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I have found many reasons to completely disregard Christianity. I'm an agnostic and still unsure why so many atheists are certain there is no God or gods. I can't imagine that there wasn't some degree of design. Maybe I'm an agnostic leaning theist. Still philosophically, how can one know? Greek Skepticism aregues that there are no truths and judgements should be susdpended, so I just don't know ... Maybe that's the truth, we don't know, and if there is a God or gods they are silent.

JoshuaHale 4 Nov 3
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Negative assertions are as easily proven as positive assertions.

There is no such thing as a burden of proof except in a court of law.

There is evidence for an intelligent realm beyond the boundaries of everyday human experience. It is trivial and meaningless whether you call it God, Universal Consciousness, or Ultimate Reality—in either case ultimate reality is a profoundly impenetrable mystery. It is ridiculous to argue over something when you haven’t the slightest idea of what you are arguing about.

At the awareness level of ultimate reality the concept of creation is meaningless. According to quantum gravity theory there’s no such thing as time, space is finite and comes in quanta, and what we think of as matter is interactions between quantum fields. Our human concept of existence is bogus.

I agree that Christianity deserves to be ignored. The fact that Christian authorities spread lies has no bearing on the God question.

Where can I find more on this fascinating explanation?

What I mean is, is there one book or many regarding your response?

@JoshuaHale I don’t know of a book that specifically treats the subject but there might be some. Several of the founders of modern physics wrote about Universal Consciousness. There is this about John Wheeler:

[futurism.com]

Also, “Biocentrism” gives a perspective on the subject. See cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman’s theories about conscious realism.

I myself wrote a short novel “The Staggering Implications of the Mystery of Existence”, available in the Kindle Store that delves into the subject in a limited way. I see that you are a writer. Maybe you will research the subject and write your own book. Let me know when it’s available. 🙂

The book, “Reality is not What it Seems”, by Carlo Rovelli is a fascinating look at quantum gravity theory but says nothing about the place of consciousness in the universe.

@JoshuaHale Of course there are religious texts that treat the subject—too many to list.

Hindu texts are a good source—The Bhagadvita Gita and the Upanishads. Of course if you are anti- religious that might not be for you. You can filter out some of the mythical stuff.

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When anyone tries to tell me that there must be a God because if there wasn't then the Bible wouldn't have been written, I simply respond quietly that " There must have been a Harry Potter, for example, otherwise the Harry Potter series wouldn't have been written either."

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Nobody can say there is not a god or gods as it is impossible to prove a negative. Atheists don’t say that there is no god, just that there is no evidence that there is. It is illogical to believe anything that cannot be proved, even if you think that some designer must have created everything in the universe, if you have no actual evidence of such, it is just a belief not a fact. Just because you can’t imagine that there isn’t a god who created everything doesn’t mean that there must be. If you think rationally about this I think you will find it is more logical to disbelieve in the existence of god than to believe.

I am an Atheist and as do most Genuine Atheists I reject, deny and state that NO Deities exist in reality but exist ONLY the imaginings of man.

@Triphid I am as genuine an atheist as you are, but I cannot say there is definitely not a god or gods, just that no evidence has been found that there is. You cannot be certain of a negative it is an impossibility to do so. Putting capital letters on it to emphasise your point doesn’t make it any truer.

@Marionville Ergo, how can you be so certain that a GOD/Deity has/does exist when there never has been any empirical evidence in its favour shown.
The lack of Evidence is NO evidence of Proof.

Btw, check the definitional differentiations between Atheist and Agnostic, you may just find that Agnostic fits you better.

@Triphid I don’t believe it does or did, but that is not the same as saying it definitely doesn’t exist. It is my belief not my certainty. Only deists deal in certainty, freethinkers have open minds and are always open to the possibility of new evidence presenting itself. I have never in my entire life believed that there is a god, nobody has been able to prove that there is, however, conversely there is no evidence either that there isn’t.

@Triphid I am an Atheist, plain and simple and I would ask you to do me the courtesy of not telling me what I should call myself. I am both Agnostic and Atheist, they are both compatible and not mutually exclusive. These things are only labels anyway, and I am above all a Freethinker, which apparently you are not. Btw, the definition of an Atheist is a belief that there is no god or gods...a belief not a certainty, and that is what I believe. An Agnostic believes that nothing is known of the existence of god, again what I believe.

@Marionville Now who is calling the kettle black?
Btw, I was SUGGESTING NOT telling, sorry I do NOT talk in Americanese, I was bred, born and raised in Australia where we used the original English language and the original English Dictionary and Grammar style.

@Triphid Are you trying to annoy me or just naturally annoying? I cannot understand what Americanese I have used...can you enlighten me? It will interesting to hear your answer, I cannot wait.

@Marionville Please try hard NOT to get your G-string in knot, it can be hazardous to your comfort and health.
'Americanese' - the way America has ' bastardized the English language, diction, grammar, context, meaning, etc, etc.

@Triphid What did I say that used Americanese?

@Marionville Oh never mind, this could go on for an eternity since you seem , in my opinion, bent upon finding someone to argue with and I'm not interested in the least in fulfilling your desire.

@Triphid Thank you, I think that is the wisest course. The reason I was pressing you to tell me how I had used Americanese, which I didn’t require any “mansplaining” to know the meaning of, was because I never at any time would use it, not being an American. I would wager that my use and knowledge of the English language is superior to yours in all respects....after all you are only a colonial and speak a strange antipodean form of English called “Aussie”. I on the other hand speak “proper” English. I think you were trying to be clever by trying to patronise me, but I can assure you I have had better and more able people than you try to do that, and equally unsuccessfully to boot. I suggest you read people’s profiles prior to making intended put-downs in future, or even better stop trying to be a smart arse.

@Marionville Whatever you reckon.

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Atheists are not certain, they decline to believe the unsubstantiated for lack of evidence. It is a lack of any belief, not a positive unbelief.

Agnostics, properly speaking, regard the standard-issue interventionist god as unknowable, on account of it being unsubstantiatable. Non-falsifiable hypotheses cannot be discussed as there's nothing knowable about them.

If you can't have knowledge of the existence of god (agnostic), it's impossible to form a supportable belief (atheistic).

If the gods are silent they might as well not exist. There's no way to tell an absent, indifferent, or non-interventionist god from a non-existent one.

My little addition to the above comment.

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Are you also agnostic when it comes to Santa Claus? Or the Tooth Fairy? Those who promote such beings have the burden of proving their existence. Until they do, we are perfectly reasonable in denying that they are real. Same with gods. Those who promote gods have not been able to provide any credible evidence that they exist. Therefore, I write them off as mythological beings. Until I see good evidence for the existence of gods, I am an atheist.

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Raised as a Jew I found them too silent-don't exist to let the "Chosen People" be slaughtered in the Cruades, Spanish Inquisition and Holocaust.

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As an Agnostic A-theist, there has never been any evidence, facts or data to support the existence of anything supernatural, god(s) or otherwise, and until some is presented, the default is non-existence.

Exactly. You hit the nail on the head.

@irascible Then there is Hitchen's Razor: any claim presented without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

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In my view (and many others) 'atheist' doesn't mean you know there are no gods. It just means that you do not hold the believe in a god. By this definition you might be an atheist too but maybe you don't want to call yourself that for whatever reason.
You talk about design. So you don't believe in evolution?

Dietl Level 7 Nov 3, 2018
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I'm atheist because there is absolutely no evidence that gods exist. That's different than stating they are no gods. Just show some evidence. Even a little.

Exactly!!!

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