The Flat Earth Society

Other Discussion Boards => Philosophy, Religion & Society => Topic started by: simon_and_jo on November 06, 2017, 04:57:40 PM

Title: religion
Post by: simon_and_jo on November 06, 2017, 04:57:40 PM
just out of curiosity.
thanks
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Lord Dave on November 06, 2017, 06:10:28 PM
Atheist is not a religion.  FYI.

Its like saying "I am a Non-math, mathematician."
Title: Re: religion
Post by: simon_and_jo on November 06, 2017, 06:21:08 PM
ok, updated
Title: Re: religion
Post by: ScaryGary on November 07, 2017, 01:23:56 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Rama Set on November 07, 2017, 02:02:17 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

You find it inconceivable that someone would examine the evidence for a higher power and not be convinced?

Personally, I find theistic views to be extraordinarily unlikely but a deistic view to be possible, so I consider myself to be agnostic.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Lord Dave on November 07, 2017, 02:03:09 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on


Why are you shocked?  We aren't stupid.  We know God can't be proven to exist so we default to assuming he does not.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Jura-Glenlivet on November 07, 2017, 02:41:03 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

Going to need something better than some old book, and a face on a piece of toast to convince this bunch of cynics, and Pascal was a pussy.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Cobalt on November 07, 2017, 03:48:09 PM

Pascal was a pussy.


He was kind of narrow-sighted.  His famous Wager (essentially "You have everything to gain & nothing to lose by betting on God, whereas you have nothing to gain and everything to lose by betting against God...so you might as well bet on God") really rests on too many unfounded assumptions:

That the only options are the Judeo-Christian God (along with Satan, heaven & hell etc.) or atheism

That there is "nothing to be gained" by not believing in God

That there is "nothing to lose" by believing in God

I dunno...I don't believe in God because I just don't.  Of course I could spout off a litany of logical arguments supporting this but that ultimately doesn't make much difference.  I just don't...and I'm okay with that.  Nothing has ever led me to think I may be wrong about this.

That said, I find evangelical atheists to be just as obnoxious as any other evangelicals.  I don't define myself by my lack of religion, it's just how it is.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Lord Dave on November 07, 2017, 04:08:10 PM
Any God who can see into your heart would know if you believe because you believe or because "Its the best option".

And either A) would not care either way and look at what you did in life to determine your value/goodness
B) Would damn you for not being a true, faithful believer regardless of what you did in life.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: ScaryGary on November 07, 2017, 06:41:28 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

Going to need something better than some old book, and a face on a piece of toast to convince this bunch of cynics, and Pascal was a pussy.

Your outlook on life is dark
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Lord Dave on November 07, 2017, 07:13:38 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

Going to need something better than some old book, and a face on a piece of toast to convince this bunch of cynics, and Pascal was a pussy.

Your outlook on life is dark
I think it's fine.
I think always being afraid of angering some divine figure because he can (and will) make you suffer for eternity is way darker than just doing your own thing, however you want, and not letting fear stop you.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Jura-Glenlivet on November 07, 2017, 10:43:08 PM



Your outlook on life is dark

My view of people and what they believe is dark, life is great.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Shifter on November 07, 2017, 11:23:50 PM
Why are 'Christian/Jewish' together? Both are VERY different (yes Jewish/Christians/Muslims all worship the God of Abraham however you might as well lump Muslims with the Jewish too then

Title: Re: religion
Post by: Ghost Spaghetti on November 08, 2017, 09:16:02 AM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

Why would you expect it to be otherwise? The majority of people in the UK and some northern European countries are atheist. Australia is about 30-40% atheist and amongst millennial Americans, between 15 and 25% are atheist.

In such a small population size, it's not unreasonable to assume that the majority of members who have answered are from a demographic which is highly overrepresented on the internet. Considering most members are from The West, it would be far more unusual if they were Hindu or Buddhist.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Jura-Glenlivet on November 08, 2017, 12:20:58 PM
Why are 'Christian/Jewish' together? Both are VERY different (yes Jewish/Christians/Muslims all worship the God of Abraham however you might as well lump Muslims with the Jewish too then

They’re not that different, really, I mean same god, bit of a discrepancy as to who are the favoured and what exactly JC’s role was, and of course the hat thing, but up until the glorious day when the gloves will come off, they’re on the same side, especially where the Muslims are concerned (splitters).

