Many people go ahead and try to criticize peoples beliefs and ask why people can believe in what they do. But at the end of the day, why can't some people just be left alone to believe in what they want to believe?
This thread = Yay for ignorance, lest we shall debate our beliefs or be self-critical. Lest we shell engage in open-ended discussion - God forbid! Lest it shall be possible to be wrong.
All you're doing is talking about "forcing" opinions, a popular phrase used to dodge arguments, once one doesn't have anything more to say that contributes to the topic at hand.
In addition, it is impossible to force a belief onto someone, anyway. One person can only say something and the other person can react internally and externally. It is up to both sides individually to make use of the words spoken by the other side respectively.
Unfortunately, it is entirely nonsensical to say that "everyone should be able/have the right to believe whatever they want to believe". This is simply a given, because there are currently no mind-control devices in use. You do not need to say this. It is a display of a lack of arguments, nothing more.
In fact, this sentence is so superfluous, I usually just ignore it or point out to the other side that I would have preferred an actual argument rather than that "pearl of wisdom".
You should be aware that this position is nothing else than the position of naivety and mulishness.
It is to say "Well, you have a good point but you know what? Go fuck yourself, I don't give a shit."
To partake in a discussion about the subject at hand is to accept that one could be wrong. To say "Well, I have the right to still believe this despite your arguments" is not to accept the possibility that one could be wrong. It is to seal off your mind from the possibility of learning through discussion with others. That is the central meaning of religion - not giving a shit about what others think.
We should discuss our beliefs. Always. Simple.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Religious tolerance is inacceptable. No belief should ever be respected.
I can't prove it, and you cannot disprove it, you can only give me a logical answer based on what we know as of yet. We don't know what we may discover in the future, so i think that a logical answer based on the unlikeliness is a bit invalid. I have my own reasons for believing in what i believe.
Again, you are essentialy proposing that irrationality is acceptable.
No, you do not have your own reasons. Reasons are not proprietary. Quite to the contrary, they are virulent and contagious. Once you actually understand the argument presented by the opposite side, it is impossible for you to ignore its inherent truth.
If you say that a reason might be valid for you while being invalid for everyone else, you are again essentially shutting yourself off from the world.
I don't want to get into religious discussion, but to me it seems that you haven't understood the basic idea of atheism at all. Once you propose that something exists, you have to present evidence. Until you do this, it is irrational to even talk about the thing you propose exists. Actually, you can't even talk about it without having presented evidence first. The words "higher being" and "God" don't mean anything until you even know what you are talking about. And if you don't have evidence, you don't know what the word God means. Simple.
If I were to propose that "Zergtbal" exists without being able to say anything about it whatsoever, what does Zergtbal actually mean? Nothing. The same goes for God.
Everyone can usually agree that people are free to believe whatever they wish, as long as disagreements are respected. It is in the common case that disagreement is not respected that the trouble emerges.
This is wrong. It's exactly the other way around.
Disagreements should never be respected, they should be talked about. This is basic civilized human culture.
You know what happens when you are not able to have an open debate about an intellectual disagreement?
War.
You know why religious extremists fly planes into buildings? Because they think exactly like that. We can't talk with them about our intellectual differences. We can't have Bush and Bin Laden sit down peacefully and talk about whether God's name is "Yahweh" or "Allah". Thus, we have to bomb shit.
The end of words is the beginning of action. And religion is usually the end of words because we have to "respect" anything that has the "religion"-tag smacked on it.
I want to point out that the model of human interaction you propose is directly supportive of interpersonal hate and violent action taken because of it. It is a model more commonly used by children, who, as we all know, get into physical fights much more often.
That is why religious tolerance is inacceptable.
Just imagine, if, in a political debate, a candidate would simply reply to an argument by saying "It is my right to believe this so I will keep doing it".
He would present himself with the intellectual maturity of a 5-year old. Anyone would immediately understand that he only uses that sentence to conceal his lack of arguments.
Also, I want to add that "atheism" is not a philosophical position. It doesn't mean anything, because "God" doesn't mean anything. "Atheism" only makes sense within the boundaries of religion, by negating it. Instead, if being asked about labeling myself, I chose to use positive nouns such as naturalism, reason, science, empiricism, humanism etc.
That seems to imply that “true science” can never ask the question. Is this occurrence to complex to be a result of chance or natural selection?
Of course you can ask this question. Basic knowledge of the theory of evolution will answer it. Complexity is a human concept. You only think that humans are complex, because your brain evolved to consider life and humans the most complex of all things. However, complexity is a matter of subjective perspective, it's arbitrary. If anything, evolution can tell you that you are not to judge the complexity of something because you will inevitably fail to make a useful assessment due to being limited by the design of your brain in judging these things objectively. Subjectively considering something "too complex" is not an argument at all, unless you can specifically disprove the theory of evolution as it stands.
This is one of the greatest double speaks performed by Atheist. An Atheist believes that science confines itself to a naturalistic explanation of events. This is understandable, can be considered logical and it’s fine as far as it goes. But, when the common Atheist claims that there is nothing in the universe exclusive to natural explanations,
Science doesn't claim that. Science only describes that which is. You are the one claiming that science is missing something. The burden is on you to say what exactly is exclusive to natural explanation. Provide an example. Science will be glad to take it into consideration, if you can give a reason to do so. Provide only a shred of evidence for something that can not be explained by naturalistic science and BOOM Nobel Price for you. Quantum physics is already taken though.
however they are arguing outside the realm of science, and have become purveyor’s of naturalistic philosophy.That is no longer a methodology of objective inquiry but a religious like, dogmatic assumption, upon which foundation only certain conclusions will be allowed to subsist.
The reason science is naturalistic is because it is the only philosophical position that actually makes sense, given the parameters of our existence. It is due to the human interacting with its surroundings through a common set of senses and internally by thinking that once we interact at all, we are already doing so within the field of naturalism. By providing evidence to the contrary, you could change this. Though personally, I do believe that you will fail to do so.
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