Not doubts, but rather I concede the possibility of the unknown (i.e. something else beyond our understanding might exist). You can look around this world and find all sorts of testimony regarding mystical events (usually having to do with healings, whether physical or psychological). Indeed these stories are not unique to Christianity or even Abrahamic religions; they exist in a variety of settings (many we in the west might define as occult belief systems). These stories, however, are always explainable (and even if we don’t know the exact physiological cause – we can attribute them to things like the known relationship between physical and psychological health; even though we don’t have a great understanding of this relationship at this point in time). Some stories are more profound than others (because, statistically speaking, when you have a pool of billions of people who entertain the idea of supernatural influence over human affairs, you will inevitably find all sorts of stories … some very profound and convincing, while others not so much).
So it’s impossible for me to rationally base my views toward theism on this sort of testimony (since there’s no consistent or reliable data to base a rational opinion on). Rather, I can only look at the facts that are apparent.
- Extraordinary stories told by ancient men, intellectually far more primitive than we are today, which sound mythological.
- Not a single objectively verifiable replication of any of the sort of profound manifestations of divine power we read about in the bible.
- The first chapters of Genesis (the foundation for all that follows) can be empirically shown false by hard science.
I have many more objections; but you get the point (they’re well developed logical objections, and I never had a bad experience or reason to “hate god” … and indeed when I was a theist I believed the bible provided an adequate explanation for why evil exists and why bad things happen).
At this point I guess it doesn’t make much sense for me to continue participating here at CAF; so this will be my last post. I came here initially to see if any common ground could be had between theists and non-theists. I leave with the inclination to say no it cannot; but I also understand that most posters here represent serious Catholics (and protestants), not the average American Christian (who are more amenable to entertaining secular arguments).
Even when I call my arguments rational it’s taken as an insult (and while I can understand that perception, there’s no way to get across that bridge for us). My arguments are always based on logic, so I have to continually appeal to it; and an appeal to logic is always at least mildly offensive to the theist because the unavoidable inference is … if I’m appealing to logic in stating my objections to the veracity of your claims, then you’re inversely illogical (even if I don’t blatantly state as much the undertone is always there & I understand that). The way I see is
it’s your forum; it’s not designed for an atheist (even this particular section, non-Catholic religions, is probably not appropriate for an atheist since we’re technically not a religion).
So you’re comparing a war veteran and lawyer to an autistic child because I disagree with your religious views? Geesh … no comment (except good bye).
