How to respond in debate with atheist?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Upgrade25
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Post 59 addressed this. Not surprised it only took this long for someone to make the same mistake.
Let’s just be clear: you are asserting that if something appeared in the middle of your bedroom, since you’ve never had an example of this happening before, you’d not look for its cause?

#cognitive dissonance.
I’ll appeal to the fair mindedness of the readers. Did I say that it was possible for something to come from nothing? This is soooo much a problem with discussions with religious people. Because I don’t believe your conclusion it means I believe the other. Such as, Do you believe in the supernatural. No no I do not. So that means you believe that the supernatural does not exist. No no it does not. There is a difference between “I do not find the proposition true” and “I know this proposition is not true.” Can you please, if ever, understand this difference?!! I stated that it is not a justified conclusion to make about the idea of “nothing” until you have an example of “nothing” to study to see what it can actually do. Since we have never had an example of “nothing” to study, how can you make any absolute claims about what can or can not interact with it and what it can or can not do in reality. See here’s another problem that is soooo much an on-going issue. You can be logically correct but still factually wrong. Because of how ignorant we all are about reality, we think it is ok to say that A1=A2 if all we know about A1 is 4 things and A2 has the same four identities. But then later, when we’ve learned more about how reality works, we go back and look at A1 and A2. Only to find out that A2 actually has 8 truths about it. So we were originally logically correct, but factually wrong and didn’t find this out until we went to reality to check our logical conclusions. If you can’t use reality to check your logical conclusions about the supernatural, then you can make any logical conclusion you want and feel justified about it because you can’t falsify it by checking your logic against reality in any way. It’s a no loss situation every time. At least my world view you can go to reality and throw a fossil at me if I deny evolution.
Interesting. But it’s a nonsequitur to my post above.
 
I fully agree. Compare an estimated 31 million dead in all the religious wars of history to Atheist China’s 60 million in the 20th century alone. Staggering.

However, I’m sure your brand of atheism will be somehow different if nationally realized.
My world view of secular humanism with the philosophies of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Spinoza, Einstein, and the like has yet to be run. Once we see that experiment run where the society fell into fascism, racism, sudo-science, institutionalized mistreatment of women and minorities, and the like, then you could make that claim. However, every abrahamic religion has run that experiment and when they were in power, all of them failed at basic human rights. Now, after their reformations, they became much more benign by being dragged forward to become civil societies through secular conversations.
 
But remember, reality is constantly changing our assumptions about logical conclusions about it.
This is also a curious position for an atheist to espouse.

“I look at evidence! I haven’t seen any evidence for God’s existence, so…”

But whatever evidence we could provide (amputees growing limbs perhaps?) could be summarily dismissed by the atheist with: “Reality is constantly changing our assumptions about logical conclusions about it. So…still not convinced.”

You’ve set yourself up to be always able to say: Nope. Not evidence.

It’s essentially a Science of the Gaps excuse, ironically.
 
Let’s just be clear: you are asserting that if something appeared in the middle of your bedroom, since you’ve never had an example of this happening before, you’d not look for its cause?

#cognitive dissonance.

Interesting. But it’s a nonsequitur to my post above.
I’ve addressed this and leave it up to the readers to make their own conclusions.
 
It’s an incoherent position because saying, “I don’t know” to how something could come from nothing is illogical.

The coherent position is: you’re right. Something simply cannot come from nothing.
I don’t know anyone whom is an atheist saying that “something came from nothing”.
 
This is also a curious position for an atheist to espouse.

“I look at evidence! I haven’t seen any evidence for God’s existence, so…”

But whatever evidence we could provide (amputees growing limbs perhaps?) could be summarily dismissed by the atheist with: “Reality is constantly changing our assumptions about logical conclusions about it. So…still not convinced.”

You’ve set yourself up to be always able to say: Nope. Not evidence.

It’s essentially a Science of the Gaps excuse, ironically.
I don’t know what it would take to convert me. There is not single silver bullet for conversion. Just as there is not single silver bullet for theists to actually convert. Everyone’s conversion story is a lengthy one of searching and understanding. However, your deity would know what everyone’s silver bullet could and would be. Seems to be sitting on it’s hands and only offering special information to it’s followers and not the rest of the world. So it’s coming across as not there or not wanting people to know that it’s there. Either way, not my problem.
 
I would agree. It’s reasonable to say i don’t know.

But i see too many atheists trashing theism.(outside CAF)

Seems ridiculous to do so when their position is, we don’t know.
Because, I assume, that the idea of a sky wizard making humans out of clay/dirt and putting them in a garden And accepting it as it happened is a bit much. Whereas we have evidence of evolution that gives us a glimpse into how we became humans. Does it solve how life began? No, but it isn’t asking that question either. That is for abiogenesis to answer.
 
Russell, of course “I don’t know” is perfectly acceptable for some questions.

It’s just not acceptable here.

Let’s take a parallel example with another type of fundamentalist.

Let’s say there’s a Christian who you’re in dialogue with.

You say (correctly): God cannot do things which are intrinsically, logically impossible.

The fundamentalist Christian says: Can so!

You: Really? How can God make a 4 sided triangle? Or a married bachelor? Or draw green lines with red ink?

Fundamentalist Christian: I don’t know! But he surely can!

You would (rightly) assert: that “I don’t know” is an incoherent position.
Well it would be the fundamentalist to provide proof on those things. They are the ones making the positive assertions.
 
