Are you an atheist?

[Libre]

Dick Pete Seeger was a protest folk singer.

Brian

I guess that's right, but he was a patriarch of American folk music, a strong influence musically in the 60's, and an inspiration to many, throughout his long life.
And he never sold out to commercialism, big business, or the dollar.
A beautiful example of how a man can become quite influential and not change in an evil, ugly, or selfish way.
No man is perfect. But Pete was a hell of a great man.

 

[Galaxiom]

It's reaffirming to me that you fail to see the irony in emplying the disparaging phrase "ridiculous posturing", and in the same sentence, the indignant and self-rightous "personal blasting of those who offered insight", without seeing that both these phrases reflect back on yourself.

No. I backed my original statements with science. My reference is to your propensity to simply engage in a personal attack. It is a common technique used by those with nothing substantial to add to a debate.

You quote the rhetoric of an ancient who lived at a time when little was known. The mistake you make is the presumption that it still holds to this day.

- but the concept of infinite universes - I just can't grasp it - how science embraces it, I just don't get. I'm a mechanical design engineer, and fluent in the the language of GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing), but as far as distant galaxies and alternate universes in other dimensions, I'm as Socretes - I know nothing.

Exactly. It is a subject of which you know nothing. There is no shame in that. What is ridiculous s the way you dismiss the knowledge offered by others because you presume your ignorance in a subject for evidence that science and everyone else is equally uninformed.

 

[Libre]

You quote the rhetoric of an ancient who lived at a time when little was known. The mistake you make is the presumption that it still holds to this day.

Man in Black: You're that smart?
Vizzini: Let me put it this way—have you ever heard of Plato? Aristotle? Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes?
Vizzini: Morons.

 

[Galaxiom]

Libre is an example of a religius bent I have not encounted before.

A militant fundamentalist agnostic. He quotes old books for the words of the prophet Socrates and insists that science is wrong on that basis. He gets offended when anyone disagrees with his prejudice.

Like any religious behaviour it promotes only ignorance.

 

[Dick7Access]

Brian,
There are exception but in US most that I have met that are non god are liberal also. Then again I haven't met all. I have to watch myself and not use that wide bush.
So goes it in my country, except both parties with a few exceptions want to give our country away to anybody that wants to sneak in here. Now if you come here legally then you don't count. Go figure?

 

[Bladerunner]

Mihail
The answer is very simple: no one.
No one has been killed because he was a theist.

He was a revolutionary and he may not have pulled the trigger on any gun, he set in motion the Russian Socialist Republic that I believe you will agree killed millions.

By his very philosophy he could not have been a Theist. In fact," Marxism-Leninism holds that religion is the opium of the people, in the sense of promoting passive acceptance of suffering on Earth in the hope of eternal reward. Therefore, Marxism-Leninism advocates the abolition of religion and the acceptance of atheism."

Have a nice day:>)

Bladerunner:

 

[Bladerunner]

@Bladerunner

Did you think being a Christian was going to be easy? While I don't agree with you 100% I appreciate your faith.

If the author had a problem with the direction this thread, he or she would have pulled the plug 1,000 posts ago.
The consent mocking is a tactic. The same people will point out punctuation as a way to derail the conversation it's a bulling technique.

Lastly you know your in for a fight when the left contently presents theory as fact. They have little faith in their own convictions. Keep up the fight.

This sums up the left. If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.
W. C. Fields

Thanks but was not worried about myself but the thread and those in the thread.

Have a nice day :>)

Bladerunner

 

[Bladerunner]

Should that be constant mocking and you're in for a fight.?!!

On a serious note why do you assume atheists are lefties, I know that in the States the biggest bible thumpers a right wing gun carrying red necks but that is just part of America's fascinating contradictions, over here religious belief and political leaning are not tied.

Brian

You can not tell me your are not liberal (left). Just depends on how far left you are. We both have idiots on the fringes of our respective convictions. I really do not have a problem with social liberalism. Its your party--- but like in the US when it comes down to the liberals wanting to install larger government (social democracy) then I have a big problem there. The idiots on far right are nutjobs, but religion is a very small part of their convictions.

have a nice day :>)

Bladerunnner

 

[Libre]

Libre is an example of a religius bent I have not encounted before.