I think the idea of the poll is to get an overall view of the religiosity of this place, and that is pretty much come up in favour of sanity, which considering the name of the place is a bit of a surprise, although Bo’ is away on forced exile (our resident brimstone and fire dick).

I think now the integration talks have foundered we ought to go the whole hog and ditch the flat earth bit and go for the agnostic/atheist wing of the Gobi Desert river wideners association, or some such.
As the Irony of this site is in danger of being carried away on a tidal wave of religious anti science that I can’t imagine the geeky boff’s at the helm are at all happy being part of.

Time to use those (apparently) prodigious brains for the good of mankind, you are not students anymore, step up.   
Title: Re: religion
Post by: ScaryGary on November 08, 2017, 11:23:55 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

Why would you expect it to be otherwise? The majority of people in the UK and some northern European countries are atheist. Australia is about 30-40% atheist and amongst millennial Americans, between 15 and 25% are atheist.

In such a small population size, it's not unreasonable to assume that the majority of members who have answered are from a demographic which is highly overrepresented on the internet. Considering most members are from The West, it would be far more unusual if they were Hindu or Buddhist.

Atheism is primarily being formed by the constant rise of scientism. 
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Rama Set on November 09, 2017, 01:28:32 AM
What do you mean by that?
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Shifter on November 09, 2017, 06:04:35 AM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

Why would you expect it to be otherwise? The majority of people in the UK and some northern European countries are atheist. Australia is about 30-40% atheist and amongst millennial Americans, between 15 and 25% are atheist.

In such a small population size, it's not unreasonable to assume that the majority of members who have answered are from a demographic which is highly overrepresented on the internet. Considering most members are from The West, it would be far more unusual if they were Hindu or Buddhist.

Atheism is primarily being formed by the constant rise of scientism.

That's a load of crap. Even Einstein was not an atheist. I'm surprised agnosticism was not considered to be an option. I'm sure many more people (especially scientists) identify with that then an atheist.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Jura-Glenlivet on November 09, 2017, 11:20:15 AM

If religion was invented to try and explain the world, then as we discover more of the workings it’s inevitable that religion loses ground. (see tag line below)
If religion is supposed to show the truth about creation, why have there been so many with differing views?

Of those (few) things that can’t be explained by science, the “goddidit” explanation has the same problem, that of where did "it" come from. But I see much that doesn’t point to a loving creator that fits better in an uncaring and arbitrary universe, it is still beautiful and awe inspiring, just indifferent to our existence. 
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Ghost Spaghetti on November 09, 2017, 02:09:29 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

Why would you expect it to be otherwise? The majority of people in the UK and some northern European countries are atheist. Australia is about 30-40% atheist and amongst millennial Americans, between 15 and 25% are atheist.

In such a small population size, it's not unreasonable to assume that the majority of members who have answered are from a demographic which is highly overrepresented on the internet. Considering most members are from The West, it would be far more unusual if they were Hindu or Buddhist.

Atheism is primarily being formed by the constant rise of scientism.

Maybe. What's your point?
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Lord Dave on November 09, 2017, 02:20:41 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

Why would you expect it to be otherwise? The majority of people in the UK and some northern European countries are atheist. Australia is about 30-40% atheist and amongst millennial Americans, between 15 and 25% are atheist.

In such a small population size, it's not unreasonable to assume that the majority of members who have answered are from a demographic which is highly overrepresented on the internet. Considering most members are from The West, it would be far more unusual if they were Hindu or Buddhist.

Atheism is primarily being formed by the constant rise of scientism.
It's not scientism.  Scientism isn't a word.  It's just Science.  And we have a constant rise of education.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Pete Svarrior on November 09, 2017, 06:24:11 PM
Scientism isn't a word.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Lord Dave on November 09, 2017, 07:56:17 PM
Scientism isn't a word.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism

...
Jeg skal snakke noske nå.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Rama Set on November 09, 2017, 09:34:56 PM
Scientism isn't a word.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism

...
Jeg skal snakke noske nå.

