A beginner's guide to being an atheist, by Richard Dawkins

[Cypress]

I don't care about explaining the origin of consciousness.

I'll take that as a tacit admission that in the midst of all the know-it-alls on the thread, I'm the one acknowledging we have a genuine scientific and philosophical mystery.

 

[Cypress]

They claim they know but they never can explain it.

I think they have a dogmatic predisposition that life, the universe, and everything can be fully explained by matter and energy. Even if they can't really explain it themselves.

That's what you call Faith.

They devolve into insults and false accusations. It's an expected response in 12-year-olds, but not in anyone over 35. I consider militant atheists to be as wacky as Jesus Freaks running around with his finger in the air shouting "Jesus is Lord!" Both use emotional argument and are often lacking in logic.

Very true of both holy rollers and militant atheists.
I bailed on atheism 20 years ago because of all the logical paradoxes and miracles it requires.

I still don't know what the ultimate truth is, and never will, but I'm working on it!

 

[Freddy Figbottom]

I'll take that as a tacit admission that in the midst of all the know-it-alls on the thread, I'm the one acknowledging we have a genuine scientific and philosophical mystery.

I believe in mysteries, they're fun.

But I'm MORE interested in wisdom about living with our fellow humans.

that's morality and religion, insofar as religious teachings are related to morality.

mixing them up is your approach to your mission of demoralization.

 

[Freddy Figbottom]

I think they have a dogmatic predisposition that life, the universe, and everything can be fully explained by matter and energy. Even if they can't really explain it themselves.

That's what you call Faith.


Very true of both holy rollers and militant atheists.
I bailed on atheism 20 years ago because of all the logical paradoxes and miracles it requires.

I still don't know what the ultimate truth is, and never will, but I'm working on it!

you're a satanic warpig demoralizer of humanity.

 

[Freddy Figbottom]

That's not a scientific explanation.

That's a blanket assertion with zero explanatory power.

Please explain at the fundamental level of chemistry and physics, how subatomic particles, atoms, and molecules create self awareness, consciousness, free will, moral sensitivity.

this is an unimportant concern that has no relevance to the actual human condition.

Tossing out words like evolution and synapses are not a scientific explanation. Evolution is just a process, it's not an explanation. The explanation for descent with modification is natural selection and genetic drift, etc. Synapse is just a classification for a molecular structure. That's not an explanation to the question posed.

If physical materialism is true, the ultimate explanation has to be at the level of physics and chemistry. That's the fundamental reality of human bodies and all matter.

On the other hand, you could just admit we don't know how consciousness emerges from inanimate chemistry and it's still a mystery. There's no shame in pleading ignorance.

you're the one stuck in physical materialism.

as evidenced above.

 

[Cypress]

this is an unimportant concern!

ftfy, I don't expect scientific and philosophical questions to pass a popularity contest with internet rubes, and I've never felt motivated to stoop to the interests of MAGA morons, specifically pornography, drugs, and cultic worship practices of their tangerine Messiah.

 

[Freddy Figbottom]

ftfy, I don't expect scientific and philosophical questions to pass a popularity contest with internet rubes, and I've never felt motivated to stoop to the interests of MAGA morons, specifically pornography, drugs, and cultic worship practices of their tangerine Messiah.

And you don't care about morality, and thusly you miss the point of religion entirely, and on purpose.

 

[Into the Night]

smart people shouldn't do such evil things.

What evil thing??

I know you've normalized horrific acts in your own world, but that;s just sad for you.

You are hallucinating. I don't normalize any horrific act.

WW2 was a war. The Bomb was a major factor in ending that war, and probably saved lives on both sides.

 

[Into the Night]

^^ ftfy... The militant atheists always end up getting angry when pushed to justify their worldview. That's no different than the Bible thumpers.

There is no such thing as a 'militant atheist'.
Most Christians don't thumb Bibles. They treat them with more respect than that.

 

[Into the Night]

ftfy, I don't expect scientific and philosophical questions

Science isn't a question. Philosophy isn't a question.

to pass a popularity contest with internet rubes,

Science does not use consensus. Philosophy does not use consensus.

and I've never felt motivated to stoop to the interests of MAGA morons,

MAGA isn't a person.

specifically pornography,

What pornography?

drugs,

What drugs?

and cultic worship practices of their tangerine Messiah.

Go learn English, Cyborg. Go learn what 'cult' and 'Messian' means.

 

[Into the Night]

Pally boy, I had more science by junior high than you have your entire life.

Life IS what we have. Some of us even have an evolved brain. You can continue to shit yourself over your silly obsession. Will you be able to find someone to wipe your heiney?

