OK, Tom I get the message, I wondered how long it would be in coming. Your entitled to your beliefs, but I am not entitled to mine.
We are not talking about beliefs. We are talking about behavior. You have repeatedly posted the false statement that “science” promotes a particular viewpoint regarding God. Whenever you do this, it provokes responses from other posters trying to demonstrate (with actual evidence–something you refuse to provide) that your statement is wrong. You continue to post the same factually incorrect statement with what I can only conclude is a deliberate attempt to troll the board and provoke a reaction. Given that it would require the keying of, at most, two additional words in any post where you feel the need to make your assertion, I see no reason to think that your method of posting is an accident.
Note that I am not attacking your “beliefs.” You have been posting lots of your beliefs for a couple of days, now, without garnering any attention from me–until you decided to re-post the lie on which you have been called on numerous past occasions. (I even let your nonsensical pretense that the Intelligent Design folks have ever provided any science to support their odd claims pass without comment.) Your broad science claim, however, is a much disproven lie and you will stop trolling with it.
I see what you mean and I agree. If we realize there is much more to learn and are seeking we can assume our beliefs will change over time.
I think the original point was you told someone they could change their beliefs if they wanted to and the point made was, No it’s unlikely that an atheist could just decide to believe in god or a believer could just decide to not believe.
It happens all the time. I get a lot of emails on that subject. Atheists that just had a near death experience and becomes a Theist. Likewise, Theists who have a really bad thing happen in their lives and denounce God. I can’t tell you how many, but I suspect it happens on a daily basis. People change their beliefs about smaller stuff with even greater frequency. It is the natural process of learning and growing.
Look, I can’t post here anymore without constant harrassment. Theists are not welcome on this board. Check around and see for yourself, so if you really want to continue this, lets do it on my board. It’s new, and small, but fair.
Huh? People on this board are constantly posting unprovable and illogical statements as truth. They do it over and over again - from ‘religion causes wars’ to ‘Bush really didn’t know there were not WMDs’. How is this particular statement worthy of a mod warning when those others and the dozens (maybe hundreds) of others of their ilk stand unchallenged ? What makes this particular statement any more egregious than any of those others? Atheists constantly post that theists are ‘delusional’, ‘illogical’, and worse, yet they remain on the boards.
So what is up with this? I’m trying to figure out how SDMB rules work and this is confusing me seriously.
Why do you get a lot of emails on that subject? Or are you referring to chain mails that are highly unreliable sources of data?
I’ve know some incidents of that kind of thing happening . Thats a major event that sparked the change. I think your previous statement was read as someone just deciding on a normal day, without any major event or ongoing study, to change their beliefs.
Perhaps thats not what you meant but you did say someone could change their beliefs if they wanted to rather than someone might change their beliefs if X or Y happened. It may be just semantics but since we’re on a message board semantics matter a bit.
I’d be glad to check out your board if you want to email me a link. FTR I’m a theist and have been a member for quite some time, participated in many spiritual discussions and never felt harassed even by the hard line atheists.
Last night I had a dream that I could fly. It must be true that I can fly. It seemed very real.
lekatt maintains a web site based on his own experiences that have persuded him of near death experiences of the afterlife. It is quite probable that folks who encounter his web site will e-mail him with their own experiences.
Repeatedly posting pure opinions, brilliant or ridiculous, is just part of life on the SDMB. This particular issue involves a small set of assertions of fact for which this poster has been taken to task on numerous occasions in which substantial evidence has been provided that the claim is false, yet he chooses to repeat the claim for the purpose of stirring up other posters withoutr providing anyt evidence that he has any basis for that claim.
He is welcome to express his belief as a belief and he is welcome to provide those minimal qualifiers that provide enough wiggle room to remove the taint of lying from his claim. Since this issue has been dealt with in the past, he is no longer welcome to simply troll with his rather foolish claim without providing enough context to let other posters realize what he is doing.
Why am I quoting **lekatt’s ** post here? Well, i’m not. I’m quoting lekatt’s post there.
If people are indeed interested, here’s the link for their website. While I don’t agree with… pretty much anything they’ve written there, it is at least an interesting read.
Which atheist has consistently posted that theists are “delusional” or “illogical”? And please provide a link. I’m not sure any atheist has ever posted outright that theists are delusional or illogical without some form of a caveat.
To be fair, i’m pretty sure **Der Trihs ** has. But then he is not exactly in accordance with all the other atheists.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but i’ve never called theists delusional or illogical, though i’m sure i’ve called specific (non-poster) theists that, and other theists have often shared those sentiments.
I think most atheists feel that way with regard to religious belief specifically. I think most theists agree with respect to the “illogical” part.
Jump off the tallest building within a 50 mile radius of where you live. Come back and tell us how it went. You do that – especially the posting part after the jump – and I’m going out for a Superman cape ASAP. 
What Quiddity Glomfuster no doubt remembers is that when an atheist posts that religious beliefs are not based on evidence, some theists (a small number) escalate this into a claim that the atheists are saying all theists are delusional. There is a big difference from having even delusional beliefs and being delusional, and I think even **Der Trihs ** has made that distinction.
I for one find it highly amusing that lekatt seems to be implying that Tom is trying to drive theists from the SDMB. I’m going to have to send Tom the atheist starter kit. 
What’s in that exactly? Have you recently added a copy of Dawkins book?
We hardly need that. The standard package includes an anti-rapture helmet, irony meter Mark 10, black helicopter signalling device, and door to door proselytizer early warning system, so you can get good and ready when that JW shows up at your house. We have recently added the War against Christmas flak jacket though, and our anti-Santa missile.
How do you know it was God you experienced and not just your own inner need?What proof is there for an after life?
Religious experiences come from the inner person’s desires it can be self hypnosis or some other such as auto-suggestion.
Many people would swear that the sun spun around at Fatima, but Science can prove that it did not, nor did it come closer to earth.
Beliefs are based on what we desire,when we can know then it is no longer faith.
We can know there is a tree in our yard and that takes no faith.
Monavis
I think you guys are seriously milking the chimp in this thread now. I can hardly believe some of the illogical arguments that have been made in defense of religious faith here. “Lots of people believe, so it must be true,” “personal experience is proof of God’s existence” “everything has to have a cause and so God (apparently immune to this rule) must be the uncaused First Cause” and so forth. All of these arguments have been repeatedly and thoroughly debunked not only here but in many books and web sites. It’s all there, plain to see, and only true ignorance or deliberate defiance could account for someone continuing to adhere to such arguments for very long.