Empiricism

[Juvenal]

So if I post a ridiculous quote from an atheist here would it make some kind of a point?

Repost ridiculous quotes of your own.

*looks around the forum*
*listens carefully*

Hmmm.... atheists do not exist!

[David Hayward]

You are not presenting a particularly good case for atheism, or any lack of a deity at all.

Agreed. My fridge can do better than that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25780908

[firstfloor]

You are not presenting a particularly good case for atheism, or any lack of a deity at all. You are; however, presenting a very good case for why you should be voted loudmouth of the week.

[Meh Gerbil]

Sorry, I am not good sometimes at judging other peoples sensitivity.

For my part I don't see where you've posted anything offensive.
On the contrary, you are much more agreeable than Trout & Lzu Toa.

I can continue the analogy:

1: It is the main component of tears.
2: In gaseous form in casts dark shadows over the landscape.
3: It makes the potty work.

[firstfloor]

I can continue the analogy:

1: It is the main component of tears.
2: In gaseous form in casts dark shadows over the landscape.
3: It makes the potty work.

[MaxVel]

The atheist, by comparison, is sober and sees the world as it really is (unless he is intoxicated by drugs or booze of course).

Are you saying that you know that God doesn't exist? If so...

...reasons?

[Juvenal]

Are you saying that you know that God doesn't exist? If so...

...reasons?

Because I watched Him commit suicide. I tried to stop Him, but His mind was made up. He kept mumbling over and over again, "Celine Dion! What have I done!"

[Meh Gerbil]

Because I watched Him commit suicide. I tried to stop Him, but His mind was made up. He kept mumbling over and over again, "Celine Dion! What have I done!"

Never got over the regret he felt for killing the sea monster?

[seer]

Yep, they all start out as nice Baptist boys and girls until they find a Mad Magazine along side the road. After a couple of nights of reading that garbage they move onto heavier stuff, first a bit of Kurt Vonnegut and then onto the hard core stuff: Sagan, Hitchens, Dawkins. After that the drugs, the sex, and the rock and roll wear away at their moral compass until at last, in a boozy fog they invoke the powers of their narcotic gods and commence the ritual sacrifice of virgin theology discussions.

Sounds about right!

[seer]

The atheist, by comparison, is sober and sees the world as it really is (unless he is intoxicated by drugs or booze of course).

That is just silly and completely unfounded.

[firstfloor]

Are you saying that you know that God doesn't exist? If so...
...reasons?

I would say that God is a hypothesis. The non-existence of God is only provable in principal once you have established what it is. God cannot actually be described because He is supernatural. Words like omniscience are meaningless without knowledge of the relevant supernatural physics. Consequently, He tends to be defined by His accomplishments rather than His identity because they at least occur in the real world. But events in the real world are always subject to alternative explanations.

Ultimately, the believer has to rely on his or her personal experience of God. That same experience will be interpreted differently by different people including atheists. I suspect that religious people have trained their brains to respond strongly to certain types of experience like prayer, religious songs, names and symbols of religious significance, etc. This is all mostly harmless until you add the bronze age moral codes to end up with modern day religiously inspired bigotry.

[seer]

This is all mostly harmless until you add the bronze age moral codes to end up with modern day religiously inspired bigotry.

So what's wrong with bigotry? It's just us animals doing what us animals do.

[firstfloor]

So what's wrong with bigotry? It's just us animals doing what us animals do.

If I call it egotistical bigotry do you start to smell the stench of it? We should be able to rise above all that.

[Meh Gerbil]

So what's wrong with bigotry? It's just us animals doing what us animals do.

Not a good place to go with the discussion, IMHO.
The Bible states that man knows right from wrong because God placed it on our hearts.

What this does is place you in position of apparently arguing against the obvious and in favor of various anti-social behaviors.
Even from a purely naturalistic standpoint he could downshift into 'Social Contract' gibberish and remain perfectly rational.

The Christian is identified by the irrational application of love to enemies.
It is when the truth seeker begins to look for the cause of the irrational love that God is found.

[Juvenal]

Never got over the regret he felt for killing the sea monster?

Okay, busted. My money was on the sea monster. So maybe I didn't try THAT hard to talk Him out of it.