This is called the Relativist Fallacy. "It may be true for you, but not for me."
No, reread what I posted. I'm not claiming relative truth. I'm claiming that, having different sets of data to consider, we come to different conclusions.
Sorry, but your personal experience doesn't amount to evidence.
Not for you, no. And I didn't say it should. I said it does for
me. So unless you'd like to present a case for why I should ignore my own history and reasoning for blind faith in
your conclusion, the point is valid.
Because to believe in something without evidence is, by definition, irrational.
I
don't believe in something without evidence. I believe in something I have experienced directly.
So do I. What's your point?
If anyone claims something is true, it has to have evidence.
Yes, and it does. It does not have evidence that can be
shared. If your companion on a hike sees a bird that you did not, does that mean that the bird wasn't there? Does your failure to glimpse it before it flew away justify calling your companion a liar, or irrational?
Personal experience is a loophole anyone can use to claim anything is true.
No, personal experience the the foundation for
all our beliefs, disbeliefs, and conclusions.
I don't want to live in a world where people live out their lives believing in a God that is not there.
Well then, you should accept the fact that maybe God is there, because otherwise you'll be very unhappy. Or you could just... you know...
get over it. Not everybody is going to agree with you on everything. That's called "diversity." Find a way to cope.
It skews your sense of reality. It skews your sense of morality. It skews your sense of self-identity.
Uhm, no. My senses of morality, reality, and self-identity are just fine, thanks.
Whether there is a supreme being or creator in this universe is one of the most significant questions we could ask.
Absolutely. And if it had a clear-cut, empirically verifiable answer, we wouldn't be having this discussion. So why don't you extend me the same courtesy I extend to you, and accept that I can disagree with your conclusions without calling me irrational, or speculating on my mental health and moral compass, hmm?
A universe with a God would be extraordinarily different from a universe without a God.
Maybe, maybe not. How do you know?
It's important that we find the truth to this question. In doing so, however, it's ridiculous to use a thing called "faith" to come to this conclusion.
You're making assumptions here that you really shouldn't. Faith was my conclusion, not my premise.
Faith is so often touted as something good when it's really nothing more but a gaping excuse to think whatever you want to think and not have to answer to anyone else.
And atheists like you and heretics like me really know that the Christian God is real, we just don't want to be bound to His morality. Blah, blah, bigotcakes.
Faith is self-deception and an insult to the human mind.
faith noun
1.confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2.belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3.belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4.belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5.a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.
6.the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.
7.the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.
Hmm, nothing in there about deception. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Nothing we enjoy in the modern world came about by faith. It came through careful study, critical analysis, skepticism and empirical, observable evidence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Except, those truths aren't self-evident. This is a statement of faith. "Careful study, critical analysis, skepticism and empirical, observable evidence" in fact show equality, at the very least, to be false, the Creator to be debateable, and the unalienable rights to be all too alienable. Yet we still have faith in it. Why? Because it makes the world we live in a better place.
And yet, this is the premise of the Bill of Rights, which enshrines as sacred and inviolate your right to make an *** of yourself by refusing to show mutual respect in the name of the religious tolerance that protects you.
Science works. Faith doesn't.
I can't help but pity those who live in black-and-white worlds. You miss so much beauty.
That is why I'm not going to sit back and watch mankind slip into a bubble of delusion.
1) Delusion is belief in the face of invalidating evidence, not belief without testable proof. Present invalidating evidence, or you have no leg to stand on.
2) And just what are you going to do about it? Argue on the internet? That might stroke your ego, but it won't be changing any worldviews, especially if the best argument you can come up with boils down to
ad hominem.
Live and let live? Let sleeping dogs lie? These are excuses for laziness and I'm not going to stop questioning and challenging people just because "it might make them feel bad." Boo-hoo.
Yeah, after all, it's not like religious tolerance has ever done anything for atheists... :sarcastic
