Send him a nice muffin basket and check out one of the hundreds of threads on atheism here.
…and your lack of belief is a belief system, right?
I know what observable facts, what I’m saying is that I have no idea what observable evidence there is for gods.
You misunderstand the uncertainty principle, by the way. It doesn’t mean that anything is possible.
You said that atheists “ignore the evidence.” What evidence?
You’ve got nothing, son.
You keep saying “gods” – that’s an anthropomorphic term, which isn’t even defined in this debate’s context. I’m talking about higher intelligence – be it the Central Intelligence Agency (heh) or Jung’s theory of the Universal Mind. Naturally, my own definition isn’t precise (how can it be?) but at least it’s more logical, and therefore potentially falsifiable, than yours.
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
If you’re ignoring the evidence, how can I make you see it?
We are the keepers of our own souls – our individual paths may be disparate, but the ultimate end (physical death) exists for us all. OTOH, “death” is not necessarily the end of the path, which is basically why RELIGION exists in the first place. It’s a necessary failsafe for the human mind; if we knew for certain what lies beyond our final physical breath, religion would not exist – it would become knowledge based on science, not blind faith.
You could at least try to avoid idiocies like “higher intelligence” when discussing a subject like this.
Atheism is a misnomer because it tries to define something based on a negative statement on something else, which is never a good way for a thorough definition of ideas.
Atheism is a refusal to accept as true statements that claim the existence of the supernatural.
The term belief can be applied to religion to show that people will accept statements about the supernatural without requiring logical and reasonable proof or support for it. It cannot be applied to atheism because a choice to refuse unsupported claims is a matter of intellectual principle, not a baseless self-centered unintelligent preference, like belief is.
Atheism can also mean the certainty that no supernatural beings exist, which is certainly and irrefutably the case. This is not a matter of belief, but a logical conclusion based on the knowledge human beings are able to comprehend and it is a universal truth, independent of humans and their existence.
The mental trap the religious seem unable to avoid falling in, is when someone says in everyday language that “I don’t believe in your volcano god”, they don’t mean that they acknowledge that the volcano god exists but they choose not to believe in it, which could be perceived as just another form of a belief. They are saying that the volcano god does not exist in the first place, so not believing in something non existent is not a matter of preference, it’s a matter of having the capability to apply intelligent deduction.
Something the religious lack or choose not to apply for themselves, by definition.
“Higher intelligence?” What does that mean? Cite that there is any evdience for it?
By telling me exactly what it is that I’m ignoring.
This is content free prattle. can you show evidence for your “higher intelligence” or can’t you?
Bullshit. And strawman to boot:
That’s not what most atheists say. Most atheists say, “I don’t believe there is a god,” not “There is no god.”
And no, it’s not a type of “religion”. Here, this should help you: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion
Dude. You haven’t presented any. ANY.
Don’t be coy. Put up or shut up.
There’s that B-word again. And thank you for proving my point…finally.
What-EVER… :rolleyes:
What “point” of yours did prove? That atheism is a religion? Not fucking remotely. Try again.
Here’s a clue, man: “Belief” =/= “Religion”. Check that dictionary link I gave you, above.
No, seriously.
Put up or shut up.
You’ve come into this thread blustering about the “evidence” for a “higher intelligence”.
When called on it, and asked to provide such evidence, you resort to fortune cookie-isms and suggesting that we’re deliberately ignoring it. (When you didn’t even provide any in the first place.)
So on behalf of all present atheists, I’ll ask you again: Show us the “evidence” for a “higher intelligence”. Or shut up.
So, there’s evidence and religion requires blind faith? Explain.
What point of yours do you think that statement proved? That b-word came right after “don’t”. Not believing is not belief.
Self proclaimed atheists can say anything they want but atheism is contrary to what you said above.
The “I don’t believe there is a god” is arguably a theistic position, acknowledging a possible existence of a god and stating a personal preference not to believe in it. You can even use any meaning you want for the word “believe”.
Anything that allows for the existence of a god is a subset of theism, even agnosticism. Atheism is the opposite idea, that no gods exist as a universal reality, not as a personal preference.
We have evidence that mythology exists. There is no evidence for hell.
Wha…? 
What makes you think that my kind of atheism is just a mere “personal preference”? I am STRONGLY convinced that no god exists, but because I’m not, you know, omniscient :rolleyes:, I cannot definitively rule out the (extremely unlikely) possibility.
How is admitting to the infinitesimally small possibility of an unknown god’s or gods’ extistence “arguably a theistic position”? You’ve described it as such, but you’ve not actually demonstrated an actual link between the two. :dubious:
Further, I’m not “allowing for” an existence of a god. I’m allowing for the possibility of such. That’s a key difference here, and I don’t think you’re grasping it.
Strictly speaking, all atheism means is that the atheist lacks belief in a deity or deities. It doesn’t necessarily encompass the entire realm of the supernatural. I’ve known atheists who believe in ghost, vampires, and all that sort of stuff but look down their nose at theists because God is such a such a silly idea.
As I said above, that’s a subset of theism. Trying to quantify possibilities and compare a strong to a weak or infinitesimal one is silly.
Take yourself and the human mind out of the equation. Either gods exist or not, irregardless of how some intelligence in the universe perceives the question.
A statement that they exist, in any shape, form, or possibility, is a theistic position of some sort. A statement that they don’t is an atheist position. The two are mutually exclusive and many other terms and intermediate stages of accepting the existence of gods are mostly irrelevant.
No, an absence of a particular belief is not a “subset” of that belief’s That’s a ridiculous and absurd position.
Is not believing in smurfs a subset of belief in smurfs?
No, it’s not. Theism is belief in God/gods. Not having that belief is not a theistic position. I can acknowledge that the existence of everything is possible yet not have a belief in the existence of everything. Personal preference doesn’t enter into it. I may prefer to believe that I’ll win the lottery some day, but that preference won’t help convince me to actually acquire that belief.
What?
No. I can believe that the existence of gods are possible yet be without belief. That’s not theism.
Wrong. Read the following.
That’s why what people call themselves is not to be taken seriously. Atheism is incompatible with all claims of anything supernatural. Otherwise Christians could be atheists just because they’re not Hindu.