lol such utter garbage, you honestly don't get what an atheist is Acidhell. We don't believe in god - why the hell would we have to prove he exists or doesn't? HE DOESNT MATTER TO US EVEN IF HE DOES.
Do you believe in jesus + god?
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lol such utter garbage, you honestly don't get what an atheist is Acidhell. We don't believe in god - why the hell would we have to prove he exists or doesn't? HE DOESNT MATTER TO US EVEN IF HE DOES.
lol such utter garbage, you honestly don't get what an atheist is Acidhell. We don't believe in god - why the hell would we have to prove he exists or doesn't? HE DOESNT MATTER TO US EVEN IF HE DOES.
Not garbage.
Atheist is a disbelief in any Deity. Can you prove any deity does not exist? No I didn't think so. therefore it is a leap of faith.
HE DOESNT MATTER TO US EVEN IF HE DOES.
that's agnostic not atheist.
I can say it because there is so much evil and suffering in the world .. for example crimes against children being beaten/abused and worse, just don't have and will never have faith when things like that happen in the world. I don't see the point in praying to or whorshiping some mythical man I can't even see and who as far as im concerned doesn't deserve it
It's impossible to prove a negative anyway, there is no way to do it. There is no way to systematically disprove that there is no giant china teapot, yet I've never met anyone that wasn't an ateapotist, there's no way to disprove the existence of Santa. The onus is on the believer to prove the existence of what they believe in, as the opposite is a genuine impossibility.
I'm sorry, but that's not true in the slightest. There is no leap of faith involved in not believing in something, there is no faith involved whatsoever.
You're agnostic, if you want to play both sides "just in case." Do so by all means. I have no need nor desire to prove/disprove any deity, in fact peoples belief in one cheers them up - so all power to them. I on the other hand have no need for a safety net, unlike agnostics.
Lets face it if half the stories are true I could go around shooting kittens all day and god would still forgive me
I too am firmly in the Darwin camp. Did your Alpha course go into Creation / evolution much? I think Alpha doesn't have an official position on it but individual churches can choose to tackle it and their own beliefs may come through there.
I just finished a book, Cafe Theology, by Mike Lloyd (published by Alpha publishing incidentally). I don't think he give a completely satisfying answer but he does state categorically that he has no issue with Darwinism.
For a more technical breakdown, Denis Alexander is an interesting author. I read his 'Rebuilding the Matrix' which is on the relationship between religion and science (Christianity in particular). An atheist colleague borrowed it from me and it surprised him. He thought it was well written and reliable on the material with which he was familiar. Alexander has also written a book called 'Creation or Evolution: do we have to choose', which I've not read but I can recommend him as an author.
I don't really know, I've never felt the need to decide one way or the other.
I suppose I don't believe in the traditional image of god but I haven't closed my mind to a higher being existing. I mean humans aren't exactly all that great so something out there could be far more advanced than us, which would in one way make them gods.
I personally feel that if there is a higher being then I don't see why it would be so petty and insecure for the need for me to worship it. Plus if it really is that needy, then it wouldn't exactly be all that fun hanging around with it for eternity.
As for Jesus, he probably did exist (I thought they had proved he was real, but maybe not) and I'm sure he did some amazing stuff just like all the other prophets. Maybe they were just the super celebrities of the time.
I haven't read the bible so can't comment.
I suppose I don't believe in the traditional image of god but I haven't closed my mind to a higher being existing. I mean humans aren't exactly all that great so something out there could be far more advanced than us, which would in one way make them gods.
I personally feel that if there is a higher being then I don't see why it would be so petty and insecure for the need for me to worship it. Plus if it really is that needy, then it wouldn't exactly be all that fun hanging around with it for eternity.
As for Jesus, he probably did exist (I thought they had proved he was real, but maybe not) and I'm sure he did some amazing stuff just like all the other prophets. Maybe they were just the super celebrities of the time.
I haven't read the bible so can't comment.
Lets face it if half the stories are true I could go around shooting kittens all day and god would still forgive me
It has nothing to do with religion. Atheist is a belief hat NO deity of any form exists. Wether ones from religious texts or ones you have not even comprehended. that is the leap of faith you are making.
I'm not playing both sides, I;'m not ignorant enough to think we know everything about the universe (or even what exists outside he universe)
I'm out of this thread, people have started mentioning Darwin, we all know Dawkins isn't far off as the thread derailed into a bitter holy-bun fight
Too late. We already got there.
I was amused on the recent seminar on Creation I went to as part of the Theology course (just a minor thing for fun, not a qualification), I went to. One of the staff was heard to say "don't knock Richard Dawkins; we love Richard Dawkins"...
Is this baby for sale?
Wrong. We are NOT making a leap of faith as we do not believe in a deity, therefore, there is nothing to place our faith in.
That is a leap of faith, how can you say there is no possibility of any deity?
either you have evidence that no where does a deity exist, or you are taking a leap of faith. I wait for this evidence.
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^ This.
There may well have been a hairy bloke named Jesus who lived thousands of years ago, but I think believing in some all powerful being is a bit far-fetched if you ask me. Of course, I have nothing against those who do believe in 'God'; just those who believe the events depicted in the Bible are true to the letter (because they're mentalists). As has been said: the Bible is merely a collection of stories written by men and is not meant to be taken literally.
Allow me to quote myself from this thread:
I am not taking a leap of faith by not believing in God. How on earth have you come to the conclusion that you need a leap of faith to not believe in something?
Am I taking a leap of faith by not believing in Santa because there's no empirical evidence that systematically disproves his existence? No. Am I taking a leap of faith by not believing in Russell's teapot in spite of the fact I'm unable to disprove it's existence? No.There is no faith involved, whatsoever, in NOT believing in something.
Buns at the ready!
I do love Richard Dawkins (in the platonic sense only) because he makes a lot of sense and pokes thermonuclear warheads through the whole Intelligent Design clique. That alone is worthy of a Knighthood in my book.
But that doesn't remove the point that science doesn't have an answer for everything - and is unlikely ever to have one. Some people really do recover from illnesses that the textbooks claim are incurable. Is that evidence of a deity at work? No, but that is one possible explanation.
As for the whole 'if there was a god, why is there evil' debate. Well, that one can fill books on its own.
I do love Richard Dawkins (in the platonic sense only
) because he makes a lot of sense and pokes thermonuclear warheads through the whole Intelligent Design clique. That alone is worthy of a Knighthood in my book.But that doesn't remove the point that science doesn't have an answer for everything - and is unlikely ever to have one. Some people really do recover from illnesses that the textbooks claim are incurable. Is that evidence of a deity at work? No, but that is one possible explanation.
As for the whole 'if there was a god, why is there evil' debate. Well, that one can fill books on its own.
Do you believe in the flying spaghetti monster... just because it's apparently a leap of faith not to?
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