Question for the resident AT atheists

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SammyJr

Golden Member
Feb 27, 2008
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Originally posted by: NSFW
Could you please give me one scientific fact that proves God doesn't exist?

It is logically impossible to prove a negative.

Try it: Could you please give me one scientific fact that proves that Zeus doesn't exist?
 

SammyJr

Golden Member
Feb 27, 2008
1,708
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Originally posted by: OILFIELDTRASH
He exists.

Atheists seem so angry when you bring up God. If its just a fairy tell how come you won't get so angry when someone mentions zombies or leprechans etc.?

Because the moment you bring up your god, people think you're going to try to convert them or start arguing for school prayer or creationism. Blame the Fundie nutcases for that reception.
 

AyashiKaibutsu

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2004
9,306
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Originally posted by: polarbear6

But coming to the topic,
we know that singularity had the big bang. But the existence of singularity however again raises the point that god might have created it. Can you explain that.

You can keep having god retreat into the cracks of science; However, for scientificly inclined people who can look hundreds of years into the past and watch god continuely go deeper and deeper into the "well, you may know that now, but explain this without god hole", it's not going to hold a lot of weight.
 

polarbear6

Golden Member
Jul 14, 2008
1,161
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Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu
Originally posted by: polarbear6

But coming to the topic,
we know that singularity had the big bang. But the existence of singularity however again raises the point that god might have created it. Can you explain that.

You can keep having god retreat into the cracks of science; However, for scientificly inclined people who can look hundreds of years into the past and watch god continuely go deeper and deeper into the "well, you may know that now, but explain this without god hole", it's not going to hold a lot of weight.

Yeah, I did realize that, But some where in my heart , the religious corner just wanted me to keep going and try to some how convince people that god did exists.

 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
1,809
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76
Originally posted by: polarbear6
Yeah, I did realize that, But some where in my heart , the religious corner just wanted me to keep going and try to some how convince people that god did exists.

Why?
 

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
29,033
6
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Originally posted by: Crono
Originally posted by: jonks
Originally posted by: NSFW
Could you please give me one scientific fact that proves God doesn't exist?

An omnipotent God can do anything.
If so, He can make a rock so heavy he cannot lift it.
But if he cannot make such a rock, he is not omnipotent, and thus, not God.
And if he cannot lift the rock, he is not omnipotent, and thus, not God.

There. God made neatly impossible in one logical paragraph.

Your logic is based on human intelligence in this universe.
If God is omnipotent, then He isn't limited by that, now is He? He could
even recreate the universe such that such a contradiction in logic makes perfect sense, or such that you never asked that question to begin with. The "rock" question is a stupid one for anyone that understands what the word "omnipotent" means. The only good answer to that question is "BBQ Sauce".

No, his logic is based on logic. Your fantasy story about an omnipotent deity is based on human intelligence in this universe.
 

polarbear6

Golden Member
Jul 14, 2008
1,161
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Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy
Originally posted by: polarbear6
Yeah, I did realize that, But some where in my heart , the religious corner just wanted me to keep going and try to some how convince people that god did exists.

Why?

I was hoping that god would pay me back for having confidence in his existence.
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
1,809
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76
Originally posted by: polarbear6
Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy
Originally posted by: polarbear6
Yeah, I did realize that, But some where in my heart , the religious corner just wanted me to keep going and try to some how convince people that god did exists.

Why?

I was hoping that god would pay me back for having confidence in his existence.

So your faith is offered in trade?
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
1,809
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Originally posted by: jonks
Theist v. Atheist: Wall Street Journal OP-Ed faceoff.

Frankly, I liked the theists's essay better, Dawkins always comes off like a dick.

http://online.wsj.com/article/...74405030643556324.html

Thanks for that. I liked both essays, and yes, Karen Armstrong's was a refreshingly compelling view. There's a telling wistfulness about the way she describes religion before it tried to co-opt science and reason.

However, I think her essay just goes to show how useless religion has become in today's world. If she holds up Greek mythos and calls it analogous to early psychology -- if religion's value could be measured as a parable-driven moral guide or coping tool -- then why not actually turn to modern psychology instead of myth? If religion's worth is measured by its ability to hold us in a state of wonder, why not instead science, which can bring us to an unparalleled appreciation of the complexity of the universe?

Armstrong seems to treasure God as a symbol of human transcendence, not necessarily as a driving entity, and thus falls into the pattern Dawkins describes in his own essay -- that of the "sophisticated modern theologian" who believes that God's actual existence is unimportant, that it is the individual belief and personal effect that matters. This all but extinguishes the notion that God, the Deity, is real and worthy of faith.

In her article, Armstrong also argues that religion must remain conscious of and adapt to contemporary circumstance to stay relevant, but it is clearly failing to do so, or perhaps is prevented by walls thrown up by reality and exposed by science. For the above reasons, the utility of religion has been severely diminished, replaced by new tools grounded in that very reality. Religion is dying, and fittingly at the hands of a Darwinian form of philosophical Natural Selection.