A militant fundamentalist agnostic. He quotes old books for the words of the prophet Socrates and insists that science is wrong on that basis. He gets offended when anyone disagrees with his prejudice.

Like any religious behaviour it promotes only ignorance.

I don't insist science is wrong, as falsely claimed in the above quote. I'm not at all religious as I said numerous times. What biased, unfounded statements. Must I accept that everything Galaxiom says is equal to what *science* says? What exactly are Galaxiom's credentials, I wonder, to preach and to trivialize me? For all I know he's a bedroom cosmologist by night and a grocery packer by day. Even saying something like "science is wrong" or "science is right" is an imprecise statement. Science is not a "thing" that can be right or wrong. It is a method of testing and verifying hypotheses, resulting in a continuously changing body of knowledge that is constantly challenged and within which there is much disagreement.
I have the balls to question the great and mighty GALAXIOM, suggest that a great thinker such as Socrates (who was a philosopher, incidentally, and not a prophet) might have been on to something about humility and the difficulty of establishing an absolute fact, I suggest that perhaps there are a few things about the origins of the universe and life itself that may have eluded Galaxiom, and he's the one that gets all upset.
I wrote a post that was perfectly appropriate in this thread - one that I was proud of and thought somewhat poetic (even if nobody else does) and since then I have been attacked continuously - not by all but by he, who then state that I'm "militant", ignorant, and prejudiced. I have no right to any thoughts on whether God exists because I don't have an advanced degree in astrophysics. What nonsense! Were is HIS degree from? Then he cries foul and says I've attacked him. I could quote all the attacks on me but why should I bother? Just scroll up and read what you will. While he hurls his (admittedly harmless) missiles at me, nobody says anything. The moment I have the gall to call him a "puffed up bloviator" (a very mild epithet in my book) I have an admonition from the moderator.
So I guess this is a "good ol' boy" type of club here, and since I haven't posted much - and see no reason ever to do so again - since I don't have hundreds of posts here and hundreds of "thanks" I'm not a member of the club and therefore warrant no haven here.
Please continue this little game of scratching each other's backs, stroking each other's egos, and kicking out the riff-raff.

 

[Dick7Access]

Libre,
This is not to knock you, Galxiom, or anybody, so don't take this as attack. Why do you think that your last post is funny.

 

[Bladerunner]

The theist and the atheist were arguing.
The theist said , "you are like ablind man in a dark room searching for a black cat that is not there".
The atheist replied, " we are very similar, but you think that you have found the cat".

Brian

very good Brian...liked that,,,, here is one for you!

One day the zoo-keeper noticed that the orangutan was reading two books-the Bible and Darwin's Origin of Species.
Surprised, he asked the ape, "Why are you reading both those books?"
"Well," said the orangutan, "I just wanted to know if I was my brother's keeper or my keeper's brother."


Have a nice day:>)

Bladerunner

 

[Bladerunner]

So what will we find at the edge of the universe? Are there other universes or is it just an end? Emptiness? No atoms, but nothing?

Heaven? in this case is as good an answer as any!

have a nice day :>)

Bladerunner

 

[Mihail]

@Libre
I was one that I agreed with Rabbie when he said "non personal attack".
Do not understand that this was only for you. It was for Galaxiom too. And for any other.
Galaxiom is, indeed, one of the very skilled poster in DBs area. He helped me and many others to solve our issues in THIS area, and I appreciate this.
On the other hand, this is NOT a thread about DBs. So is no reason to think that Galaxiom have a special status.

On the other other hand , as atheist, I agree with Galaxiom's ideas, even if, sometimes, I don't agree his "ferocity".
One more other hand (sorry, my English is limited):
I like AWF because the moderators don't use their "power". Rabbie don't act in your case as a moderator. But just as a poster. As moderator he can remove your post with no explanation, isn't it ? But that didn't happen.
So, keep posting. I like your posts. I like your "war" with Galaxiom because you, both of you, have something new to add every time . And the winter's nights are so long....

@Bladerunner

He was a revolutionary and he may not have pulled the trigger on any gun, he set in motion the Russian Socialist Republic that I believe you will agree killed millions.

I answered to this question many times.
YES. The answer is YES. But, I'll repeat until you will seems to understand this, that millions was killed because the political reasons, not because the religions reasons.

