Is atheism a threat to humanity?

[WhyIsThatSo]

Nope... I'm not going to play 'let's try a NEW 'analogy' until you first address my original analogy. How can you claim that faith is a RELIABLE path to truth when two people can have equal faith that the Earth is BOTH a round sphere AND a flat disc?

Since you CONTINUALLY ignore my analogy and try to come up with an alternate one it's quite clear that it's YOU who HATES having your silly claim challenged. And then you PROJECT that HATE onto anyone who dares to have challenged you. I've been having a conversation attempting to [point out the flaw in your logic, while you just seem to be getting your panties in a twist and accusing me of HATE, just because I asked you a question you can't answer.

Rather sad and pathetic in my opinion.

So, WHY are you running around today, planning for tomorrow,
when you have absolutely NO PROOF that you will be here tomorrow ???????????????????

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

It's an analogy to show how you have "faith" (trust) in something,
even though you deny such things (faith).

Then your analogy is false as it completely ignores the difference between "trust" as a "reasonable expectation based on evidence and precedents" and "faith" as in religious faith, which is blind and based on no evidence at all.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

So, WHY are you running around today, planning for tomorrow,
when you have absolutely NO PROOF that you will be here tomorrow ???????????????????

Because it is a very reasonable expectation that I will be here tomorrow, just like I've been here every morning for the past 40 years.

I'm not terminally sick or anything. There's no reason for why I should die tonight.
There's the off chance that something nasty will happen, sure. But it's extremely slim.

The most reasonable expectation, based on evidence, is that I will survive going to sleep tonight.

 

[QuestioningMind]

lol.....please, I'm a retired lifelong auto technician , with almost 50 years of experience.
So I can assure you there is NOTHING you can tell me about a car battery, or any battery for that matter.

The point is the same either way. It does not matter what analogy I use because
YOU depend on "faith" every single day of your life and in many, many ways too.
Just like every human being on this planet does. You just don't like to admit it, and that's sad.

And BLIND "faith" is foolishness, I already explained that to you.
And yes, MOST religious people do have blind faith, because they accept whatever another person tells them
instead of doing all the hard work needed to "know", instead of just "believe" something. In short, people are lazy .

BUT, some of us, and very, very few of us, are NOT lazy. We do the work needed, and never accept anything
on face value. We prove it to ourselves. And just like all the lazy people in here who "think" they know something
because they are "religious", YOU are the same way. Just in a different way.

ROFL... my of my, you sure went the long way around to finally agree that faith is NOT a reliable path to the truth. You could have just acknowledged it with your first response instead of pretending as if you don't rely of verifiable evidence as well.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

First of all, I'm not going to get dragged into this silly Matrix nonsense again.

Secondly, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the post you are replying to, so I can only wonder why you posted that (again).

I like how you use reason, logic and evidence with this: "I'm not going to get dragged into this silly Matrix nonsense again."
I do want to point out that neither reason, logic nor evidence decide whether there is a trickster God or universe. The problem is the same for religious believers and non-believers.
So you can with reason decide that it makes sense to act if it doesn't matter. That is a belief. Thus you use a belief and a form of defense mechanism.

 

[QuestioningMind]

So, WHY are you running around today, planning for tomorrow,
when you have absolutely NO PROOF that you will be here tomorrow ???????????????????

Let's see.. it's because for the past 57 + years every single one of the 356 days in each of those years a tomorrow has ALWAYS come. I do recognize that at some point in my life a tomorrow will NOT come for me, but based on the VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE of my past 57 + years I've learned via this VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE that it's best for me to plan on there being a tomorrow. Otherwise tomorrow ends up coming and I end up getting hungry and sadly I failed to plan to have something available to eat.

Is this REALLY so difficult for you to understand?

 

[WhyIsThatSo]

Then your analogy is false as it completely ignores the difference between "trust" as a "reasonable expectation based on evidence and precedents" and "faith" as in religious faith, which is blind and based on no evidence at all.

And your analogy of my analogy is false because it completely ignores the difference between "trust" you have in DIRT,
and Faith I have in the one that made the dirt (including you). OR will you deny that EVERYTHING you can see around
you at this very minute came form the DIRT ? ( including your body )

 

[WhyIsThatSo]

Because it is a very reasonable expectation that I will be here tomorrow, just like I've been here every morning for the past 40 years.

I'm not terminally sick or anything. There's no reason for why I should die tonight.
There's the off chance that something nasty will happen, sure. But it's extremely slim.

The most reasonable expectation, based on evidence, is that I will survive going to sleep tonight.

Please, is that all you've got ?
also, if not tonight while you sleep, it will come anyway,
and you will be planning for the next day when it does most likely.

Or would you want to debate THIS TRUTH as well ?

 

[WhyIsThatSo]

Let's see.. it's because for the past 57 + years every single one of the 356 days in each of those years a tomorrow has ALWAYS come. I do recognize that at some point in my life a tomorrow will NOT come for me, but based on the VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE of my past 57 + years I've learned via this VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE that it's best for me to plan on there being a tomorrow. Otherwise tomorrow ends up coming and I end up getting hungry and sadly I failed to plan to have something available to eat.