Is that Norwegian for “my bad”?
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Dither on November 09, 2017, 09:48:50 PM
If you press a lot of so called Athiests, you will find that they are nominally Agnostic anyway. People don't understand the full implications of the term Athiest, its more like "I don't like like organised religion much so yeah, I'm an Athiest." Now we do have some real Athiests on here, and maybe even some FE Athiests. But just saying, "I'm an Athiest" and not knowing anything about your chosen philosophical worldview is no different to saying "I'm a Christian" or "I'm a Hare Krishna" or "I'm a White Rabbit" if you never bother to go to church, read a bible, eat vegetarian and hand out stickers, or hop up and down in a field. People are often inconsistent with what they believe and some just say stuff without even thinking.

     
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Shifter on November 09, 2017, 09:54:29 PM
If you press a lot of so called Athiests, you will find that they are nominally Agnostic anyway. People don't understand the full implications of the term Athiest, its more like "I don't like like organised religion much so yeah, I'm an Athiest." Now we do have some real Athiests on here, and maybe even some FE Athiests. But just saying, "I'm an Athiest" and not knowing anything about your chosen philosophical worldview is no different to saying "I'm a Christian" or "I'm a Hare Krishna" or "I'm a White Rabbit" if you never bother to go to church, read a bible, eat vegetarian and hand out stickers, or hop up and down in a field. People are often inconsistent with what they believe and some just say stuff without even thinking.

     

^This
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Jura-Glenlivet on November 09, 2017, 10:53:51 PM
If you press a lot of so called Athiests, you will find that they are nominally Agnostic anyway. People don't understand the full implications of the term Athiest, its more like "I don't like like organised religion much so yeah, I'm an Athiest." Now we do have some real Athiests on here, and maybe even some FE Athiests. But just saying, "I'm an Athiest" and not knowing anything about your chosen philosophical worldview is no different to saying "I'm a Christian" or "I'm a Hare Krishna" or "I'm a White Rabbit" if you never bother to go to church, read a bible, eat vegetarian and hand out stickers, or hop up and down in a field. People are often inconsistent with what they believe and some just say stuff without even thinking.

     

And others are pretty damn sure the great sky fairy is a myth, and in any case should one turn up would have serious disagreement with it about its ridiculous demands and would pledge for the opposition.

Or bottle it, but hopefully not, but it might be really scary.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: devils advocate on November 10, 2017, 01:48:11 PM
If you press a lot of so called Athiests, you will find that they are nominally Agnostic anyway. People don't understand the full implications of the term Athiest, its more like "I don't like like organised religion much so yeah, I'm an Athiest." Now we do have some real Athiests on here, and maybe even some FE Athiests. But just saying, "I'm an Athiest" and not knowing anything about your chosen philosophical worldview is no different to saying "I'm a Christian" or "I'm a Hare Krishna" or "I'm a White Rabbit" if you never bother to go to church, read a bible, eat vegetarian and hand out stickers, or hop up and down in a field. People are often inconsistent with what they believe and some just say stuff without even thinking.

Yeah a lot of people tick "Christian" on census forms because;"well I'm not Muslim or Jewish" I saw a documentary with some idiot stating he couldn't choose his religion, he was adamant he was Catholic because his parents were...but oddly he absolutely denied the possible existence of god....

I think people do define themselves with words they don't understand.

Me, I'm a carnivorous vegan.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Ghost Spaghetti on November 10, 2017, 01:53:28 PM
Theism and atheism are just two answers to the question:

"Do you believe that a god exists?"

The answer to that is either yes or no - theist or atheist.

The confusion is asking the question: "Does a god exist?" Which can yield 'yes', 'no', or 'I don't know.' instead. That is where we get into the question of Gnosticism v agnosticism. It's a statement of what you 'know' (or think you know).

