The_Barnacle wrote on Jan 2
nd, 2014 at 8:45pm:
Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Jan 1
st, 2014 at 2:04pm:
Quote: That would only have relevance if atheism was a "movement" or a "religion" in it's own right, but it isn't. Atheism is simply the absence of religion. So your comment is really just psuedo philosophical BS.
2,000 years of philosophy and theology dismissed as pseudo bullsh*t eh?
No. I was referring to your comment as psuedo philosophical BS.
Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Jan 1
st, 2014 at 2:04pm:
The_Barnacle wrote on Jan 1
st, 2014 at 12:40pm:
Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Jan 1
st, 2014 at 11:23am:
I doubt very much most people even understand how Christianity was argued for, and who argued for it. Today's critique of religion is a simplistic one: I can't see it therefore it doesn't exist. This is a straightforward, hard materialist approach.
I think you are the one being simplistic.
"I can't see it therefore it doesn't exist" is just one of your many strawman arguments.
My own atheism is far more deeply based than that.
Perhaps you can explain it for us then.
Ok I will list them
- There is no evidence of a creator, and one of the basic rules is that who ever makes a claim is the one with the responsibility to provide evidence to back it up.
But there is also plenty of evidence against religion.
- There is no consistency between the different religions. They all have have different beliefs, different Gods and the great majority of people inherit the same religion as their family/peers.
This is evidence that Religion is purely a cultural phenomenon
- There is no consistency with in the same religion. In Christianity there are Cathlics, Protestants and Orthodox and all these are split into their separate groups.
Some Christians believe in Hell, some don't. Some believe the Bible is literal fact, some don't.
They can't all be right, which makes it quite likely that they all are wrong.
- Why is there no evidence of religion in animals? Most of them have mating rituals, nesting rituals, why are there no religious rituals?
- Why do bad things happen to innocent people? As an example, over 200,000 people were killed in the 2004 Tsunami which is basically an act of God. They were of all religious faiths and many were innocent Children.
- Why do people use their faith to justify doing horrendous things? Such as muslim terrorism or the Spanish inquisition or the ethnic cleansing in Serbia.
And then there is the reason that religion started in the first place
- primitive man lived in a strange and frightening world. To try and understand it he created religion to explain how the world was created and how it operated. As time has gone on and we have become more technologically and scientifically skilled. All the superstitions have been replaced by our understanding of how things work.
Natural mechanisms explain how the universe work and there is evidence of this everywhere. Every time a doctor operates on a patient, every time a solar eclipse happens precisely where and when it was predicted, every time you use your car or your computer it is evidence that these scientific principles work.
Quote:....- There is no evidence of a creator, and one of the basic rules is that who ever makes a claim is the one with the responsibility to provide evidence to back it up.
...
the lack of 'ongoing' evolution suggests all the different species were created as they basically are now.
eg, horses started to 'evolve' 20 million years ago.
What happened to the ones that 'started to evolve' 10 million and 5 million or 1 million years ago?
How come there are no 1/2 created species ?
Quote:.......There is no consistency between the different religions. They all have have different beliefs, different Gods and the great majority of people inherit the same religion as their family/peers.
This is evidence that Religion is purely a cultural phenomenon
- There is no consistency with in the same religion. In Christianity there are Cathlics, Protestants and Orthodox and all these are split into their separate groups.
Some Christians believe in Hell, some don't. Some believe the Bible is literal fact, some don't.
They can't all be right, which makes it quite likely that they all are wrong......
We all have our own free will
Quote:........All the superstitions have been replaced by our understanding of how things work.
Natural mechanisms explain how the universe work and there is evidence of this everywhere. Every time a doctor operates on a patient, every time a solar eclipse happens precisely where and when it was predicted, every time you use your car or your computer it is evidence that these scientific principles work.
..
we are capable of learning