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Odin
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20 May 2008, 3:54 pm

slowmutant wrote:
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Of course, Atheism is the LACK of belief, but that doesn't mean Atheists are nihilists, there are plenty of non-religious philosophies like Humanism.


With only the absence of something to believe in, how can atheists be anything other than nihilistic?


The label "atheist" only says that that person doesn't believe in god and blind faith, it does not mean the person believes in nothing.


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slowmutant
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20 May 2008, 3:59 pm

Without God or faith of any kind, what is left to believe in? A belief in logic and reason is just pedestrian commonsense.



iamnotaparakeet
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20 May 2008, 4:02 pm

I don't believe in [g]od and I don't have blind faith, but I accept God's existence from experience and from design features in nature ranging from the workings of the solar system to the nanotechnological level of the cell and DNA. I accept Christ based on the historicity of the New Testament and Masoretic Text with the Messianic prophecies that were fulfilled in Christ.



greenblue
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20 May 2008, 5:42 pm

slowmutant wrote:
Without God or faith of any kind, what is left to believe in? A belief in logic and reason is just pedestrian commonsense.

Why?


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Ragtime
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20 May 2008, 5:48 pm

slowmutant wrote:
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Of course, Atheism is the LACK of belief, but that doesn't mean Atheists are nihilists, there are plenty of non-religious philosophies like Humanism.


With only the absence of something to believe in, how can atheists be anything other than nihilistic?


Atheism does put one well within arm's reach of nihilistic thoughts.



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20 May 2008, 5:53 pm

Odin wrote:
oscuria wrote:
Odin wrote:
oscuria wrote:
Sand wrote:
If you think Christianity is totally innocent you simply have not been paying attention.


You have a different method of defining innocence. How many truly follow the practice? Not many. That is where deviation enters.


No-True-Scotsman Fallacy.


Incorrect. Read the Bible for once instead of criticizing from afar.


http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?se ... version=9;


I don't care what the Bible says, I care about what LOGIC says.


Okay, but in order to criticize Christians as Christians you have to know what the Bible says.
That's why I look up verses in the Qu'ran when I criticize Muslims;
I practice what I preach.

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If someone considers himself a Christian he is a Christian.


What is said does not necessarily bear relation to what is true. Otherwise, Barack would be the messiah he thinks he is instead of an inexperienced dolt. :lol:



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20 May 2008, 6:23 pm

Ragtime wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Quote:
Of course, Atheism is the LACK of belief, but that doesn't mean Atheists are nihilists, there are plenty of non-religious philosophies like Humanism.


With only the absence of something to believe in, how can atheists be anything other than nihilistic?


Atheism does put one well within arm's reach of nihilistic thoughts.

ok, denying the existence in God, does not conform to all the requirements to follow nihilism philosophy and being considered nihilist, as you have said, you have read the Quran to criticize muslims, so I believe reading about nihilism would do some fairness.


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oscuria
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20 May 2008, 6:42 pm

Odin wrote:

I don't care what the Bible says, I care about what LOGIC says. If someone considers himself a Christian he is a Christian.


That is a stupid argument and not something that a logical person would say.


How many people scream "THAT ISN"T A TRUE COMMUNIST COUNTRY!" whenever a person mentions communism? Is that a no-true-scotsman fallacy? No, right? Because it involves the great theory of Karl Marx, irrefutable, and wise! Infallible his words.


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Odin
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20 May 2008, 10:50 pm

oscuria wrote:
Odin wrote:

I don't care what the Bible says, I care about what LOGIC says. If someone considers himself a Christian he is a Christian.


That is a stupid argument and not something that a logical person would say.


How many people scream "THAT ISN"T A TRUE COMMUNIST COUNTRY!" whenever a person mentions communism? Is that a no-true-scotsman fallacy?


Yes, it is.


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Odin
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20 May 2008, 10:53 pm

slowmutant wrote:
Without God or faith of any kind, what is left to believe in? A belief in logic and reason is just pedestrian commonsense.


I'm a Humanist, which means i believe in Humanity, human potential, and human dignity. I don't need fairy tales.


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Odin
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20 May 2008, 11:02 pm

Ragtime wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Quote:
Of course, Atheism is the LACK of belief, but that doesn't mean Atheists are nihilists, there are plenty of non-religious philosophies like Humanism.


With only the absence of something to believe in, how can atheists be anything other than nihilistic?


Atheism does put one well within arm's reach of nihilistic thoughts.


No it doesn't.


Atheism being conflated with Nihilism is the result of subtle but pernicious dualistic assumptions permeating Western thought that leads the physical world to be degraded as being "mere" matter. Even many non-religious people still carry around these unquestioned assumptions. Atheism can only lead to nihilism if one still has these baseless dualistic assumptions in your mind.


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Sand
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20 May 2008, 11:49 pm

The propaganda of religion is that without the subjugation to a totalitarian superbeing humans would regress to vicious brutality. The brutalities daily committed by super religious fanatics easily demonstrates the falsehood of this. There is a basic social decency in most humans and for religion to claim that as originating only in religion is one of its major lies.



oscuria
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20 May 2008, 11:53 pm

Sand wrote:
The propaganda of religion is that without the subjugation to a totalitarian superbeing humans would regress to vicious brutality. The brutalities daily committed by super religious fanatics easily demonstrates the falsehood of this. There is a basic social decency in most humans and for religion to claim that as originating only in religion is one of its major lies.


Can you name an atheistic society that was a "Garden of Eden"?

The laws that we have today were at one point influenced by religion. The nations that were built were built around religion. Where have the atheistic nations been?


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Sand
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21 May 2008, 12:06 am

Religion and superstition have afflicted humanity from its origin. Humans are social animals and as such must have basic biological drives not to commit mayhem indiscriminately upon each other and of course there are always individuals, religious and otherwise who take advantage of cultural trust and decency for personal gain. No society, religious or otherwise has ever been totally free of brutality and viciousness but amongst societies, those with the most stringent religious regulations have, in general, been the most vicious.

It is the basic nature of religion to confer on its adherents the sense of possession of absolute truth and this is one of its most dangerous qualities for it gives religious people the license to commit frightful horrors on people who would doubt or defy those convictions.



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21 May 2008, 12:23 am

snake321 wrote:
Ok, this can be for people of any monotheist religion, be it christianity, islam, judaism, w/e. So, you believe there is a humble, all powerful, all loving god..... Yet, god requires mere human beings (who are no doubt like ants compared to him), mere humans, to bow and worship him... That doesn't sound like a very humble act in my opinion.
Sounds more like subjugation, which is more or less slavery. For god to require us to bow to him or worship him would be very very egotistical, would it not? Plus it's like this, imagine I could somehow communicate with bugs, and I demanded them to worship me. What's the point?
without reading the rest of the thread, let me answer this question myself based on what I know/what I have learned in my church.

First of all, God is not humble. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He is more powerful than any other being in the universe. And he knows this. There is nothing humble about that.

Second of all, God does not require anyone to worship him. He does not punish anyone for not believing in Him. Because He loves us, He allows us free will to believe in Him or not.



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21 May 2008, 5:12 am

Fantastic! You know the mind of God.
The psychologist Szasz pointed out that many people speak to God but when they hear him answer it is usually a sign of schizophrenia.