Science isn't a class.

 

[Into the Night]

Humans are entirely composed of quarks and electrons. I'm the one who believes there is probably more to life, the universe, and everything than just matter and energy.

As far as I can tell I am the only poster in the last six pages who believes that.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophies, Horatio." -- Hamlet

If I am talking to people who believe all that exists is matter and energy, the topic of physics is going to come up, regardless of whether it makes you angry

Matter is not religion.
Energy is not religion.
Life is not religion.

 

[Into the Night]

That's not a scientific explanation.

It is not an explanation at all.

That's a blanket assertion with zero explanatory power.

It's not an explanation at all. It's comparing words.

Please explain at the fundamental level of chemistry and physics, how subatomic particles, atoms, and molecules create self awareness, consciousness, free will, moral sensitivity.

He can't. It exists. That's good enough.

Tossing out words like evolution and synapses are not a scientific explanation.

Correct. The Theory of Evolution is not a theory of science.

Evolution is just a process, it's not an explanation.

The Theory of Evolution is a theory, which is an explanatory argument.

The explanation for descent with modification is natural selection and genetic drift, etc.

The Theory of Evolution is not the Theory of Natural Selection, which itself has been falsified by paradox.

Synapse is just a classification for a molecular structure.

No. A synapse is a gap between nerve endings. Communication across the gap is conducted chemically.

That's not an explanation to the question posed.

It is not an explanation at all. You are not posing any question.

If physical materialism is true,

Buzzword fallacy.

the ultimate explanation has to be at the level of physics and chemistry.

No explanation is required for a buzzword.

That's the fundamental reality of human bodies and all matter.

There is no such thing as a 'fundamental reality' or absolute reality. Go learn what this word means and how it's defined.

On the other hand, you could just admit we don't know how consciousness emerges from inanimate chemistry and it's still a mystery. There's no shame in pleading ignorance.

It exists. That's good enough.

 

[Into the Night]

I'll take that as a tacit admission that in the midst of all the know-it-alls on the thread, I'm the one acknowledging we have a genuine scientific and philosophical mystery.

Science is not a mystery. Philosophy is not a mystery.

 

[Into the Night]

I think they have a dogmatic predisposition that life, the universe, and everything can be fully explained by matter and energy. Even if they can't really explain it themselves.

That's what you call Faith.


Very true of both holy rollers and militant atheists.
I bailed on atheism 20 years ago because of all the logical paradoxes and miracles it requires.

I still don't know what the ultimate truth is, and never will, but I'm working on it!

There is no such thing as a 'militant atheist'. Atheism has no paradox. Atheism has no miracles.

 

[Matt Dillon]

Concise summary of "Outgrowing God", Richard Dawkins2019​

Humans have invented thousands of gods.

The Old Testament is just myths, violence, retribution.

The New Testament is utterly unreliable because the books were written decades or centuries after Jesus' ministry.

Some scholars are skeptical Jesus ever actually existed.

The only sources confirming the historical Jesus outside the canon were Josephus and Tacitus, and Josephus was probably forged by Christians.

The game of telephone proves you can't have reliable transmission of information through multiple generations of people.

Paul barely ever mentions Jesus.

Evolution explains the intricate complexity of life.

Science basically proves there can't be a designer.

Basically all knowledge and truth comes from science.

Objective morality>Subjective morality.
You'll never have the peace I do in knowing how the world works if you continue on this path.
There's only 1 pure standard for morality, and that's God's way.
The creator of you and the world you live in. He set the rules.
Everything else is manmade BS. Man isn't isn't smart enough to second-guess God.
You definitely aren't.

 

[Matt Dillon]

There is no such thing as a 'militant atheist'. Atheism has no paradox. Atheism has no miracles.

Atheists are worse than Jehovah's Witnesses in the way they proseletize.
All Atheists have is negative.

 

[Matt Dillon]

All standards of morality around the world are compared to God's standard of Objective Morality, whether you tards like it or not, that's exactly how it is. No man-made morality conforms to a higher standard than God's and all all are measured according to that standard..
All other Gods are false, and the creator of this world is it. It is what it is.
Indians call him "The Great Spirit".
1 God, the maker of this earth and men. That's the truth.
Anything else is a manmade distortion of that.

 

[Freddy Figbottom]

There is no such thing as a 'militant atheist'.
Most Christians don't thumb Bibles. They treat them with more respect than that.

many atheists are militant.

violent communists for one.

 

[domer76]

Nobody will ever find the secrets to the universe in a two bit political forum no matter how much you want to.

Quarks or no fucking quarks. LOL