 Oortcloud says: The bottom line is that regardless of what magical sky fairy you do or do not believe in, there is ample evidence to indicate there are basic moral guidelines that all humans have an instinctive nature to follow. The most obvious involves avoiding unnecessary harm to other creatures. By doing so, we reduce the likelihood of unnecessary harm being inflicted upon ourselves, and you don't need to believe in god to recognize that pain and discomfort is something worth avoiding wherever possible. For more information, see Atheism for further details on categories of atheists. Similarly, belief is not necessarily belief in what atheists believe belief to be. The basic moral guidelines, also adopted by religions, are not working too well at this point in time. A cynic might offer that when fighting for a god and its teachings, moral guidelines are the first things forgotten. Not much history on the behaviour of atheists during conflict, or is that history non existent? For me, atheism is not a religion. abailart said:I'm not sure what you mean. I'm seeing several possible meanings to your statement: Are you saying that atheist do not understand what religious people believe in? Are you saying that atheist do not understand the concept of faith? Are you saying that atheist don't understand the source that religious people put their faith in? Are you saying that atheist don't understand the mechanism in which faith works? Or are you saying that atheist cannot comprehend what it is to have faith in something? Could you clarify a bit more? Being an atheist myself I can clarify the issue.I am pragmatic.Life for me is finite.No more complicated than the ant you just stepped on. Everything else is denial. Oortcloud, I think I meant all those questions! I am not able to clarify directly for several reasons, one being inability, one being that it is impossible to discuss such central concepts in a few sentences. I did post a clip the other night www.darkfiber.com.atheisms/atheisms/index.html that discusses some of the questions and more. It is said by some that Wittgenstein was a mystic. We do indeed have to live in a finite 24 hours reality, and as Wliiam James repeatedly said in his examinations of belief and faith, to be pragmatic. Yet if the 'limits of my language are the limits of my world', it is beyond the limits of conceptual thinking perhaps that faith, mystery, belief and more begin. Sorry, I just don't go for the mystical stuff. If I can experience it with one of my senses then it exists in the real world and can be manipulated, observed, tested, and eventually understood.(tried to load your link but it would not load) Atheism is a rejection of claim because the claim fails. If the claim relies on the supernatural then it exists outside of nature, thus even the claimant could not experience it to make a true claim. If something "supernatural" has intermingled with natural to prove itself then at least that aspect of it has become natural and is then provable as real. Seeing that those make this claim again fail to prove it then the claim is again invalidated. To be mo... |
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