It's perfectly possible to say you don't believe in god, but when asked whether a god exists to say that you don't know. That means you're an agnostic atheist. In fact, of the possible answers to this:

1Y2Y - Gnostic Theist
1Y2N - Can't logically answer this way "I believe god exists but I know he doesn't"
1Y2DK - Agnostic Theist
1N2Y - Can't logically answer this way "I don't believe god exists but I know he does"
1N2N - Gnostic Atheist
1N2DK - Agnostic Atheist

You don't need to understand the full implications of what you believe to believe in something.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Rama Set on November 10, 2017, 02:22:17 PM
Agnostic Atheist seems like a contradictory term since the term atheist means you don’t believe in supernatural beings and agnostic means you don’t know. Unless an agnostic atheist is someone who doesn’t know they don’t believe in supernatural beings?

Your positions also don’t include, “I don’t know God exists but it would super surprising considering the world we live in contains no evidence of God.”
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Roundy on November 10, 2017, 02:27:33 PM
It's also possible to say that you believe God probably exists based on the evidence but you can't say for sure because there's no definitive proof (the position of the agnostic deist).

At any rate I think most if not all ( they do tend to be better educated after all) atheists do recognize that the position implies lack of belief. Certainly a dissatisfaction with one's religion can lead to atheism but I doubt many people actually equate the two, except maybe some theists who often truly don't seem to understand how someone can not believe in God.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Cobalt on November 10, 2017, 04:28:33 PM
Of course no one can be certain there is no god...for that matter I can't be certain I'm not in the Matrix, or the dream of a dolphin, etc.  If "absolute certainty of the absence of a god" is to be taken as the bar for true atheism, then we may as well not even have the word "atheist" in the first place.

If certainty is the bar for any belief then everyone on earth would be properly termed "agnostics".  Luckily we are able to recognize that language can afford a little bit more leeway than that.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Rama Set on November 10, 2017, 05:12:27 PM
Of course no one can be certain there is no god...for that matter I can't be certain I'm not in the Matrix, or the dream of a dolphin, etc.  If "absolute certainty of the absence of a god" is to be taken as the bar for true atheism, then we may as well not even have the word "atheist" in the first place.

If certainty is the bar for any belief then everyone on earth would be properly termed "agnostics".  Luckily we are able to recognize that language can afford a little bit more leeway than that.

People hold beliefs for irrational reasons. It is possible to be absolutely certain that god exists and to hold that belief because your mother said so, or you saw Jesus’ face in your doo-doo. Or people can claim to be certain God does not exist simply because they have never seen her or because their dog died of cancer and how is that fair?  Both beliefs are irrational but beliefs nonetheless and so we have words to describe these people.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Jura-Glenlivet on November 11, 2017, 08:39:46 PM

All of the above (apart from Dither).
If god/s exist, (and I have seen nothing that suggests that is so) then hopefully any interest in a species that briefly smeared itself across the surface of one of the trillions of planets, would likely be one of curiosity rather than trying to force that life to worship it.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Rama Set on November 11, 2017, 08:57:45 PM
But God made us to worship him. We are like his sex slaves but instead of stroking his member, we stroke his ego.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: devils advocate on November 11, 2017, 09:26:10 PM
But God made us to worship him. We are like his sex slaves but instead of stroking his member, we stroke his ego.

Can you imagine how BIG god's member would be?
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Lord Dave on November 11, 2017, 09:26:38 PM
But God made us to worship him. We are like his sex slaves but instead of stroking his member, we stroke his ego.

Can you imagine how BIG god's member would be?
Could God have a penis so big even he can't stroke it?
Title: Re: religion
Post by: devils advocate on November 11, 2017, 09:27:35 PM
But God made us to worship him. We are like his sex slaves but instead of stroking his member, we stroke his ego.

Can you imagine how BIG god's member would be?
Could God have a penis so big even he can't stroke it?

And what the end result be? Big bang II, the second coming...............
Title: Re: religion
Post by: J-Man on November 18, 2017, 11:21:02 PM
Christian and Jew?

This person obviously didn't do their homework.

I am not a Jew, but I am a Christian, you could probably call me a Gentile too, or J-man

I'm fond of Bagels
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Rama Set on November 19, 2017, 03:45:13 AM
Christian and Jew?

This person obviously didn't do their homework.

