Atheists be trollin'

[germboy]

I recently watched a video on youtube in response to the claim by religion (i/e conservative Christians) that 'you can't trust science.' It points out all the great things science has done for us, and that religion has not progressed mankind at all

Comments

[meronine]

Haha, I dunno, I thought the video was "cute" but I get what you're saying.

I don't believe in a god, but I can't help but feel there's something "running the show". Our universe is just so amazing, it's hard to think of it all as just one big coincidence. I like your last paragraph. I consider myself some form of agnostic (I guess I don't put much thought into it). Rather than a god or some supreme being I think of it as an energy that connects us all, some form of reincarnation maybe? (Like the lifestream from FF7 lol.)

Sorry, I'm not good with words and have a hard time voicing my thoughts, just letting you know I agree with you for the most part. The older I get the less I can relate to people who are highly religious. I just don't understand how they can so quickly dismiss something like evolution. It just seems so ignorant to me, like they don't want to learn and therefore come off as, well, uneducated, imo. But to each their own.

[germboy]

A huge part of my religious views came from a lecture on evolution that got rather philosophical, stating that it was possible that instead of God designing the human eye, which is susceptible to all sorts of problems, god created a system so that each creature may have an eye that is appropriate for them, and likened it to the Mandelbrot set, where a single equation is responsible for a beautiful, infinite vortex of colors. If you think of God like that, you gain a greater level of appreciation for him/it- not only is the system phenomenally fascinating and intricate, it's based on concepts that are beautifully simple.

It's funny, now that we have computers, we have the image of God as the programmer. Back in the old days, God was a watchmaker. I wonder what God will be likened to in the future, perhaps a second life server?

[meronine]

Oh, that is really interesting. And my sister has been convinced since she was a kid that we live in some kind of Matrix world heh.

I'm going to quote lady_gray below as she can write better than I ever could and this is pretty much how I feel:

"I don't think that belief in God gives us anything greater. What could possibly be greater than the profound and breathtaking complexity of the universe itself? The more I learn through science, the less I find I need spirituality to feel wonder, joy and hope."

[germboy]

Here's the thing. I see the universe as running under a series of laws, rules, science. And what we're seeing with the vast complexity, yet the beautiful simplicity of the universe, is an equation, a program running. I believe God is that program, or the architect. Seeing the universe fills me with spirituality.

It really works both ways.

[rebornangel16]

Correction: Atheism is the belief there are no deities. To say it is the denial of god is to assume there is a god in the first place.
I have to be honest when I say that I was not pleased in the least with this post. I feel like generalizations have been made here about religion and atheism.
Science has been "stuck in the middle" for a long, long, loooong time. I'd even say it's been the heart of the debate since the beginning.

[germboy]

I feel that science has really nothing to do with the debate. Atheism may be the belief in no deities, but I can't see how it has anything to do with science. Religion (should) have nothing at all to do with science, and science has nothing to do with God. I feel the two are not mutually exclusive, but my view of religion is that it, in its best form, creates paths to personal spiritual growth, and science offers explanations for the universe. Sure, religion has bits that have been disproved by science, but the core message of love thy neighbor, help the poor, etc. Is something that has nothing to do with science

[germboy]

Also, the atheists I'm talking about with this posts are the rabid trolls I have been seeing all over the internet for a long time. This isn't posted towards atheists in general. Most atheists are fine people whom can carry on a perfectly normal conversation. I just want to point out that the extremist side is really annoying me. I see them on /sci/ all the time, and in many cases they are either trolls or complete idiots who make blanket statements about religion, when they're only addressing fundamentalist Christianity. If you want to attack fundamentalism, I'll be on your side. But attacking religion as a whole is unfair.

Please read carefully. This comment was written carefully, and not intended to be incendiary.

[lady_gray]

First response is a quote from the esteemed zoologist and atheist, Richard Dawkins

Re: Please read carefully. This comment was written carefully, and not intended to be incendiary.

[johnwesley73]

I could forgive Dawkins his stupefyingly simplistic notions about religion, if I thought for a moment his understanding of science wasn't equally absurd. One of his favorite notions is the idea of "the selfish gene". How interesting, that someone who would otherwise go to great lengths to deny the preexistence of a force greater than the universe has no problem ascribing motivation to a protein molecule.

Re: Please read carefully. This comment was written carefully, and not intended to be incendiary.

[lady_gray]

You've either not read any Dawkins or not read it closely, or perhaps merely with the intent of finding things to support your own views. "The selfish gene" isn't a literal statement ascribing sentient properties to DNA. It's merely a simple way of describing the function of biology and evolution.

Dawkins does for biology what Stephen Hawking does for astrophysics: he tries to use layman's terms to explain complex theories so that they can be understood easily by people who are not scientists or even scholars.

I think, if you are a Christian, forgiveness is what you constantly strive for, no? And understanding? And to be kind and good to others? Dawkins wants that also. An excerpt from The Selfish Gene"Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish

Re: Please read carefully. This comment was written carefully, and not intended to be incendiary.

[lady_gray]

Also, can you please explain what is stupefyingly simplistic about the quote I originally commented with? I would like to see the well-reasoned logic that I'm sure backs your point of view, but I can't understand it if you refuse to engage in a real dialogue.

[lady_gray]

Reading further, this quote also feels appropriate:

"Reason has built the modern world. It is a precious but also a fragile thing, which can be corroded by apparently harmless irrationality. We must favor verifiable evidence over private feeling. Otherwise we leave ourselves vulnerable to those who would obscure the truth."

[germboy]

Reference my comment below. I will read your long post and think a while before I post a response, so it may be a little while.

[germboy]

ALRIGHT. Damn