Re: The Choice and Free Will of Atheism


"David Wynne-Griffiths" <davidwg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:313030303130343947BA0F1105@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The message <47b9e5b9$1_4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
from No Name contains these words:

It is not correct to say that faith is more correctly described as
suspension of disbelief. People with faith in God do not have disbelief
to
suspend.

What do they have then? On what do they base their belief? It
cannot be based on evidence for there is none.

It is difficult for me to accept that you do not understand why people
believe in a God; I am tempted to say that you should perhaps get out more
and try to understand people a bit better than you do, but I suspect that
what you say is merely an affectation.


No one has ever been
able to prove the existence of any god

Oh dear. Proof. Doesn't exist I am afraid, apart from in very limited
circumstances. The comment is about as interesting as the good old 'you
can't prove life arose by chance'. It might be that you converse with too
many people who are not terribly well informed.

and the many thousands of gods
shows that they are nothing more than human constructs. Bertrand
Russell correctly said "Religion is something left over from the infancy
of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as
our guidelines.

--
**********
David W-G
**********

When I was a boy I used to think that the stupid twits who spoke each week
on Any Questions, getting applause for their appeals for more policemen on
the beat, more discipline in schools and a reversion to the good old ways,
would soon be seen as wrong as people became educated and more sensible. It
didn't happen, and Any Questions is still exactly the same.

So my guess is that Russell said that when he was very young. Even if he
didn't, he would have to moderate his opinion a bit on hearing a US
President saying that God told him to invade Iraq.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Atheist Becomes Theist: Prof. Antony Flew 81 years old
    ... existence or nonexistence of a god can be proven. ... I agree that faith is not founded on evidence ... the knowledge that the existence of God can not be decided by reason. ... The same goes for disbelief. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Atheist Becomes Theist: Prof. Antony Flew 81 years old
    ... existence or nonexistence of a god can be proven. ... I agree that faith is not founded on evidence ... The same goes for disbelief. ... Decideability is something that ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Atheist Becomes Theist: Prof. Antony Flew 81 years old
    ... existence or nonexistence of a god can be proven. ... I agree that faith is not founded on evidence ... knowledge that the existence of God can not be decided by reason. ... The same goes for disbelief. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: (OT) Giving up on faith
    ... atheism - Disbelief in, or denial of, the existence of a God. ... Disregard of duty to God, ... Atheism is also disbelief in God. ... somewhat different than believing there is no god." ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: The Choice and Free Will of Atheism
    ... There is no credible evidence for the existence of any god and belief ... It is not correct to say that faith is more correctly described as ... suspension of disbelief. ... describing religion as ...
    (uk.philosophy.atheism)