer and a better place and allows us to become more educated.
pchaos, if science didn’t exist, you wouldn’t be able to reply to this thread, because computers wouldn’t exist. How would you like that?
You’re assuming science and technology don’t “go in that direction”. Scientists, doctors, and engineers take the ethics of their technology very seriously - much more seriously than religious people do.
One small example would be the morning-after pill. Religious zealots keep branding it as an abortion pill and that it kills fetuses when in actuality, it was designed to avoid abortions. It keeps the sperm from fertilizing the egg altogether, no different than menstruating. The religious right are the ones not interested in updating their ethics and morals. They just think “birth control” and cry foul without any sort of thought.
Again, this has nothing to do with religion and atheism. It’s ignorance versus knowledge. Hiding behind God to defend your intellectual laziness is cowardly.
As much as people despise her, Ayn Rand has a coherent philosophy. So if atheists also dislike her philosophy, they should take a shot on building another philosophy.
Right now, it seems like atheists are simply borrowing from other world views and philosophies instead of coming up with their own.
Bullshit. A large chunk of them oppose it at every single turn because they think god doesn’t like it and life is worthless and supposed to be kind of miserable.
It’s quite a leap and/or bound to get from “There might be a being smarter than me” to “Belief in an omniscient, omnipotent, personal, etc., creator god, and all the trappings of Christianity.” Especially when you can probably find something/someone a lot smarter than you by wandering into a Starbucks.
Anybody keeping score?
I have at least one False Dichotomy within the last hour. What have i overlooked?
There’s been a lot of intelligent theists over the years who have had a profound impact in many areas of our lives and constantly sought for answers on how their faith could be reconciled with the natural world.
Then, there’s pchaos to remind us why their efforts may ultimately have been in vain.
Futurama’s “A Pharaoh to Remember” has his philosophy down pretty much to a T.
Head Priest: Great Wall of Prophecy, reveal to us God’s will that we may blindly obey.
Priests: Free us from thought and responsibility.
Head Priest: We shall read things off you.
Priests: Then do them.
Head Priest: Your words guide us.
Priests: We’re dumb.
“Buffer overflow in 0x3FFE1023”
Damn. Not enough hardware to contain all the stupid pchaos has generated in the last hour.
Religion - by and large - is the biggest problem in ‘ethics’ and ‘morals’ - look at all the damage caused by ‘true believers’ - even ‘Christians’ that bomb buildings because they don’t agree with medical procedures that may/may not be happening.
How is “Hobby Lobby” ethical in its treatment of employees when it comes to medical insurance?
How was “chick-filet” (I know, old news and its different now) “ethical” in its treatment of homosexuals ?
The Religous folks do more to harm ethics and morality then they ever do to uphold it - as they get to say “GOD says it must be this way” - even if GOD changes his opinions or what he tells some other group.
Take your religious ‘ethics’ and ‘morality’ and shove it…
You have no clue as to what you are talking about -
Sure. Tell me another bedtime story.
Perhaps you could enlighten us: what morals are technology supposed to improve? What lessons can, for example, a hammer teach us?
and again, you prove that reading comprehension is not your strong suit.
“Religion is not a replacement for science, logic, intelligence, or knowledge. It is not a replacement for anything.” - Anonymous User
You are aware that Jesus was hardly the first Bronze Age mythological character to rise from the dead, right? And that many Christian holidays were appropriated pagan holidays? Pot, kettle…
You have given an example of a ‘coherent philosophy’. You have not defined such a term. There is a significant difference between providing an example and providing a definition.
Why, in your opinion, is the following not a coherent philosophy: