When atheists have doubts!

[Tero]

What? Rod Stewart and my mom discussed my underwear?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

What? Rod Stewart and my mom discussed my underwear?

We've been meaning to talk about this with you, but the right time never seemed to happen.

[Tero]

So I may have a brother somewhere? I left home at 17, I may have missed something with my mom. Dad was kind of grumpy for a year.

[Ronja]

Atheists should have doubts! We don't KNOW the truth, we just have a better grip on reality than the folks who love the Great Sky Fairy. But we don't know for certain.

But you can know for certain that you have a reasonable uncertainty and just get on with your life in the knowledge that god is highly unlikely.

Like Rum(?) said, we can go 99% with no problems. It's the 100%ers that should be reviewing their estimate of the situation.

Yeah. 99% was pretty much how Dawkins put it in that otherwise worthless work, TGD.

Guys, are you finished yet or do I have to check the next page, too?

It's irritating to get ready to type "Amen" again and again just to see that there is more...




In other words: right you are, both.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

So I may have a brother somewhere? I left home at 17, I may have missed something with my mom. Dad was kind of grumpy for a year.

There's no youtube for "Young Hearts Be Free Tonight"?

[maiforpeace]

When I get into the discussion with agnostics and believers about whether god exists or not, knowing I am an atheist, I get the feeling they brace themselves to argue that I am wrong. So when I tell them I am only 99% certain, that one percent either gives them the comfort they need to not fear my beliefs, or they think they won the argument. It works well for good relations.

[Coito ergo sum]

It just occurred to me that people of religion who go through periods of doubting their faith often go through a great deal of anxiety. To my knowledge this isn't a phenomenon atheists ever experience if they find themselves wondering if maybe there is a supernatural creator after all!

Unless you know different of course...

For some reason, I try to elicit supernatural assistance during highly turbulent airplane flights. :sighsm:

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It just occurred to me that people of religion who go through periods of doubting their faith often go through a great deal of anxiety. To my knowledge this isn't a phenomenon atheists ever experience if they find themselves wondering if maybe there is a supernatural creator after all!

Unless you know different of course...

For some reason, I try to elicit supernatural assistance during highly turbulent airplane flights. :sighsm:

People who fall of tall buildings have been observed flapping their arms. At that point, what could it hurt?

[Coito ergo sum]

It just occurred to me that people of religion who go through periods of doubting their faith often go through a great deal of anxiety. To my knowledge this isn't a phenomenon atheists ever experience if they find themselves wondering if maybe there is a supernatural creator after all!

Unless you know different of course...

For some reason, I try to elicit supernatural assistance during highly turbulent airplane flights. :sighsm:

People who fall of tall buildings have been observed flapping their arms. At that point, what could it hurt?

It's not the idea of falling that bothers me. It's the sudden stop at the bottom. :-)

[Faithfree]

I've had moments when I've thought Gawdzilla might be real.

[RandomGuyOnCouch]

Fundamentalist atheism is just as irrational as fundamentalist theism. Now, granted, the odds of a god existing are surely not purely 50% (as suggested by many of my agnostic friends) and tend to diminish the more and more one understands about the natural world, even acknowledging a virtually infinitesimal chance of being wrong means some level of doubt.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I've had moments when I've thought Gawdzilla might be real.

So have I.

[Trolldor]

Fundamentalist atheism is just as irrational as fundamentalist theism. Now, granted, the odds of a god existing are surely not purely 50% (as suggested by many of my agnostic friends) and tend to diminish the more and more one understands about the natural world, even acknowledging a virtually infinitesimal chance of being wrong means some level of doubt.

Is it possible to be a fundamentalist atheist?
What are the fundamentals?

[Robert_S]

Fundamentalist atheism is just as irrational as fundamentalist theism. Now, granted, the odds of a god existing are surely not purely 50% (as suggested by many of my agnostic friends) and tend to diminish the more and more one understands about the natural world, even acknowledging a virtually infinitesimal chance of being wrong means some level of doubt.

If by 'fundamentalist" you mean someone who has a rigid and intolerant outlook, then I agree with you.

If you mean someone who tries to keep the basis of their outlook in mind while building the more complex conceptions of the world, then I don't.

I suspect that what drove the original fundamentalist movement was the realization that just trying to be a caring and compassionate person is not, according to scripture, the same as thing being a Christian nor is it sufficient to receive the gift of eternal life as promised. They were and are correct.

A person who is fundamentalist about science would insist that all our assumptions are provisional and subject to revision or rejection in the face of new evidence or the realization that there is no evidence.

I don't mean to be pedantic, but I don't much care for that word as commonly used. The opposite of fundamentalism is fucking woo and the rotten form of postmodern anti-thought that all too often supports it.

[rachelbean]

But there was nothing. It is all hand waving and wishful thinking by people who are lonely. When you die, you die alone. Leave what you can, hopefully a good memory of you, perhaps a publication of some sort.

I like this. It has a very Vonnegutty (yeah, I just made that word up) feeling about it