this is real ... i just got a screenshot off of the website
http://www.nytimes.com/
i am sure it will still be there for another 666 seconds
http://www.nytimes.com/
i am sure it will still be there for another 666 seconds
The God Poll
- Thread starter General Zod
- Start date
I know it's real. They really had to make it a point to go to print, exactly as the 666th square mile caught fire.
Zod
Krilons Resa
Jerry's married?!
I disagree with this as well because Atheists have facts. Believers have no facts supporting their beliefs. Other than the fact a man named Jesus really did live at the time of the scriptures.Atheists CAN believe what they're saying wholeheartedly simply because -------we have facts to back it up!
Huh?! :zombie:
How in bloody hell do Atheists have any sort of facts? They do not believe, or dismiss, on the basis of non-facts, not the reverse.
Well, I guess then they extrapolate their own fact.
Necromunchkin
Lord of the Whisky
^ Doomcifer is on it. The inability to disprove something is as equally problematic as the inability to prove something. For something to be factual, it must have verifiability. You can't verify that god doesn't exist anymore than a believer can verify that god does exist.
Mormagil
bring back the corvee
anyone can make claims all day long that are unable to be disproven, but that doesn't give their arguments any weight. it's up to them to prove that their claims are true. proving the nonexistence of something, except in rare cases, is damn near impossible.
Captain Beard
No longer active
- Sep 6, 2001
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Generally speaking, especially in law, it's the positive claim that has to be proven, not the negative claim.
JayKeeley
Be still, O wand'rer!
Atheist. I suppose it's because I tend to believe in absolutes. It's just easier to live that way, I'm not much into grey areas.
That said, there are times when I wonder....and I catch myself, realizing that the only reason why I'm even wondering is because this concept of god and religion has been systematically forced down our throats for an eternity. It's bound to come up in our thought processes. As are big jugs.
I smoked a doobie and then took a crap on top of mount sinai once. True story. It wasn't to be disrespectful or anything, I just really needed to go.
That said, there are times when I wonder....and I catch myself, realizing that the only reason why I'm even wondering is because this concept of god and religion has been systematically forced down our throats for an eternity. It's bound to come up in our thought processes. As are big jugs.
I smoked a doobie and then took a crap on top of mount sinai once. True story. It wasn't to be disrespectful or anything, I just really needed to go.
JayKeeley
Be still, O wand'rer!
There's a borderline where all this conversation goes from factual and scientific to philosophical. To prove or disprove the existance of a god or gods is absolutely impossiable in scientific terms, and as such is the basis for countless arguments against strong religious influences over science matters. Why do you think there's such a debate over stem cell research when it's close to developing a way to cure certain diseases. That might be bullshit over time, but for now it's in sciences best interest to develop it fully to see if it's bullshit, despite protests from deeply rooted religious beliefs.
Anyway, that's going way off topic. Isn't it an irony that those that are against organized religions are the ones that know the most about the Bible, Koran, etc...
I'm agnostic. There's way too much about life and evolution and the natural balance of things that prevents me from believing that life is just one big coincidence. But that belief is rooted in philosophy alone and is impossible to deny or support scientifically at this point in history. If you were to ask me from a scientific standpoint, I'd be atheist because I don't think it's scientifically able to be proven. But from a philosophical standpoint, which is what all religions are based off of, I do believe in the existence of a higher power.
EDIT: let me clarify that. I believe in the concept of a higher power, whether it's a force of nature, a conscience being, or just the energies of the universe working through us, not necessarily a god,
Anyway, that's going way off topic. Isn't it an irony that those that are against organized religions are the ones that know the most about the Bible, Koran, etc...
I'm agnostic. There's way too much about life and evolution and the natural balance of things that prevents me from believing that life is just one big coincidence. But that belief is rooted in philosophy alone and is impossible to deny or support scientifically at this point in history. If you were to ask me from a scientific standpoint, I'd be atheist because I don't think it's scientifically able to be proven. But from a philosophical standpoint, which is what all religions are based off of, I do believe in the existence of a higher power.
EDIT: let me clarify that. I believe in the concept of a higher power, whether it's a force of nature, a conscience being, or just the energies of the universe working through us, not necessarily a god,
Dark One
The Tainted Dogma
JayKeeley
Be still, O wand'rer!
Necromunchkin
Lord of the Whisky
I was speaking scientifically. And apparently too generally. A chunk of rock falls from the sky, and one can claim that god chucked it at the earth. However, a scientist takes the time to analyze it and its composition, and she's pretty sure it's a chunk of meteorite from the local asteroid field based on levels of iron, nickel, space dust, and other bullshit. Ultimately, we know it was pulled to earth due to its trajectory overlapping with earth's gravity field and hence landed. One could still claim that god threw it at earth, and with no actual witness or ability to see what happened when it happened it wouldn't be verifiable, but it's safe to assume the origin as espoused by the scientist is correct.
Now, that same scientist makes the claim that the universe and everything in it is shrinking at a precise geometric rate. There is no way to prove this claim, as it is outside our ability to measure and verify. Yet there is no way to disprove said notion for the very same reason. If it were happening, and everything was shrinking at the identical rate, there would be no way to judge. We would appear motionless in the process of dimishment. It seems unlikely, even far-fetched, that such would be the case, but it is nonetheless a possibility and no facts we are able to ascertain, can make a true argument either direction. However, since it doesn't truly affect our existence, it doesn't really matter, either.
God or some "higher power" falls much into this same realm of possiblity. If the only interaction we can have with the divine manifests abstractly, in non-verifiable ways, there is no way to say said being exists or does not. We have tertiary reasons we can view the possibility, but nothing we can truly measure. And once again, being so far outside the actual relevance of our existence, one could argue "what difference does it make?"
But, whatever. I just get tired of atheists acting as though they are standing on some platform of impeccable logic when that is rarely the case.
Now, that same scientist makes the claim that the universe and everything in it is shrinking at a precise geometric rate. There is no way to prove this claim, as it is outside our ability to measure and verify. Yet there is no way to disprove said notion for the very same reason. If it were happening, and everything was shrinking at the identical rate, there would be no way to judge. We would appear motionless in the process of dimishment. It seems unlikely, even far-fetched, that such would be the case, but it is nonetheless a possibility and no facts we are able to ascertain, can make a true argument either direction. However, since it doesn't truly affect our existence, it doesn't really matter, either.
God or some "higher power" falls much into this same realm of possiblity. If the only interaction we can have with the divine manifests abstractly, in non-verifiable ways, there is no way to say said being exists or does not. We have tertiary reasons we can view the possibility, but nothing we can truly measure. And once again, being so far outside the actual relevance of our existence, one could argue "what difference does it make?"
But, whatever. I just get tired of atheists acting as though they are standing on some platform of impeccable logic when that is rarely the case.
Captain Beard
No longer active
- Sep 6, 2001
- 28,010
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Just quote Asimov:
"I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time."
"I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time."
Mormagil
bring back the corvee
unless the laws of physics were themselves "shrinking" (whatever the analog of that process would be) there would be ways of verifying this, and it would definitely affect our existence.
Matt
Active Member
I disagree with this as well because Atheists have facts. Believers have no facts supporting their beliefs. Other than the fact a man named Jesus really did live at the time of the scriptures.
And what would these 'facts' be?
Reign in Acai
Of Elephant and Man
These fires are heating the air to the point that it once it again feels like summer. I just choked on a breath of air that was laced with ash.
Krilons Resa
Jerry's married?!
As a matter of fact , the word fact is probably one of my most loathed words in the English language.
, the word fact is probably one of my most loathed words in the English language.
