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"Atheism is a superstition."

Skeptic Ginger said:
Science is successful DUE to atheism? Are you daft?

You have that backward. The scientific process is not the same as the conclusions one arrives at using the scientific process. It's following the scientific process, which is a proven successful approach to understanding the Universe, that leads one to conclude gods are mythical beings.

I realize you don't accept the evidence that leads to the conclusion your god is a mythical being. But I bet you recognize other gods people believe in are mythical like Zeus and Thor and Pele.
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There's scientific evidence that God is not real? Where? And here, I always thought you couldn't prove a negative like that....
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Deriding the arguer rather than the argument aside (because I would agree with that matter), I take issue with your "who cares" statement.

I care that people learn better critical thinking skills. I care that unfounded beliefs decrease in society and the scientific process becomes increasingly more common as the preferred method of understanding the Universe.
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Bold portion: Why?
 
Bold portion: Why?
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Science;- Smallpox,Polio, Measles eradication, Dwarf Rice, Global Communication, The Super-Soaker....

Religion:- Kill the infidel!

Questions?
 
RossFW said:
Science;- Smallpox,Polio, Measles eradication, Dwarf Rice, Global Communication, The Super-Soaker....

Religion:- Kill the infidel!

Questions?
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This was a stupid answer, and is not deserving of a response.
 
Sledge said:
Indeed it was, so let's not give it a response. Instead, let's ask what you think of what RossFW just said.
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Hmmm...I already said what I thought of what he said. It was a stupid answer, and is not deserving of a response.
 
Nihilianth said:
There's scientific evidence that God is not real? Where? And here, I always thought you couldn't prove a negative like that....
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There's no evidence that god is real. We can explain most, if not all, of those things that were previously attributed to god or other supernatural causes. There is also plenty of evidence about how our brains work, and why we have a tendency to attribute random events to an outside agency, which begins to explain why humans tends to believe in superstition and religion.
 
...If someone wants to believe in God, who cares? Let them. If someone doesn't want to believe in God, again, who cares? Let them. There is a neat littler term called "tolerance" that Western societies aim to protect with various governmental and social oversights. Namely: Human rights documents.

If a theist wants to preach out loud, again, so what? No need to start any sort of debate to try to "prove" them wrong...
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What I support is a dialectic where someone makes a claim, they welcome challenges to it, and they then use those challenges to improve their beliefs and strengthen their claims - or let them fall. Increasing our knowledge of things seem to follow this learning process - a dialectic triad. I welcome and expect to have my beliefs challenged. People who don't, choose to exist in a kind of stagnant backwater where real learning never takes place. While I agree that a lot of ridicule is pointless, in small doses it can be part of a strategy of waking people from mental stagnancy, like haberneo peppers on their burrito of life.
You have the education system where you can teach all the latest and greatest scientific theories. But if the student wants to continue believing in God, and that the world is flat, who cares? That's his prerogative, especially once they are out of school. So long as the student is IN school, and they know about the scientific theories, how to read and write, a bit about history, and so forth, then the education system did it's job in arming that person for a decent life. It is ultimately up to the person to make their own choices.
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I guess my response would be that no matter how much teaching someone is exposed to - if ideas are never challenged there is no learning.
Neither has all "non-beliefs."

There is a reason why religion is protected both by and from the state at the same time.

If is protected by the state, so that those who are theists can practice their religion freely, free of harassment. It is protected from the state, so those who are atheists don't have to be coerced into practicing anything at all.
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This is just not true in the sense you think, even in the US. (Google on 'The Mormon Wars'). The US has a long history of setting limits on religious practice. Anyway, the US is not the entire world. If religion owns the educational institutions, how free is a citizen to make an informed choice? If nothing else, support of things like women's or homosexual rights would be reason enough to not 'let things be'.
 
Kopji,

You asked why it would be better if people tended towards scientific and rational thought, an I thought I answered by example pretty effectively. Science as a methodology has led to real, tangible benefits to mankind.

Of course we can argue that religious thinking has had it's benefits, and indeed science has also been used to create things which could be viewed as detrimental. But it would be hard to argue (sitting in front of a COMPUTER on the INTERNET) that science has not proved to be the most effective method of furthering knowledge.

You say you are happy to have your beliefs challenged. Sure.

A good starting place is, what ARE your beliefs and what is the rationale behind you holding them?
 
Nihilianth said:
Neither has all "non-beliefs."
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Really? What negative outcomes have resulted from 'non-belief' in something? This is one of the most annoying lines peddled on here by theists. Nobody does ANYTHING because of an absence of belief in what they are doing.

I await your examples and hope you have something better than the tired old Communist/Nazi lines which are as much an example of 'non beliefs' as pears, apples and plums are of 'non-fruits'

Nihilianth said:
There's scientific evidence that God is not real? Where? And here, I always thought you couldn't prove a negative like that....
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The God of the Bible? Absolutely there's scientific evidence that God is not real. Just look at the errors of fact in the Bible.

Did you have another God in mind? If so, define it in a meaningful way and we'll see if it exists.
 
Nihilianth said:
If I would have to guess, I would probably say the number of threads started in this forum hating (or making fun of) religions is probably higher than the number of threads started by theists.
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Well, that's probably because atheists and agnostics significantly outnumber theists in the membership. Head on over to Rapture Ready and check the relative proportions.
 
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