Atheism

@FBM,

Quote:

I reckon it would be best to ask the people who use that term

Good idea. Now that I look, it says here:

Quote:

A freethinker is one who forms opinions on the basis of reason, independently of religions or other authorities.

http://www.freethinkersclub.org/pages/Freethinker.html

I wonder if Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennet are considered "authorities?" I wonder if whoever is preaching from the pulpit at an "atheist church" is an "authority?"

2 Replies

@layman,

In evolutionary biology and philosophy, respectively, I suppose Dawkins and Dennet would be. As for Dawkins, he placed himself at less than absolute on his 7-point spectrum of theistic probability scale. First at 6 and later (perhaps jokingly) at 6.9.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrum_of_theistic_probability

0 Replies

@layman,

So, right under that, there is a link to this page: http://nobeliefs.com/freethinkers.htm

Turns out that, when you go there, you get a bunch of material from "famous" writers, such as Thomas Jefferson, Robert Green Ingersoll ("known as the Great Agnostic because of his antireligious views"), Bertrand Russell ("He realized that the Christian religion, as organized in the churches, "has been and still is the principle enemy of moral progress in the world'), Daniel C. Dennett, and Richard Dawkins (two of the most strident and most militant atheists on the public stage these days).

I wonder if those authors are held up as "authorities," eh? SURELY not.

But I suspect that if I would just absorb and digest their teaching, and their wisdom, I too could be a "freethinker," ya know?

Then again, maybe not. Given the website name (nobeliefs.com) you get the idea that these people simply have no beliefs. Nothing to tell you.

0 Replies

There's more bullshit in the last few pages of this thread than one could expect to find in a Nebraska feed lot.

2 Replies

@ossobuco,

Quote:

I generally agree with edgarblythe, oh, 95 percent of the time re anything, but I don't consider you, layman, and argome and posting agnostics as trolls. Well, maybe Frank (hi, Frank) but he can't help it.

Thanks for that, Jo, but it may not be wise to say such things. The pain of ostracism may well await you.

0 Replies

@Setanta,

Quote:

There's more bullshit in the last few pages of this thread than one could expect to find in a Nebraska feed lot

Thanks! If you call it "bullshit," I'm confident that I'm on the right track.

1 Reply

@layman,

Ah-hahahahahahahahahaha . . . .

Ya can't beat this place for free entertainment . . .

0 Replies

@FBM,

Protagoras (circa 450 b.c.) is generally acknowledged to be the greatest of the ancient greek sophists, and has been called an early humanist and "free thinker."

But I'm beginning to doubt the "free thinker" part, eh? He said:

Quote:

"About the gods, I am not able to know whether they exist or do not exist, nor what they are like in form; for the factors preventing knowledge are many: the obscurity of the subject and the shortness of human life"

That sounds like some brand of "agnosticism" to me. Which, of course, is a completely non-existent thing. But, worse, he's not blaming religion for most of the problems of mankind. Absent that, how could anybody believe he was a "free thinker?"

1 Reply

@layman,

How can you defend the dogmatic claim that agnosticism is non-existent? Can you read the thoughts of others? I can't. Agnosticism exists for me in the sense that I admit that I don't know what I don't know.

1 Reply

@FBM,

Quote:

How can you defend the dogmatic claim that agnosticism is non-existent

Well, FBM, sorry, but I can't defend it because I have not been sufficiently trained in the art of free thinking. But the free thinkers I'm undertaking to study could undoubtedly defend it quite well. I'll try to get back to you after I get schooled, OK?

0 Replies

This is what i mean about the load of bullshit in this thread. I suppose layman thinks that was a clever and intelligent answer. I'd expect better from a member o a middle school debate team.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Quote:

I'd expect better from a member o a middle school debate team.

As well you should. After spending 10 years in schools and never getting past the third grade, I quit the day I turned 16. I never made it to "middle school."

0 Replies

@Ionus,

Quote:

Testing is the way to progress slowly and methodically . True advances come from the radical and the unorthodox, an idea that doesnt fit the mould of what we do know . If you say you can only believe in what is already known, we will get nowhere fast . There is an assumption that we have the knowledge to prove whether or not God exists but I see no reason to presuppose that .

I never heard of such an assumption that we could prove whether god(s) exist or not. How do we prove the supernatural if we posit a supernatural being?

1 Reply

That doesn't surprise me, nor does it address the subject or you having made a categorical and unsubstantiated claim about the nature of agnosticism. Instead, you attempt to sound clever . . . and fail miserably.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Quote:

...a categorical and unsubstantiated claim about the nature of agnosticism.

Take it up with the free thinkers, eh? They're the ones who told me.

If you want my woefully deficient and uninformed thoughts on the matter, you could go here: http://able2know.org/topic/141106-590#post-5913422 But, that's just ignorant crap, so I wouldn't bother, if I were you.

1 Reply

@Ionus,

Quote:

What will fill the lives of the people who need religion ? Not the fundamentalist who are 9 out of 10 parts psychotic but the ordinary people who find it helps them in their lives ? Do you imagine a world where everyone worships science ?

Why do you think we would be worshiping anything? Perhaps with a different orientation his need for worship will disappear. Perhaps that could start by giving himself more credit and take ownership of his life? Maybe we should encourage that instead of putting ourselves down?

1 Reply

@layman,

So, challenged about having peddled bullshit, you just peddle more bullshit. This is what i've come to expect from you, and why i have zero respect for your intellect.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Quote:

i have zero respect for your intellect

Jeez, that really, really, really, I mean, like, REALLY hurts, eh? I'm not sure I can survive without your respect. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

2 Replies

@layman,

Puerile sarcasm suits you . . . i suspect it's the height of your cleverness--you appear to think that you're clever, but i see no evidence of it. You can continue to peddle bullshit, but eventually, you'll only have conversations with newbies who don't yet know that you're a bullshit merchant. Of course, you could also learn and apply what you learn to your statements, but i don't think that will happen any time soon.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

He's gunna git caught...
just you wait and see...
Why's everybody always pickin on me? (Charley Brown)

0 Replies

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know