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All Blog Posts Tagged 'theism' (29)

What does it mean to be an Atheist Pagan?

Hey all!

It's been a battle, having this as an identity. People think its a contradiction of terms. Atheist and Pagan, like the two can't coincide, like they are .... mutually exclusive or something. Well, I'm here to say they are not. Cause first off, no one said that being a pagan required you be a polytheistic believer or a wiccan dual theistic believer. There is no template, there is no dogma, there is no book except what you claim as your own. For me, being a pagan is…

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Added by Ronni on February 25, 2013 at 7:58am — 7 Comments

The unknown purpose of the universe

Some philosophers, such as Richard Swinburne have argued that there is evidence from fine tuning that the specific laws of physics that allow intelligent life forms to exist are so improbable that it is plausible that these laws were fine tuned by god in order that intelligent life forms could exist (Leslie, 1990). Swinburne argued that a good god would have particular reason to will that beings such as humans could come to exist, e.g. so that we could develop…

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Added by Scott McGreal on August 2, 2012 at 10:30pm — 3 Comments

Explaining the universe with the unexplainable

Religious philosopher Richard Swinburne contends that the fact that the universe is actually explicable to human reason ‘points to the existence of a deity’.

As a thought experiment, imagine a universe that was not explicable to its inhabitants, where the reasons why things happened were completely opaque and not open to human understanding. People there might say that ‘God works in…

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Added by Scott McGreal on August 2, 2012 at 10:00pm — No Comments

It's Just a Word

One of my kids asked me if I'm nonbeliever and of course, I asked, "A nonbeliever of what?" I wasn't trying to be flippant, but there are so many things not to believe in that it is difficult deciding where to start. Then I said, "I suppose you mean am I a nonbeliever in god?" That prompted a long discussion, but I think he understood when we finished talking.

He was trying to find a way of categorizing me to a few of his friends that read my books. I hadn't given it much thought,… Continue

Added by Donald R Barbera on July 25, 2012 at 9:08pm — 18 Comments

Theists' views of atheists' morality

This topic is one I'm becoming more and more interested in. And it seems to be of interest to others too.

Miller McCune had an article in November (Distrust Feeds Anti-Atheist Prejudice) summarizing the findings of Will Gervais, Azim Shariff and Ara Norenzayan from a piece they published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology called "Do you believe in…

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Added by Joel Newton on January 10, 2012 at 11:08pm — 10 Comments

Shameless Self-Promotion of My Debate with Phil Fernandes

Please pardon the shameless self-promotion, but the video of my 1999 debate with Phil Fernandes on naturalism vs. theism was uploaded to YouTube some time…

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Added by jeff.lowder on December 5, 2011 at 1:18am — No Comments

My Atheism Doesn’t Need Evolution

Atheists are often portrayed as die hard believers in evolution, and atheism is quite often portrayed as being dependent upon believing in the validity of evolution. But you know what? Some people, such as myself, did not need to rely on Darwin to steer our courses off the path of religion and onto the path of reason.

Consider:

The bible was not created by a god nor inspired by the word of any god. It was written by a number of people who tried…

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Added by Brian Bridson on July 17, 2011 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Theism in a social setting.

Living in the small town area that I reside in and being a part of this still taboo minority can be rough sometimes but have no bearing on my social setting or comfort of the setting. I have noticed it depends on the people you are around and the atheist vs. theist ratio, you won't hear a lone christian argue with a room full of atheist for very long and (depending on the atheist) vice versa. But this isn't about argumentative bickering over who has the best idea, or just perhaps it never…

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Added by Jeffery Noble Zeckser on June 29, 2011 at 3:26am — 3 Comments

Chewin' the fat over how religion gets started with Tony.

I was chatting earlier with a fellow atheist Tony and we got talking about the origins of religion. We covered quite a swathe of topics, and I thought I'd like to preserve this exchange. It starts with him reply to someone else comment about atheism, communism and Marx.

Travis:

Karl Marx called religion "the opiate…

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Added by Richard Healy on August 12, 2010 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Pursuit of truth.

I believe the best way for me to "add content" is to present a portion from my book: "EVERY MAN AND WOMAN AN ISLAND, The Individual Human Being As PRIME In The Universe." (published by Trafford and listed on Amazon.) Then, periodically I could add additional portions pertinent to atheism (aka non-theism or anti-theism.) This first entry comes from chapter eight starting with a quote from novelist/philospher Ayn Rand, "Theism's myth declares that he ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge--he… Continue

Added by robert a clapp on June 4, 2010 at 3:02pm — No Comments

Bible Prophecy man tells me "I want nothing to do with you; but first..."

