The World Beyond BetterMost > Anything Goes
Atheists: Come out, come out, wherever you are
Shuggy:
I've been on the Paul Bettany IMDb board (with the ulterior motive of promoting my "WHAT WOULD SILAS DO??" t-shirts etc, and he's apparently an Out atheist. This led me to a database of atheists. One was Christopher Reeve http://www.celebatheists.com/index.php?title=Christopher_Reeve (who was a bit wishywashy as an atheist, with some burble about a "higher power") who offered this good quote:
I often refer to Abe Lincoln, who said, "When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that is my religion."
Which reminds me of Tom Paine: "My country is the world and my religion, doing good" (That, incidentally, was told to me by my (pro bono) lawyer who represented me when I was a Conscientious Objector to Compulsory Military Training in 1965.)
I should put those on T-shirts, etc.
Impish:
Just discovered an amazing site: God Is Imaginary
http://godisimaginary.com/index.htm
It's a list of 42 "proofs" that gods don't exist, while not strictly proof in the scientific sense, they certainly give food for thought.
Like this wonderful quote from Epicures (300 BCE)
"The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not, or, being willing to do so, cannot; or they neither can nor will, or lastly, they are both able and willing. If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can, but will not, than they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, then they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent. Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, how does it exist?"
ednbarby:
--- Quote from: Impish on June 02, 2006, 11:12:06 am ---Just discovered an amazing site: God Is Imaginary
http://godisimaginary.com/index.htm
It's a list of 42 "proofs" that gods don't exist, while not strictly proof in the scientific sense, they certainly give food for thought.
Like this wonderful quote from Epicures (300 BCE)
"The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not, or, being willing to do so, cannot; or they neither can nor will, or lastly, they are both able and willing. If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can, but will not, than they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, then they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent. Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, how does it exist?"
--- End quote ---
Wow. This has been my husband's view all along, though not so thoroughly covering all angles. He's often said that the fact that there is so much evil and suffering in the world just goes to show that if there is an all-seeing being, he watches us from a distance like a grand experiment in a petry dish and does nothing to intervene either because he cannot or because he will not. In either case, such a being does not deserve worship. He doesn't buy that he only intervenes every so often, and those are miracles. Nor do I. Why does one person suffering from cancer get the cancer irradicated, and that's proof God exists and hears our prayers, while a couple hundred thousand die in a massive tidal wave? How arrogant to think that God hears *you* or your loved ones and not all those other people.
Sheyne:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on June 01, 2006, 12:39:51 am ---Well said Shugs.
When journalists cannot criticize a recently deceased Pope on TV because they fear the death threats and avalanche of hate mail they'll get, when filmmakers are killed in the streets for daring to unveil a misogynistic way of life, when hundreds are killed over cartoons in the newspapers and locals have to endure taunts and threats and ostracism for daring to suggest maybe Christmas pagents in public schools are not such a great idea, you know where the 'respect' comes from.
Fear. >:(
--- End quote ---
Wow. So true, Del. So true.
cmr107:
Hi everyone. I just discovered this thread, so I'm jumping in with my story.
Both of my parents are Presbyterian ministers (they met at seminary, incidentally). They both had their own churches at some point but both have other careers now and only preach to fill in every once in a while. Needless to say, I have gone to church my whole life (for those of you who don't know, I'm 19 and just finished my first year of college). Several years ago I began to wonder if God really exists, but I continued to go to church.
I took a theology class this year called 'The Problem of Evil' which turned out to be pretty interesting. The professor is a minister but he almost seemed to be trying to convince us that God does not exist. That class was where I first heard the term 'agnostic', and I can't believe I never knew that word before. I've been agnostic for a long time but never knew how to define it. I'm still young and I think I may come to the point of being an atheist eventually, but I'm not ready to get there yet. Part of my problem may be hesitation to reject what my parents believe and what I thought I believed for so long, but I don't think so. I think I just need more time and life experience.
We had a big paper to write for that class, and I wrote about being agnostic. Both my parents and the pastor of the church I have gone to for about 12 years read it and loved it. They thought it was great that I was thinking about things, even if I don't necessarily agree with them.
I think really the only thing that keeps me going to church while I'm at home is the people. The only one I have ever actually talked about religion with is the pastor. There are some really great people there who I have known for a long time. And they all love me because I'm the only kid my age who still ever goes to church. ;)
This is a really great discussion. Keep it up!
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