For all:
There have been in recent history, a number of atheistic and skeptical scientists and noted philosophers who have come out and admitted that a deistic (laissez faire) God cannot be ruled out. To wit:
Richard Dawkins
Lawrence Krauss
Victor Stenger
Carl Sagan
Issac Asimov
Albert Einstein
Fred Hoyle (an atheist who embraced intelligent design???)
And even Stephen Hawking (reluctantly, petulantly, kicking and screaming)
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First of all, could you explain simply and clearly what kind of God you believe in, and what being a Agnostic-Deist actually means, practically speaking?
I don't believe in a deist God since there's no evidence to support that belief, as opposed to atheism--for which there is no evidence either. Of those two possibilities, I merely hope that deism is the fact so that there's something more to this life than just living and dying. And as the phrase "laissez faire" (hands off) indicates, a deist God does not intervene in the natural universe--ever. I believe that would be because to do so would undermine our free will.
Nah deism uses the same type of arguments as theism.
By no means an issue for atheists.
Then why do so many atheists, here and elsewhere, spend so much time arguing against all the totally based on hearsay, "revealed" gods?
Good to see someone with the rare courage to speak for all atheists, even though he himself is not one, let alone not representative of all atheists. Oh, who am I kidding? It's not "rare courage" that prompts someone to speak that way. It's something much worse.
I'd have thought you'd have had something more to say than to just slather on the sarcasm. And who said anything about courage, I'm merely an advocate for Truth. What words have I put in atheists mouths? Is this forum not here for this exact purpose, to discuss these things. Your response is totally emotive.
Tell the atheists viewing this thread what you believe and why you believe it first.
Clearly, you have a believe about some atheists, but you've said nothing of your deism. How can anyone respond, emotionally or otherwise, unless you explain what your position is?
For a religious board, with a whole forum dedicated to deism, there's a whole lot of suspicious ignorance of the term. Deism is the possibility that universe was created by God (a supernatural spirit being), which does not intervene in that rational natural universe
in order to protect our free will. The point in red is my supposition as to God's motivation. An omnipotent God could do anything else (besides create beings with free will) instantly. Therefore, free will is the sole purpose for creating the universe--if God exists.
Deism is irrational, so it will never be a reasonable position. It denies any rational justification for belief in God, so it undercuts its own foundation.
So, deism is rational because it will never be reasonable. A fine specimen of circular logic in its pure form.
At least classical theists typically have a rational path from some set of premises to "...therefore God exists."
The only basis for any revealed theism is 100% hearsay.
I may disagree with them about whether those premises are true, but at least their approach allows for reasonable discussion.
On what basis for reason? Only that they are all reasonably untenable. How convenient for the "reasoning" atheists.
OTOH, deists deny all the premises that could lead to the conclusion "... therefore God exists", but they conclude this anyway.
No, we assert that God MIGHT exist. Now why didn't that difference occur to you?
Isnt the same argument that most see in other monotheistic gods as the deist god? If they are both entities, how will are arguments differ?
Theists claim certainty based on faith. Deists claim uncertainty based on lack of evidence for the source of the universe--the same lack of evidence the atheists have.
I mean, if I believed in an entity god, it would be deist because I resgnate more to specific beliefs that we talk to the spirits and ancestral spirits to get to god since god is not knowable. How do you relate to a deist god? How do you connect to this god if it is an entity?
You don't, at least not in this life. All the personal relationships with God by the theists are completely manufactured, iow unfounded, iow a fabrication.
Atheists don't like to believe in any kind of God. That is why they are atheists in the first place.
And as I've said, it's a reasonable belief. But here and elsewhere, they go on an on trying to "prove" their belief by showing how false the revealed religions are, while ignoring the elephant in the room.
You are just pointing out that atheism is neither Deism nor Pantheism. Which is true enough, but does not sustain your expectations that we must "justify" atheism. We do not.
I don't expect you/them to justify or prove atheism, only to admit that it's not certain, and that there's apparently only one other possibility that's on equal footing with it.
