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iStoner said:
Why does it matter?

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I_AM_SWIM said:

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THEBats said:
I don't know of any atheist that would profess to know that there is no God.  We just don't believe in one, it has nothing to do with knowing which is why I dislike the term agnostic. Even Richard Dawkins would not profess absolute certainty against the existence of God.

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Well there must be a reason why atheists do not believe in a god, and that reason most
likely is that the facts are strong against such a beings existence. They don't have to
profess that they know there is no god, it's their belief that is key here.

They believe that there is no god, and how could they be so sure? Especially since most
atheists are scientifically grounded?

To me it sounds like Richard Dawkins leans more on the agnostic side, since he even claims
that he isn't certain.

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THEBats said:If I make a claim there's an invisible dragon in my garage that can't be detected by any scientific means, therefore making it impossible to disprove, would it make sense to hold out in your mind the possibility that there really is an invisible dragon that can't be detected in any way living in my garage?

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Gaskelort said:I see atheism as a religion, they believe in something, which is science, but they believe it in a way that a christian would believe in "God", it is just my point of view, so don't start hating

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I_AM_SWIM said:

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THEBats said:If I make a claim there's an invisible dragon in my garage that can't be detected by any scientific means, therefore making it impossible to disprove, would it make sense to hold out in your mind the possibility that there really is an invisible dragon that can't be detected in any way living in my garage?

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It probably wouldn't make any 'sense', but I would still hold onto the 'possibility' of
their being an invisible dragon. It's not that I don't believe or do believe, it's just
that reality is too strange for me to know or believe in anything.

I think it would be highly unlikely, but I wouldn't dismiss the possibility.
It's the same thing as ghosts, aliens, etc.

And I guess this is where the term 'atheist agnostic' comes from.

But I wouldn't dismiss the belief in 'God', because I wouldn't even have the belief in
'God' to begin with. I would just know of the concept, and think it's a 50/50 shot of being
true in the long run.

I think if such things were to exist, they would be similar to Jung's archetypes, so that
whatever is 'alien' represents something that is 'foreign' to us, or ghosts representing
the unknown of death. I think this is true with all entities people apparently encounter,
even regular people. I don't think they are outside ourselves as much as they are
inside ourselves. Then again, I'm sort of a solipsist, but I don't dismiss the possibility
of solipsism being false.

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THEBats said:
And that's where the logic capabilities of a religious person and that of an atheist differs.  Or at least how they should differ.  I've known atheists who believe in some pretty out there stuff despite dismissing the notion of God.

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If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the
appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of
Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents - the
accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the
materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else's. But if their thoughts - i.e.,
Materialism and Astronomy - are mere accidental by-products, why should we believe them to
be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a
correct account of all the other accidents. It's like expecting the accidental shape taken
by the splash when you upset a milk-jug should give you a correct account of how the jug
was made and why it was upset.

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THEBats said:

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Beautiful video, I'm definitely going to spread this across the internet.
"If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.

Also I think it should be mentioned that state atheism also has its share in bloodshed as
well. So it's probably not right to put the blame of violence, war, and genocide on
religions alone, but also governments that suppress religious freedom.

So I realized how ignorant my previous posts were when thinking that religion is the cause
for the majority of violence and wars. Certainly it has its role to play, but it's not the
sole factor. Perhaps it's 'belief' in general which is more closer to the core of the
problem, but I guess when we get down to the 'nitty gritty', it's ultimately our own fear
of death which leads us to forming a belief system to ease death anxiety.

But I don't know, I'm just speculating, however, I do know that I don't want to die.

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While many countries no longer follow state atheism, a 2004 book by Author Allen
Hertzke (issued in paperback in 2006) asserted that China, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea and
Cuba, despite some economic liberalization, continued to persecute the religious.[66].

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