The Russian politic (as well as the communism's politic in all other geographic areas) was/is:
"Who is not with us, is against us". But, again and again, this words do NOT refer to the religious things. As Rabbie (see the answer for Libre) the communist staff have had the power to erase the religion at physical level, by destroying the churches, by closing the school for priests etc., but they didn't do this.

Why ? This is another question: a very interesting one.
Because they (the communist staff) also have used the religion as "opium for the people".
Every Sunday after the priest speak to the people in the church (what is the English word for this activity ?) at the end, he (the priest) never forget to add:
"... and we ask the Lord to keep care about our leaders, to bless Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena Ceausescu."
Why he never forget to add this ? Think yourself.

As I mentioned many times, the religion is nothing more than a tool. A very powerful tool in order to manipulate the peoples. And the communists wasn't so stupids to destroy a tool like this.

 

[Bladerunner]

No. I backed my original statements with science. My reference is to your propensity to simply engage in a personal attack. It is a common technique used by those with nothing substantial to add to a debate.

You quote the rhetoric of an ancient who lived at a time when little was known. The mistake you make is the presumption that it still holds to this day.



Exactly. It is a subject of which you know nothing. There is no shame in that. What is ridiculous s the way you dismiss the knowledge offered by others because you presume your ignorance in a subject for evidence that science and everyone else is equally uninformed.

May I ask a question? How do you know all of this to be true? Mathematical calculations, Physics- Quantum or otherwise,, etc. Is it a theory, fact or just speculation with a ting of truth mixed in with it. I have a background and degree in medical science and try to keep up with the advances of other sciences especially the science that deals with 'Outer Space' our universe. Have we proven there is dark matter yet or is it just a theory conjured up by someones brain on overtime. You tell me there are universe(s), but yet where is the proof. We don't know 10 sec. worth of knowledge about our universe yet we are so sure that we can predict all these events and happenings throughout the universe and beyond all based on mathematical probabilities or physics constants and theories that may or may not apply out there! And we call them the laws of the universe. How, arrogant we are.

Thus, I have a hard time dealing with these probabilities some of you all speak of.
If you were trying to get across a deep gorge and someone told you there was a very good probability there was a bridge across the gorge in front of you, even though you could not see it, would you take that first step. Would it make any difference if they told you that the prediction of probability came from the very best minds in our small small world.?

Have a nice day:>)

Bladerunner

 

[Mihail]

And now I become angry.

99% from the Romanian's hospitals have devices older than 25 years.
Many hospitals have been closed because the money.
But we have a lot of new very big churches. In order to accomplish what ?
To ask the Lord to keep a place for us near He ?
To ask the Lord to take care about our health ? Maybe, while the hospitals can't do this.

Why you, the theists, need this buildings ?
Can't the Lord heard you from yours rooms ?
Can't the Lord see that you are good peoples even if you don't go, Sunday by Sunday, to the church ?
Don't know (or forget) the Lord that everyone need a good health without to ask Him every Sunday ?
Have the Lord some doubts when you ask Him something if this ask is not doubled by a priest ?

etc. etc. etc.......

 

[Bladerunner]

Dick I cannot think of anything in your post that I disagree with, but my point was that in my experience there is no strong relationship between religious belief and political leaning.

Perhaps I need to research U.S. liberalism to see what the complaint against them is, over here the Liberal party want to give our country away to the EU. But so do the other two main parties.

Brian

Brian,I think it depends on how liberal you are. Of course are two kinds of liberals. Fiscal (another post) liberals and Social liberals in the US. As someone said in a previous post, a lot of the people were raise in the church or at least around the Christian religion. As they become liberal enough to fall outside the guidelines they were raised up with, they have to create a break between themselves and their old ways. Atheism is just standing there waiting to be picked up. It lets them step a little bit further to the left sideline without any consequences. I am talking about the quilt consequences that would arise up from within if they were still religious. The liberals who have not ventured that far socially for the most part are religious and still believe in God.

Example: A lot of the ones who believe it is the mothers choice to have an abortion still believe in God even though I call it next to murder since Science has proven without a 'doubt' (have heard that one before) babies become a living organism (being) upon conception.Yet we kill them. 65 million of them in the US since 1995.

Even the hardened atheist know it is not a good thing to kill and innocent person.

