MCalavera wrote:
cw10 wrote:
dmm1010 wrote:
cw10 wrote:
There are many sane atheists that don't believe reality is reality out of belief. It's just reality. There are quite a few psychotherapists that have similar views.
Atheists can't have it both ways, either they don't rely on belief systems or they aren't real atheists.
One can't say there is no god definitively and then in the next sentence use belief for anything. If you're going to deny belief in something, you have to maintain integrity and deny belief completely. Only hard testable theories in a universe of reality exists to an atheist. Atheists can not invoke belief of anything, to do so would accept as fact something untestable. Either it is, or it isn't. They are however allowed to claim ignorance, and the use of "I don't know" is allowed. But getting anyone to admit a lack of knowledge is difficult no matter what system they adhere to.
Why do believe the question of whether it's possible to
definitively say that there is no God is at all relevant or even useful?
According to an atheist that would be a meaningless question. The outline looks something like this: There is no god, period end of discussion. There's no data to support the idea, so ie there is no god. It never comes down to belief for a true atheist because belief in anything or for anything is meaningless. The atheist can't adhere to any belief because that would mean accepting a concept without verifiable evidence.
The kid in the video admits he believes there is no god. Therefore he cannot be an atheist because he's adhering to a belief.
In my view, what you're describing is an agnostic (not an atheist).
A typical atheist doesn't say he KNOWS there is no God. He says he believes there's no God. There's a difference between the two (in my opinion). Knowledge implies strong certainty (and even beyond). Belief of something simply means an accepting opinion of something.
Examples:
I believe it's wrong to murder.
I know 2 + 2 = 4.
I believe she's beautiful.
I know a square can't be a triangle at the same time.
I believe fairies don't exist.
I know who your father is.
etc.
"I believe she is beautiful" Now that one it's actually been proven to have a scientific backing. There's many factors I don't want to go into but the golden ratio pops up in things that are perceived "beautiful" all the time. I had some idea on how balance and depth perception is related to the golden ratio also, but that's just a crazy idea I have brewing in my head.
I'll have to disagree with you however. Atheists live in a black or white world. Things are, or they aren't. Opinions are like butts, everyone has one and they all stink, but the facts are the facts to an atheist.
My definition of an agnostic is something similar to an atheist, but with an open mind. To a typical agnostic they'll admit no belief system, but will accept data if it's available one way or the other. Atheists are hardcore and will not budge on their interpretation of the "facts". By definition they are A-Theistic, and cannot sway from that profile.
11 Dec 2011, 3:42 am
