Originally posted by robbie carrobieBut none of those things are why I am an atheist, Robbie.
But you have made a claim? and a truth claim at that! Don't you want to substantiate your claim? How do you expect others to believe you without substantiation? Does that seem logical, reasonable to you?
I don't know how you could go about it, its your claim. You might start with something like, I profess atheism because I cannot understand why ...[text shortened]... nnot accept the violence that has been perpetrated in the name of religion, something like that.
I am an atheist because I lack a belief in gods. That's it. There are no deeper reasons, no agenda. Nothing. I lack a belief in gods. That makes me an atheist. I have no decided to be an atheist. Nor do I go to anti-church or purposely "sin" as much as possible or anti-pray or anything. I just lack a belief in gods.
Originally posted by Great King RatYes and I am a World war one flying ace that flew beside the Red Barron.
But none of those things are why I am an atheist, Robbie.
I am an atheist because I lack a belief in gods. That's it. There are no deeper reasons, no agenda. Nothing. I lack a belief in gods. That makes me an atheist. I have no decided to be an atheist. Nor do I go to anti-church or purposely "sin" as much as possible or anti-pray or anything. I just lack a belief in gods.
Originally posted by robbie carrobieSee, this is why people need to make a voice against religion. Because of this kind of stuff.
Wow a cheap shot. You know practically nothing about about the state of medical science and the alternatives that are now available, but don't let your ignorance get in the way. In fact you might be interested to know that there are entire hospitals dedicated to bloodless surgery. So no I am not with you and infact I am about as far removed from you as is diametrically possible.
Ideas Have Consequences
A fourth hallmark of an actual belief or claim is that it has entailments, consequences that flow from holding or stating it. For example, denying that Sweden exists entails the need to find a new source of cheap pine furniture, meatballs and gravad lax.[6] It also has some pretty drastic consequences for geography, requiring a redrawing of the map of Northern Europe as well as implications for politics, history, linguistics and the compilers of “Greatest Hits of the 1970s” CDs.
So what about atheism? Does the denial of God have any entailments? Yes, it does: take just one example—the concept of human rights. Modern human rights theory is based on the Judeo-Christian idea that human beings are of tremendous value and worth, because they are made in the image of God. Reject God and suddenly you have to start again, explaining why one particular creature, thrown up by the forces of time, chance and natural selection mixing and chopping atoms and chemicals for several billion years possesses inalienable rights, whereas amoeba, aardvarks and eggplants do not. Many philosophers and thinkers recognise the problem and are honest enough to admit if you dismiss God, you lose many other things, too. Listen to these words from atheist Llewelyn Powys:
It is not only belief in God that must be abandoned, not only all hope of life after death, but all trust in an ordained moral order … We must be prepared to take our bearings without a compass and with the slippery deck of our life-vessel sliding away under our feet. Dogmatic nihilists, profoundly sceptical of all good, we are put to our resources like shipwrecked seamen. We have no sense of direction, and recognise without dispute that all beyond the margin of our own scant moment is lost.[7]
If Powys is right—and other atheists, including Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell and, more recently, John Gray have argued similarly—then atheism has some entailments.[8] But if it does, if denying God does indeed cause us to “throw away the compass” with Powys, to “wipe away the horizon” with Nietzsche,[9] or to embrace “unyielding despair” with Russell,[10] then, ipso facto, atheism is a belief because it has consequences.
Originally posted by Great King RatIt proves that i was qualified for baptism for which I had to study and answer questions and make a public declaration of my beliefs in front of about 700 people who were gathered at the Hamilton town Hall, Glasgow. If I was not a Jehovahs witness and was not qualified to take baptism I would not have been permitted to do so. My photographs prove otherwise.
Photographs mean nothing. Prove that you actually believe the things you claim to believe as a JW.
Beliefs Attract Beliefs
A fifth hallmark of a belief is that it attracts other beliefs to it, in the same way that a planet draws moons into its orbit. For example, because of their beliefs about God and about Jesus Christ, most Christians have related beliefs—they believe (or should do) in human rights, in the limited ability of human progress, in justice, and in absolute moral values and duties. And so the list goes on. Likewise my Scandinavian sceptic believed in a great global conspiracy designed to prop up the myth of Sweden. Beliefs attract beliefs.
So, again, we can ask: what about atheism? Does it stand alone, stark, naked and proud—or does it attract other beliefs to it? Once again, it’s easy to see that it does. Most atheists believe in naturalism, the worldview that says that only material things exist. Many also believe in scientism, the view that science can answer any and all questions about both the natural world and the human condition. And the list goes on and on. That most atheists believe these things is not random: it’s driven by their atheism. If you believe in God, you won’t believe that physics, chemistry and biology can explain everything. If you disbelieve in God, you’re likely to pounce on materialism as the best way to keep the divine foot out of the door.
Given these additional beliefs that cluster around atheism, we’re forced to ask how a non-belief, a non-claim, a non-thing could have such gravitational force. One of the ways that scientists have in the past detected distant planets, too remote to see by telescope, is by their gravitational effect, often seen as a ‘wobble’ in the orbit of their parent stars. In the same way, the tendency of atheism to draw other beliefs into its orbit is powerful evidence that it is a belief.
Originally posted by robbie carrobieYou could have lied.
It proves that i was qualified for baptism for which I had to study and answer questions and make a public declaration of my beliefs in front of about 700 people who were gathered at the Hamilton town Hall, Glasgow. If I was not a Jehovahs witness and was not qualified to take baptism I would not have been permitted to do so. My photographs prove otherwise.
Prove that you believe what you say you belief.