Agnostics are open to the possibility of a god, but are not sold on it.

This is what I am.

I haven’t seen proof for or against the existence of God, and unlike others, I will never state implicitly that one or the other is the truth, because I do not know.

If proof did exist, there would be no need for faith.

I am happy for those who have faith, but I do not share it.

Doesn’t matter if it’s a “definitive” statement or not, it’s still not proveable, thus not fully logical. I would suggest reviewing my statement above, that everyone is geared to have faith in something, and how *intellectualization* is one of the several psychological defenses to back up this faith, whether it be faith in a god, or a belief (e.g. atheism), or an entity (e.g. government.

In other words, It’s not my fault that I don’t believe in the ridiculous concept of a God, and it’s not up to me to prove that something DOESN’T exist. If you believe that something exists and want me to believe that that something exists, then the burden is on you to prove it exists. Solid proof, not some metaphysical bullshit like, “Look all around you, how do you explain all THIS if there isn’t a God?!”.

I know this little slap in the face won’t bring any of the believers back down to reality, and if the cuddly blanket of having a magical man in the sky grant wishes to you when you pray to him works for you, then go for it. Just don’t get bent out of shape when someone rolls their eyes at you when you spout your religious nonsense. Oh, and please keep it out of politics. Policy based on religion is a downward spiral. Just take a look at the middle east. “She blasphemed and must be executed!” All religion does is cloud judgment with dogma.

For those that question the existence of God, welcome back to reality. The REAL truth is, that love, goodwill, and honesty are all inside you and with the family and friends around you, not out there with some magical man in the sky, or in some ancient book that people insist is “The Truth!.

Oh! and I shouldn’t say that God doesn’t exist. God does exist, in the fact that he’s humanity’s greatest delusion.

Actually…

SJ is floating in my spare room, smiling down on my (still working) SE30 4/40.

In wondering how it is possible for fish to never conceive men, he’s expressing a sense of awe and wonder for the natural world. A particular sense of wonder which is only a possible through ignorance of very basic well known biology that explains why reproduction is species specific. Why don’t dogs conceive birds? Why don’t spiders conceive jaguars? It’s so incredible!

>There is no faith in atheism. There is only cold, rational reason.
>Atheism is not a “belief” system or a system of beliefs. The
>funny thing is, it isn’t an “ism” at all. In fact there should be no
>word for atheism were we living in a rational world

In point of fact, atheism is in fact a religion. Like other religions, it makes faith-based statements about a deity (in this case, “There is no god”), and requires belief in this statement of faith in order to continue as a member of the religion.

(The statement is a proposition of faith, rather than a proposition of reason, because the existence of a deity can neither be proven nor disproven by reason; therefore, the proposition falls into the domain of faith rather than the domain of reason, no matter who is advancing the proposition and no matter which side of the proposition the proponent takes.)

In fact, atheism could even be considered the most “blind faith” of religions, because while there exist inductive (i.e., non-conclusive) proofs of the existence of a deity, it is a logical impossibility to prove a negative. A belief in a negative, while claiming that it stands on reason, is possibly the most logically fallacious system that one could imagine.

Most excellent.

Those are not atheists.

What the hell does that even mean?

Agnosticism is more rational than faith for sure, but less rational than pure atheism.

People of faith see proof of god everywhere, and answer any question with about the nature of the universe with “god’s will.”

Agnostics are just afraid they might miss out on some afterlife.

Atheists just use reason. I see no proof of god, not one iota, hence there is no god.

I miss Steve.

By the way, there’s no record of the Buddha ever talking about a literal reincarnation after death, or anything supernatural for that matter. Literal reincarnation actually contradicts some of the Buddha’s teachings, such as the idea that the self doesn’t really exist (except as an illusion created by the mind), and everything in universe is constantly changing, becoming something new every moment.

There IS a place for spirituality, or Gaia, or whatever. Formalized, organized, strict religion IS bullshit, but it’s stupid to suppose there is no higher power.

Can a fish conceive of a man?

This is the plot for another South Park baloney ‘religion’ exposé, right? ‘The Book of Jobs’?

I have a lot of respect for Buddhism. But I think this guy has had a bit too much grain ergot with his Absinth.

Okay, carry on, never mind me, lol. English is not my native language and thus it’s a bit hard to make my point as well as I’d like to…

On a side note.. I’d take a religious person over a condescending atheist any time. We’re emotional beings, we put faith in things, it’s more of an impulse than an actual thought. Whether its god, or something else. Most of the atheists I’ve come across like to put their faith in government, and they’ll go through any measure of intellectualization or rationalization to back up that emotional need. No matter how corrupt, wasteful, or innefectual, many people continually vote to increase the power of this entity. This not only makes them atheists, but hypocrites as well. And if you really think about it, agnosticism is the only true rational religious philosophy.

I have Atheists friends who simply say, “I don’t know. I don’t ascribe to any faith.” Those folks would say Steve “might be experiencing something…might not…I don’t know.”

You stated, unequically, “Steve isn’t experiencing ‘life after death’ … he is not ‘experiencing’ anything, anymore”

How do you know? What proof do you have? You don’t and you have none. Thus, for you to make the statment you did, you must believe it dispite the lack of any empirical evidence. That certainly sounds like a belief system to me.

Logic is making inroads, but irrationality does seem to be t center stage in most places.

The oddest argument I can imagine is two people screaming that thier imaginary deity is better than the others. Both are based on love and both will kill to prove they are right.

Enderle, Henry Blodget and the dozens of financial analysts that cover apple stock…

There is no faith in atheism. There is only cold, rational reason. Atheism is not a “belief” system or a system of beliefs. The funny thing is, it isn’t an “ism” at all. In fact there should be no word for atheism were we living in a rational world.

Religions require faith in the utterly ridiculous, no matter how unsupportable, unbelievable, and inane the faith may be. That is what faith is. It is by definition irrational, and completely antithetical to atheism.

Make no mistake about it, faith is a powerful motivator. It assumes control of the rational portion of people’s minds. It can motivate otherwise sane individuals to forgo life saving medical treatment for children. It can motivate seemingly rational individuals to forgo the use of machines and electricity on one day of the week. It can convince otherwise good people to go on slaughtering sprees killing incomprehensible numbers of other people because of their equally irrational but different “faith.”

Someday we will be free of it. Unfortunately not in my lifetime.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/08/atheism

Steve Ballmer will be reincarnated as a cockroach.

Bill Gates will be reincarnated as garden slug.

Or perhaps he would come back as Steve Jobs the White.