Keep in mind that a lot of the liberals her in the US want us to have a social democracy instead of a constitutional democracy Does that ring a bell?
maybe a little Leninist!

Have a nice day :>)

Bladerunner

 

[Galaxiom]

Why you, the theists, need this buildings ?

The oppulence of churches is one of the great hypocracies of religion.

Indeed the Lord Himself (according to the Bible) said that it was better to worship in a cupboard than to join the hypocrites who worship in public to be seen to be doing so.

Just another passage of the Bible that the "true believers" choose to ignore.

 

[Bladerunner]

And now I become angry.

99% from the Romanian's hospitals have devices older than 25 years.
Many hospitals have been closed because the money.
But we have a lot of new very big churches. In order to accomplish what ?
To ask the Lord to keep a place for us near He ?
To ask the Lord to take care about our health ? Maybe, while the hospitals can't do this.

Why you, the theists, need this buildings ?
Can't the Lord heard you from yours rooms ?
Can't the Lord see that you are good peoples even if you don't go, Sunday by Sunday, to the church ?
Don't know (or forget) the Lord that everyone need a good health without to ask Him every Sunday ?
Have the Lord some doubts when you ask Him something if this ask is not doubled by a priest ?

etc. etc. etc.......

Mihail: May I ask you a few questions about your situation?

Who pays for your hospitals? are they privately owned?Do they provide Free service? What type of Government is in Romania? Are there taxes there? If so do these taxes go to help the hospitals? Who pays the employees?

A church is simply a meeting place for people of like mind. People give their money (their profit) sometimes their food money to the church for various personal reasons. What does the church do with the money. In a REAL church, that money goes to upkeep the building and grounds and help the surrounding community.

Have you ever considered the possibility of asking the Churches for help or are they like the Hospitals and surrounding community too poor to do anything but keep the doors open on Sunday.

I tend to believe that your country is in financial straits and this carries over to all businesses (profit or non-profit).

Don't blame churches ----- Hey, I heard Australia just built a church for Atheist. I heard it was a big one. What I want to know is ----who do you worship or What?


have a nice day :>)

Bladerunner

 

[Old Man Devin]

Here is a question that scrambles my noodle. In order for there to be previous "failed universes" there must be some form of recursive process or at the very least a concept of incrementation.

How can these concepts simultaneously

a) Exist outside of the group of universes that can be either failed or successful

and

b) Able to be perceived by man within a single one of those successful universes.

It is something that is hard to think about, because in our imagination, outside the universe there must be some kind of space that contains the universe. Unfortunately instead you have to bend your mind a fair bit and understand that reality outside the universe is very conceptual in nature, and does not contain physical dimensions as we understand them.

We cannot perceive it, no. This is impossible. They only way we can grab hints of this outer reality is by the fact that is a) a framework from this the evolution of our universe can be explained b) theoretical modelling to show that how we think it works would be consistent with discoveries in quantum mechanics.

For example, in quantum mechanics, particles can randomly pop into existence for a very short period of time, then disappear again. Space is full of these spontaneous creation and annihilation events. Something similar can happen in the 'quantum foam' outside the universe. Universes pop into existence just because it is something that is possible, and thus must happen eventually. Most of them go away again instantly. But occasionally some "unknown fluctuation" ( A god? ) causes them to break the cycle, much like how in our universe, particles popping into existence can occasionally stay around forever (requires very special conditions!). This is a theory for how universes can be created with no initial cause, but obviously is it very hypothetical, as it is only known in theory, which is true of many pre-big-bang ideas that can't all be correct.

 

[Old Man Devin]

If the universe is truly infinite then there exist an infinite number of galaxies and among those galaxies there will be an infinite number of solar systems identical to ours. These solar systems will each contain a planet identical to Earth with people identical to us some of them contributing to a thread on a forum identical to this. There would also be an infinite number of earths differing from ours in only small ways.

It's for reasons like this that I do not believe the universe is infinite - it is just very very large.

You are right. This exact conversations would be happening again somewhere in reality, if its boundaries are limitless. I don't think its a reason to dismiss the idea. Why CAN'T this exchange happen more than once? It is uncomfortable to think about, sure, but that is no reason to say it must be impossible. We have no reason to believe there aren't infinite incarnations of this forum thread out there in the unfathomable folds of reality!