I am not a Jew, but I am a Christian, you could probably call me a Gentile too, or J-man

I'm fond of Bagels

They are just applying Pascal’s wager to another religion. Classic Christian apologetics make it very easy to become a polytheist.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Snupes on November 23, 2017, 12:26:34 AM
I'm an atheist in the sense of its literal meaning, "without god/deity". I don't believe in god. That doesn't mean I can say with certainty "god does not exist", but until evidence shows otherwise I don't believe in it.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Chimpokonomapusa on January 06, 2018, 04:28:06 AM
The question is not if you believe in a God. It is actually 'Is there a God?' So yea. He was a pussy.

Anyway, how do I create a post here on this website? We are not alone. There are people and places in the world that share our viewpoint. I have a list of places that every member of the FES should go visit. Interestingly, almost every religion claimed that the earth was in the center of the universe and was flat until science came along. How can seemingly unconnected set of peoples, cultures and religions, all say the same thing? Anyway, I bring you these places to visit in another thread.



Pascal was a pussy.


He was kind of narrow-sighted.  His famous Wager (essentially "You have everything to gain & nothing to lose by betting on God, whereas you have nothing to gain and everything to lose by betting against God...so you might as well bet on God") really rests on too many unfounded assumptions:

That the only options are the Judeo-Christian God (along with Satan, heaven & hell etc.) or atheism

That there is "nothing to be gained" by not believing in God

That there is "nothing to lose" by believing in God

I dunno...I don't believe in God because I just don't.  Of course I could spout off a litany of logical arguments supporting this but that ultimately doesn't make much difference.  I just don't...and I'm okay with that.  Nothing has ever led me to think I may be wrong about this.

That said, I find evangelical atheists to be just as obnoxious as any other evangelicals.  I don't define myself by my lack of religion, it's just how it is.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Pickel B Gravel on January 13, 2018, 08:29:56 PM
Why so many atheists?  I don't get it unless there is trolling going on

Are you suggesting flat earth theorist can't be atheists? Actually, it makes sense to me that most would be because flat earth theorists and atheism have much in common: they don't appeal to authority. They require actual, observable evidence to believe something. Theists and round earthers generally accept what is told to them without questioning so long as an authoritative figure or subject tells them to. And, fyi, I'm bashing neither atheism nor theism; I'm not endorsing one over the other. I'm just providing my opinion based on research and observation
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Dr David Thork on January 13, 2018, 08:46:58 PM
I'm an atheist in the sense of its literal meaning, "without god/deity". I don't believe in god. That doesn't mean I can say with certainty "god does not exist", but until evidence shows otherwise I don't believe in it.
Then you aren't an atheist. You are agnostic.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Rama Set on January 13, 2018, 08:48:55 PM
I'm an atheist in the sense of its literal meaning, "without god/deity". I don't believe in god. That doesn't mean I can say with certainty "god does not exist", but until evidence shows otherwise I don't believe in it.
Then you aren't an atheist. You are agnostic.

Way to read his post Thork.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: juner on January 14, 2018, 12:28:01 AM
Way to read his post Thork.

>his
>snupes
>tfw
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Rama Set on January 14, 2018, 01:16:47 AM
Way to read his post Thork.

>his
>snupes
>tfw

Assuming the pronouns in 2017.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: CuddleBuns on February 28, 2018, 12:32:44 AM
Why are 'Christian/Jewish' together? Both are VERY different (yes Jewish/Christians/Muslims all worship the God of Abraham however you might as well lump Muslims with the Jewish too then
Yes! I was asking this myself. It doesn't take much to know that they all believe very different texts and practice completely separate acts.
Title: Re: religion
Post by: Dither on February 28, 2018, 04:03:34 AM
Why are 'Christian/Jewish' together? Both are VERY different (yes Jewish/Christians/Muslims all worship the God of Abraham however you might as well lump Muslims with the Jewish too then
Yes! I was asking this myself. It doesn't take much to know that they all believe very different texts and practice completely separate acts.

The Samaritans also worshipped the God of Abraham but Jesus stated to the woman at the well,
"You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews."

So those who depart from the gospel as received from Christ and the apostles do not know God, even though they can trace their belief back to Abraham. And this includes the Jews as well because Christ also said of them
"And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."

Just Sayin  :-*