I’m amazed and delighted at the many replies my column “Sick and tired of God-Stuff “ received. While I don’t want to gloss over the wonderful and much appreciated compliments from other non-believers, I found the replies from theists to be downright eye-opening in some cases.

One prolific writer, Mr. BPE,…

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Added by Carol Everhart Roper on May 13, 2010 at 2:00pm — 3 Comments

Sick and tired of god-stuff - an open letter to theists

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-44168-Philadelphia-Freethought-Examiner~y2010m5d11-Sick-and-tired-of-godstuff--an-open-letter-to-theists

First of all, I am an atheist. Most likely one of the most adamant atheists you’ll ever meet. Let’s talk about why, and what it is that’s got me completely fed up with a good… Continue

Added by Carol Everhart Roper on May 11, 2010 at 12:30pm — 13 Comments

Constructing a Theist/Creationist Argument in Three Easy Steps

Step One:

Assert without evidence a rule about the physical universe. This rule is universal and unbreakable. Examples include, but are not limited to "everything in the universe requires a cause" or "everything that is complex requires a designer."

Step Two:

Assert without evidence a being who is exempt from the universal, unbreakable law you posited in step one. Examples… Continue

Added by Brian on April 6, 2010 at 4:30am — 1 Comment

Ignorance is Enlightened Bliss?

Time and again theists present atheism as a ‘belief’ – reflecting the necessary ‘faith’ of their own standpoint. Aside from Sam Harris’s excellent point (‘Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, ‘atheist’ is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a ‘non astrologer’ or a ‘non-alchemist’.’), this raises a number of very important points.

1. Knowledge and ignorance. Atheists… Continue

Added by Sigmund on March 8, 2010 at 3:17pm — No Comments

Are Theists Unnatural? My Shot At An Answer

I've been reading the post and discussion from Alber Crombie's discussion, "Are Theists Unnatural?" with great interest. I started writing an entry to their discussion and found myself writing the proverbial War and Peace in response. Rather than deluge their discussion with my… Continue

Added by Loren Miller on January 17, 2010 at 2:32pm — 2 Comments

Can theists and atheists really have any rational arguments?

Problem of evil debate - William Lane Craig vs Walter Sinnott-Armstrong

While preparing for the Problem of Evil course I'm now running, I found this debate between Craig and Sinnot-Armstrong above. And it seemed like two people arguing, one in English and the other in French.

Sinnot-Armstrong like any atheist argues from the primacy of the physical world. So suffering is extensive… Continue

Added by Alex McCullie on November 18, 2009 at 4:30am — 11 Comments

With Friends Like This...

Well, there seems to be a new one every week, a Christian who claims atheism is a kind of faith. So let's parse this nonsense and explain again the chasm of distinction between belief and non-belief. (You'd think it would be so obvious they aren't the same thing, but you'd be surprised.)

Irish Times Op-Ed writer Breda O'Brien claims

Atheists often appeal to science to underwrite their disbelief, but the decision not to believe in God lies ultimately in the arena of gut… Continue

Added by Angie Jackson on July 25, 2009 at 11:14pm — 5 Comments

Morals came from some where.... so they must have came from God!

98% of theists (don't ask where I got those statistics. I don't know.) I've talked to for some reason think this is an end-all good argument, when it really is a poor one.

They usually start out by asking if you believe in good and evil. My answer is yes, with a but. Yes but...people aren't all good or evil. Good and evil are very vague and broad terms, especially the word good. The idea of Good and Evil isn't the same for all people, but generally most people living in the same place… Continue

Added by Hekate Moon on June 29, 2009 at 8:16pm — 5 Comments

My family's beliefs

My brother sent around his new dating site profile for me, sister and mom to review. And he's listed religion as "Atheist but not too serious about it." Woo-hoo! I'm not entirely alone! Now I gotta get back in touch with my college freshman cousin, since he's starting to doubt god belief :)

My mom is an apologist and huge fan of C.S. Lewis. BUT she's also done some early christian writings study, (from all christian sources) so she may have doubts starting to surface. Plus now two of… Continue

Added by Angie Jackson on May 2, 2009 at 9:39am — 2 Comments

What existential "Meaning and Purpose" do theists have which Atheists do not?

I often hear from theists that they could never become an atheist because they are afraid that they would have no purpose and meaning to their lives.

While I was a dedicated Christian I do not recall what was so meaningful and purposeful about my life during this stage. Nor do I recall why I feared that these feelings would dissipate if I ever lost my faith. The reality, if my memory is not too distorted, is that this part of my life was not particularly happy or especially… Continue

Added by Rosemary LYNDALL WEMM on April 20, 2009 at 7:00pm — 6 Comments