Is this REALLY so difficult for you to understand?

Is it really so difficult for you to understand that your "faith" (TRUST) is in DIRT ?

 

[WhyIsThatSo]

ROFL... my of my, you sure went the long way around to finally agree that faith is NOT a reliable path to the truth. You could have just acknowledged it with your first response instead of pretending as if you don't rely of verifiable evidence as well.

So, what's it like having faith (trust) in DIRT ?
just curious...

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

And you do well,
we all are limited by our "smarts" (intellect). That's why we need something more than our own puny human powers to "know",
and not just have a "belief" about something.
BUT, we all start somewhere, and Faith is where it starts.
Faith leads to knowledge, knowledge leads to wisdom...
and you are wise already in knowing your limitations...
now you just need to know yourself, and everything you seek will be opened to you.

This is just so wrong. If knowledge and wisdom is what you're looking for, faith is a terrible place to start -- observation is much superior. Observation allows you to see what's appears to be going on, and if you follow that up with an attempt to understand "why," (form a hypothesis and test it), you are on the path to knowledge. Wisdom is just using your knowledge well -- as I described earlier.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Yes, understanding, like knowledge, can be false....without wisdom.
And I don't do "propositions". "theories", and "testing" nonsense...
I go strait to the SOURCE. ( it's a lot quicker )

Well, that'll certainly explain why you are so incorrect about so many things.

 

[QuestioningMind]

Is it really so difficult for you to understand that your "faith" (TRUST) is in DIRT ?

You're the one who relies on faith... I use verifiable evidence. If you want to call your faith DIRT, go right ahead.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I have absolutely NO EVIDENCE that I am talking to a person right now....
so maybe I should stop my nonsense, since I have NO EVIDENCE that you exist right now.
BUT, I do trust that you are a real live hateful human being, anyway.

again ?

On what basis -- based on anything at all that @QuestioningMind mind said -- do you throw in that word "hateful?"

 

[QuestioningMind]

So, what's it like having faith (trust) in DIRT ?
just curious...

I don't rely on faith... I rely on verifiable evidence. So go ahead and ask yourself about what it's like.

 

[WhyIsThatSo]

I don't rely on faith... I rely on verifiable evidence. So go ahead and ask yourself about what it's like.

You either have "faith" in this world , where everything, and I mean EVERYTHING comes from the DIRT,
or you have "faith" in the One who made the "dirt"...….your choice.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

You know about a trickster God, right? What about a trickster universe? Imagine a Boltzmann Brain universe with a computer and a power source. You as you are running on computer and the rest of the universe you believe, you are in, are simulated to you. That is a trickster universe.
Now in effect to know, you must trust the universe to be fair and knowable.

Or you could just ask yourself: "Is there any reason to believe, or any evidence at all to suggest that I am living in a trickster universe?" If the answer is, "not one single iota," then I suppose one could just dismiss the question altogether, and that would obviate the need for "trust."

 

[WhyIsThatSo]

On what basis -- based on anything at all that @QuestioningMind mind said -- do you throw in that word "hateful?"

Any self professing "atheist" is here for only one of two reasons...
either they are seeking answers (undercover), or they are here tp mock people of "faith" ( which is hateful ).
so, what's your story ?

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

lol.....please, I'm a retired lifelong auto technician , with almost 50 years of experience.
So I can assure you there is NOTHING you can tell me about a car battery, or any battery for that matter.

The point is the same either way. It does not matter what analogy I use because
YOU depend on "faith" every single day of your life and in many, many ways too.
Just like every human being on this planet does. You just don't like to admit it, and that's sad.

And BLIND "faith" is foolishness, I already explained that to you.
And yes, MOST religious people do have blind faith, because they accept whatever another person tells them
instead of doing all the hard work needed to "know", instead of just "believe" something. In short, people are lazy .

BUT, some of us, and very, very few of us, are NOT lazy. We do the work needed, and never accept anything
on face value. We prove it to ourselves. And just like all the lazy people in here who "think" they know something
because they are "religious", YOU are the same way. Just in a different way.

Everything you write seems to suggest that you see yourself as a very, very special and unique person indeed. Have you ever heard of ὕβρις (that's a Greek word, pronounced hjuːbrɪs)? In English, we call it hubris. It is not generally considered a good thing.

 

[WhyIsThatSo]

This is just so wrong. If knowledge and wisdom is what you're looking for, faith is a terrible place to start -- observation is much superior. Observation allows you to see what's appears to be going on, and if you follow that up with an attempt to understand "why," (form a hypothesis and test it), you are on the path to knowledge. Wisdom is just using your knowledge well -- as I described earlier.

What "appears" to be going on to me is,
I see a world where every living thing KILLS another living thing, every second of every day..
just to stay "alive". And some of us want to know WHY IS THAT SO.

And if you cannot SEE that too, and despise it, then you are the most pitiable of human beings.