obvious Child

Given that you have constantly failed to understand what that term means, this is most likely futile. But what the hell.

Again, you are arguing that there are only two choices here. You ignore that atheism itself is subdivided into two groups, soft and hard. Soft is essentially agnosticism where hard is a open rejection of the belief in a higher power. You are pretending (and rather badly at that) that atheism is a monolith, and that soft and hard are the same thing. Either you are deliberately maintaining your ignorance (which is called willful ignorance) or you simply don't understand the subject.

If you don't understand post #259, you're not going to understand any of this.

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"They are the key to my eventual rise to the throne. Why would I abandon them?"

"Because I have asked you. And because your loyalty to our people should be greater than your ambition. And because I have poisoned your drink."

scourge99

I would attribute this to the vast wealth of knowledge that is readily available to the average person. Hundreds of years ago there was no such thing as the internet or even mass production. The knowledge that many youth possess today from schooling, TV, travel, and our fast-paced society close many of the gaps that would otherwise be filled by supernatural or spiritual beliefs.

That is, IMO, the decline can be attributed to two things:

1) an ever increasing body of scientific knowledge
2) ever increasing ease of access to such knowledge

Without prevalent sources of mysticism in the world ones sense of spirituality is never provoked. Even today the most spiritual and religious tend to be those who claim to have had some sort of "mystical" or "divine" experience that is beyond explanation.

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Petty Desire or Grand Ambition?

Marilyn Monroe

Doesn't that seem wishy-washy? I'd think if they don't believe in gods, then they'd also believe they don't exist.

I suppose you could not "believe" that they can do anything, but they still exist, but that's enough to give me a headache.

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"It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens." Woody Allen.

Reverend_Hellh0und

It's quite the hair split isnt it.

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كافر
Never forget those who died.
Never forget those who killed them.

nkgupta80

its not confusing at all. I don't believe in god, but I don't hold a belief against it. In other words, I don't know. (that is not a belief).

Now if one were to specify god as being the JudeoChristian god, then I would assert a claim that the Judeo-Christian god doesn't exist.

Cephus

No, not at all. It isn't wishy-washy, it's logical and rational.

One shouldn't believe something exists without sufficient evidence. I have not seen sufficient evidence that any god exists, therefore I don't believe in any. If I should be presented with evidence, I will re-evaluate my position. The same can be said of aliens, ghosts, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and honest politicians. No reason to believe = no belief.

Lack of believe does not equate to belief in the lack of existence.

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I'm not anti-religion, I'm anti-hypocrisy.

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section eight

I would have to say all of the above (except atheists damn I accidentally checked atheists so -1 for atheists) not the actual people but religion in and of itself.

talloulou

Nah, sometimes, "I don't know," is a reasonable and honest answer. I do not know of any Gods existing, does that mean they don't exist? I don't know.

I don't know of any aliens existing. Does that mean they don't exist?

Being agnostic doesn't mean you've no imagination. What I can imagine just doesn't equate to faith.

talloulou

Not at all. I can imagine the possibilities of something without feeling forced to accept or deny its existence when all evidence seems inconclusive.

Bodhisattva

There is no difference... is there supposed to be in order to make a point?

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