Atheism

[maggiebee]

The belief that there was nothing and nothing happened to nothing and then nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinosaurs.

Makes perfect sense.

[Graham-W]

About as much sense as, " A god, who came from nowhere, floating about in nothing, deciding it would be a good idea to make something out of nothing and producing mankind, but hiding dinosaur bones all over and creating the idea of other gods just to confuse us.

[FredPuli43]

Indeed it does, maggiebee.

And the more we learn , the more we learn how little the men who wrote god's book really knew.

[birdie1971]

Graham-W -

A splendid answer.

[birdie1971]

Maggiebee-

Well, when you put it like that I have to admit that I must be wrong. Who can argue with cast iron logic, the likes of which I have never seen and which you have presented so persuasively?

That being said, let me have a crack at it.

How plausible do you think it is that a supreme creator deity conjured up the entire universe with its billions of galaxies, 100 sextillion stars (100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000), countess planets, etc., if He is only really interested in the tiny mammalian creatures called humans which scuttle about a tiny inconsequential world we call Earth, orbiting a bog standard yellow-dwarf star in an outer-spiral arm of a quite insignificant galaxy?

Even more absurd is the idea that this same supreme creator deity who molded the universe and everything in it then chose to reveal His existence to the inhabitants of this planet via a tiny number of 'prophets' who inhabited a minuscule geographical region on the Earth. He then gave numerous conflicting accounts of His existence and conflicting instructions as to how He should be worshipped. As a result, millions of people have been (and continue to be) needlessly massacred due to religious intolerance since each religion believes that it is the 'chosen' one.

Given the above, do you really think that you've made a valid point?

[wildwood]

Atheism is a refutation of belief in any form of God, not a belief in something.

[naomi24]

Maggie, atheism is simply an absence of belief in any supernatural god and doesn't necessarily encompass the view of creation that you describe - but can you really not see the irrationality in what you've written? How can it be more logical to ascribe everything to something for which there is no evidence whatsoever? If you're looking for the truth and don't believe what science currently tells you, at best you can only say you don't know.

[modeller]

maggiebee # Makes perfect sense. # Oh yeah ! To whom ?

[keyplus90]

That is why atheists usually call it "reasoning" because there is no reason.

[maggiebee]

Ooohh wonder what the removed answer said? I didn't actually make up what was said in my post - this appeared in a local church magazine and I thought I would share it with you. Understand what you are saying Naomi, it's just that I DO believe in God without having proof, except for what I see around me every day, I just call it faith.

[jake-the-peg]

Well that's nice.

I think some people might call believing in nice things without any good reason wishful thinking - but whatever gets you through the day.

Things like science (unlike faith) take work - you have to sit down and learn stuff - it's hard

It doesn't just make sense from sitting chanting in a darkened room waiting for revellation

I guess that's one of it's appeals it's very egalatarian

But I think we all know what happens when it gets to the test don't we?

We don't rely on Holy men to fly planes!

[maggiebee]

Jake, I beg to differ. I think faith does take hard work. There are so many horrible things going on in the world that shake people's faith every day. You do have to sit down and study hard - ministers, priests etc. don't become these overnight, it takes years of hard work.

[vulcan]

I agree maggie, it does take a lot of hard work to study something that doesn't exist.

[naomi24]

maggie, //it's just that I DO believe in God without having proof, except for what I see around me every day,//

In that case you're hardly in a position to criticise or to ridicule those who do at least have something tangible on which to base their opinions. You're basing yours on absolutely nothing. Same goes for you, Keyplus. What 'reason' do you have to believe in something for which there is no evidence?

[ll_billym]

'Faith is hard work' - 'it gets shaken every day'.... This is because faith, by definition, is built on utter nothingness, it is easily shaken.

Try grounding yourself in the things you see and feel around you, and not some abstract concept you read about in an old book, not so easy to be shaken when you feel it or know it from inside. If you don't know something then you could dedicate part, or all of your life to finding out the answer - like some people do - rather than just saying 'God did it' and moving on. The God did it answer does nothing for you, it's just your mind taking the easy route and deep down you know it, this is why faith is easily shaken.

[mibn2cweus]

It only appears magical until you understand how the trick was done and then once you know how the trick was done you realise why there never was a trick, no magic, and no magician involved. God was never anything other than an illusion created within the minds of an audience all too eager to be mystified by a trickster and a fraud who will never confess to the depths of their own depravity and deceit to those unwilling to admit to having fallen for the bait.

The most unimaginable atrocities throughout history have been perpetrated in the name of a God that doesn’t exist by those who through faith have been led to believe in the arbitrary and the absurd. Faith is never an excuse for the arbitrary and unjustifiable actions which are sure to follow. Ones willingness to believe in unearned rewards that lie beyond the grave come at a grave cost to humanity and those who point to mans innate depravity as the cause of the atrocities committed by the faithful are evidence only to the depravity inherent in being faithful and the consequences of having faith.

[maggiebee]

Vulcan, scientists have always studied things that they weren't sure existed. Just because you're not sure it exists or not doesn't stop you from striving to find out. Just as there is now a cure for polio, TB etc etc there will one day be a cure for cancer. Scientists will work very hard to find something that doesn't exist at the moment.

[mibn2cweus]

//We don't rely on Holy men to fly planes!//

But some, who bought their story, have . . . http://www.carnaval.c...ane-hitting-tower.jpg

[maggiebee]

//We don't rely on Holy men to fly planes!//

Maybe not, but they sure as hell can shoot them down if the situation requires.


"Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition"; was written by Frank Loesser. According to the song a chaplain ("sky pilot") was with some fighting men who were being attacked by an enemy. (Generally given at the time to be the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.) He was asked to say a prayer for the men who were engaged in the firing at the on-coming Japanese planes. The chaplain; the song went on to infer, put down his bible, manned one of the ship's gun turrets and begin firing back, saying, "Praise The Lord and pass the ammunition".

Down went the gunner, a bullet was his fate
Down went the gunner, then the gunners mate
Up jumped the sky pilot, gave the boys a look
And manned the gun himself as he laid aside The Book, shouting
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition and we'll all stay free!
Praise the Lord and swing into position!
Can't afford to sit around and wishin'
Praise the Lord we're all between perdition
and the deep blue sea!

Yes the sky pilot said it
You've got to give him credit
for a son - of - gun - of - a - gunner was he,
Shouting;
Praise the Lord we're on a mighty mission!
All aboard, we're not a - goin' fishin;
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition and we'll all stay free!

[modeller]

maggie #You do have to sit down and study hard - ministers, priests etc. don't become these overnight, it takes years of hard work.#
Doing what ? Trying to prove they are not blind to reality.

#a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinosaurs. #
What a simplistic infantile statement and one that only the blind faithful would swallow and put on AnswerBank as if it #Makes perfect sense. #

If all these #ministers, priests etc# spent their time proving their faith rather than being brain washed and brain washing the gullible. It would give their utterances more validity.

What is it you said # I DO believe in God without having proof, except for what I see around me every day, I just call it faith.#
So you admit it is based on blind faith and wishful thinking .

If you need the crutches of religion to cope with life, so be it , but don't expect the sighted world to follow you.

If you want to prove your faith, it's simple , just tell us some repeatable experiments that we can all try . That's what scientists do every day . They don't just believe something they test it out thousands of times.