The Building Blocks Of Life

[Khandro]

I told y'all years ago on AB (oh what quarrels we had on R.&S.) that the life on Earth had its origins 'out there', & that Dawkins & his followers were fools believing that life began here as a 'happy accident'.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1624008/asteroid-news-clues-life-origin-building-blocks-space-study-jaxa-ryugu-hayabusa2

[Atheist]

Khandro. I have read that Einstein certainly did not believe in a personal god. I can't reference this at the moment. If I come across it I'll let you know.
Personally I don't care what Einstein believed in (other than his scientific work), but I know you set store by stuff you read, providing it agrees with your world-view.

[Khandro]

Einstein was never an atheist, he wavered a bit during his life between agnosticism and later he returned (at least on a practical level) to his birth religion of Judaism in involvement with the state of Israel.

Einstein always protested against being regarded as an atheist, he complained about what he called "Bigoted" atheists, and went further saying, "...then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics, and comes from the same source."

Btw, on the subject of scientists & religion; the pioneers of quantum mechanics, Heisenberg, Schrödinger & Planck all rejected atheism.

[Atheist]

Khandro; I found this -

Perhaps Albert Einstein‘s clearest statement of belief was a telegram that he sent to New York Rabbi Herbert Goldstein of the International Synagogue in 1929. Goldstein was a prominent American Rabbi and Jewish leader.

The influential Rabbi instructed Einstein to respond via a 50-word-paid-for-telegram to his question, “Do you believe in God?”

Einstein answered in 32 words: “I believe in Spinoza‘s God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.”

and -

"Even to this day, the internet is rife with pictures and quotes of Albert Einstein’s claim to believe in God.

This from Albert Einstein’s letter in March of 1954, “It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”

Plenty to argue about Einstein's beliefs there!

[Khandro]

Like I have said, he was an agnostic & didn't believe in a personal interventionist God, but he eschewed atheism.

Interesting that he quotes the philosopher Spinoza (I'd never heard that quote) who was also a Jew, he is popular with 'not very devout' Jews, do you know his writings? He had an all-encompassing outlook of the place of 'God' in the universe.

[Atheist]

Khandro; I don't read much stuff written by philosophers or theologians. Both of them write stuff which is later disagreed with by other p's and t's. None of it is ever proved or disproved; it's all basically opinion pieces.
Maths and physics and science in general consist of ideas or assertions which are put forward for disproof, and then they take their chances; a bit like evolution, those that survive tend to stick around for a while.

[Zacs-Master]

If you do a Khandro Dawkins search, you’ll see that you’ve used his name 192 times over the years. Just saying, like.

[Old_Geezer]

When Dawkins sticks to evolution he's on the button; when he delves into religion he just can't help himself mocking everything, both reasonable and unreasonable, so one's opinion of him drops dramatically there.

[Zacs-Master]

You’ve referred to Spinoza 12 times. Just for the record.

[Atheist]

OG; could you give an example of a reasonable religious teaching that Dawkins has mocked?

[pixie374]

//Bigoted" atheists, //

How can not believing something make you bigoted?

[Zacs-Master]

He’s not ‘not believing’ tho is he? He believes what he says.

[pixie374]

Who doesn't....?

[Zacs-Master]

Then you must be able to see that his beliefs could make him bigoted.

[pixie374]

An atheist doesn't have "beliefs" :-)

[Zacs-Master]

Yes they do. They believe god doesn’t exist.

[Atheist]

Pixie; Believing that there is no god is not something that can be supported by logical proof. However, I wouldn't use the term 'bigot'. Collins describes 'bigot' as "a person who is intolerant of any ideas other than his or her own, esp on religion, politics, or race."
I don't regard Dawkins as intolerant; he tries to explain to people why he disagrees with them, in a reasoned and non-aggressive way. He is often confronted with unreasonable and aggressive responses.

[Atheist]

Zacs; "his beliefs could make him bigoted"
Quite right, but reasoned argument is not the usual mark of a bigot.
The fact that people have beliefs or opinions does not make them all bigots; it's the way you behave that makes you a bigot.

[pixie374]

//They believe god doesn’t exist.//

No. A-theist means they don't believe a god exists. Not the same as "disbelieving". Many would be open to changing their minds with proof- they just don't believe as it is.

[Zacs-Master]

I’m not the one saying he’s a bigot.

[pixie374]

Atheist, nothing is ever proved negative. If someone ever proves there is a god, then it would be up to atheists to dispute. Until then- there isn't one.