Me too. I say, the only thing factual about the world is that you/we are thinking about it, one way or another. That's about as real as it gets. It's not a rational thought...sparked by an irrational emotion.
So you were intellectually dishonest for 50 years... ...and now you have no issues with religion as a consequence... I suppose sympathy would be in order for being such a long term victim, right? Sure sounds to me like you were a fundamentalist literally interpreting the Bible Christian. It really took you 50 years to individuate? Amazing...
To be honest, going from my experience over at TheologyWeb, I find the agnostics and atheists presenting most honest arguments...except for those few who are already enlightened and naturally at odds with the resident theists. Too bad they are not allowed to present their arguments throughout the site. Of those two, I find agnostics most honest. They are just one step away from becoming gnostics! Christ!
HERE is an exchange between Hooks, resident agnostic, and Jnthn, resident moderator. This is one of the moderators, if not the moderator who mercilessly banned me for posting in areas of the forums reserved for their inside circle of approved orthodox believers. Though I posted on-topic in response to the OP's queries, I was debited enough "infraction" points to get me banned. Jnthn acts as if nothing Hooks says is true, though he himself participates in the very kind of suppression that Hooks outlines. Begin at post #197 to bottom of page. Excerpt: Hooks wrote> So, which is it, J, are you willing to look at the data "honestly" like many of us have in the wide open of peer review, public scritiny? Jnthn wrote> You have presented no evidence to suggest dishonesty, so I charge you with using the term "honesty" with in the same way skeptics use "free thinking": Euphamistically Hooks wrote> Are you willing to open Christian academic center to the wildly successful tenets of academic freedom, essentially the free market of ideas where the best survive? Jnthn wrote> I don't need to. I belong to a religion that has lasted thousands of years in the public square. It has proven to endure and flourish even under the harshest of irreligious regimes. The very fact that you have chosen to ignore that fact shows how blinkered your perspective is and how tainted your "insight" is Christ!
If I was an atheist, I sure the hell would not be wasting my precious time posting stupid polls on a message board.
Lack of any evidence of something is reasonable evidence that it doesn't exist. We have no evidence that the tooth fairy or the Yeti doesn't exist, but equally we have no evidence they exist either - does that mean it's intellectually dishonest to say there's no tooth fairy or no Yeti? We can't know for sure but the odds seem pretty good that they don't in fact exist. Remember, atheists don't claim there is absolutely 0% chance of god existing. That would indeed be ridiculous. They just claim that there is currently no evidence whatsoever to support the existence of a god. That seems like an intellectually honest and consistent position to me.
Exactly how do you calculate the odds on whether or not God exists? What exactly is your criteria by which you generate those odds? 1,000 years ago there was no evidence of cosmic rays... So, according to you, the odds were "pretty good" that cosmic rays did not exist... Really, is this the type of science you subscribe to? "Remember, atheists don't claim there is absolutely 0% chance of god existing." Some of the ET atheist do claim that God does not exist. They don't couch it in percentages at all...they deliver the claim with full on evangelical certainty...
I don't about ET groups but in general, theists are more annoying and more self righteous. As a general policy, atheists don't knock on your door and try to convince you that your life outlook is all wrong. Atheists also don't try to get atheist books in every hotel. It is a matter of personal choice, you can believe in jesus or you can believe in the power of your iPhone, I don't care.
I disagree. See if Stu says there is even a small chance of god existing. Many atheists state they know there is no God. That is the typical and traditional definition of atheist. if you say there is a chance than you are an agnostic. Most theists state they believe there is a God. That is the point. A belief in God is based on faith. Many atheists make the fraudulent attempt to claim science says there is no God.