…the 2 second Google search didn’t teach you enough. It’s only usable if you can apply a meaningful numeric value to the possible value set of the hypothesis and thus make a mean possible. Like “There is deity” =1, “There isn’t” =0. The human average estimates in the high 0.80s. Will likely be in the 0.90s if China continues to ease restrictions of religion (more than half of the worlds atheists are estimated to live there). So go back to the page you visited and camp a bit longer.
Yeah, that’s not a textbook definition. That’s an example. “When the claim that most or many people in general or of a particular group accept a belief as true is presented as evidence for the claim” is a textbook definition. And that’s also proof that you can’t literally distinguish between a scientific argument and a logical argument. Not the same.
Your identification of supposed ad hominem and immediate use of another made me giddy, also. 😃 If you’re arguing that the presentation of societal atheism doesn’t vary ENORMOUSLY by the cultural group proposing it, you’re so wrong that I’m unsure how to continue, so I"ll repeat: My last argument against atheism is that its ideological manifestation in the west 1. has never existed and 2. couldn’t because it can’t solve basic social problems without resorting to the state-enforced “right of might” it wants to avoid. Verily, we’ve seen Russian and East-Asian atheistic societies. We’re still finding the mass graves they created.
I’ve addressed these points and leave it to the readers to make their own conclusions.

As to athesitic societal failings, since atheism is not a doctrine as much as people who believe that not walking in-front of a moving car is a good way to live is a doctrine, that is why your continued assertions that it is does not move the conversation forward. I absolutely disagree with your premise here. The philosophy that people use when applying these conclusions that they’ve come to about their understanding of the world is what would be an issue for you I believe. Such as: with conclusions X, Y, Z now what do we do with this understanding of reality. That is where you can develop multiple world views. Also just because you’ve come to the conclusions of X, Y, Z does not mean that you apply that understanding to every social issue. Understanding gravity may not have any influence on how to develop an economic philosophy. You can be an atheist and a humanists as well as a fascist. Correlation / Causation issue. Where am I wrong here?
I agree! My view is worthless! But in my society, if you act bad and get away with it all your life, the Divine Cop will eventually “bust” you. Thus law and order can exist beyond the view of the local police station.

In your society, it cant! Why be be “good” in an atheistic society when this is the only life you get and your only apparent goal is to maximize your self-perceived benefit, both in duration and degree?
To the point of religious world view vs nonreligious world view: anyone can find logical issues with both. But how do people actually apply it? I do not believe that you would take your son for a long and gloomy walk up the hill to slit his throat just because your deity told you to, anymore than you would believe that I would do that just because, in the long run, I’ll be forgotten in the histories and it ultimately wouldn’t make a difference. We all know the terribleness that the church is still doing today and not holding anyone in their organization accountable in any adult sense. How come it has to wait until there is enough public outcry before they admit their infallibility is fallible? This isn’t a place for the excuse of “some people”. This is what the institution is doing as an official policy. As to bringing up the good works as a counter balance, how many birthday gifts would your daughter’s husband have to give her to excuse him raping her? That seems to be a calculation that religion has down, but not my world view. Or am I wrong here?
 
Let’s just be clear: you are asserting that if something appeared in the middle of your bedroom, since you’ve never had an example of this happening before, you’d not look for its cause?

#cognitive dissonance.
Fair minded readers did I assert this? I believe I asserted that the religious are still believing: 1) If someone does not agree with you, that means they do believe the counter to it.
  • I’ve addressed this many times. Please understand the difference between: “I am not convinced of X.” and “I believe X is not the case, so therefore Y is assumed.”
    Just look up my jury analysis I stated before. Finding someone not guilty does not mean you believe they are innocent.
  1. Because religion offers an explanation, it is better than no explanation at all. Regardless of your world view, everyone will look for a reason. Only as a philosophical naturalist, I can only be justified in grounding my conclusions in reality and philosophical conclusions that can not be tested to be falsifiable is not enough for justification for this world view. Just as gravity waves were logically concluded through mathematics by Einstein, we were not justified in teaching that they were part of reality until we were able to run the test that could falsify that conclusion. After running the test in 2015, we found them. Only then, after reality matched our idea of what to search for, did we feel justified in adopting a new understanding of reality. How do you falsify supernatural claims through this process? I don’t see how you can. So why is it a problem that my world view has more hurdles in it to come to justified belief? Your deity knows this about people of this philosophy and is still choosing to not meet that level of evidence. So that’s it’s problem, not ours.
 
Seems to be sitting on it’s hands and only offering special information to it’s followers and not the rest of the world. So it’s coming across as not there or not wanting people to know that it’s there. Either way, not my problem.
If you’re going to come to a Catholic forum, announce your atheism,and engage in dialogue with Catholics, then you need to be up to having your views scrutinized, Russell.

Otherwise it appears that your views are being blindly adhered to.
 
If you’re going to come to a Catholic forum, announce your atheism,and engage in dialogue with Catholics, then you need to be up to having your views scrutinized, Russell.

Otherwise it appears that your views are being blindly adhered to.
I don’t know how that follows or why you replied like this? Seriously, I have no idea what your doing here. It came across as throwing in a random comment.

Ok well I’ll respond with…“Screw your lab safety, I want super powers.”
 
I don’t know how that follows or why you replied like this? Seriously, I have no idea what your doing here. It came across as throwing in a random comment.

Ok well I’ll respond with…“Screw your lab safety, I want super powers.”
Careful, Russell. It is good for you to be here and in dialogue with knowledgable Catholics.

Try to defend your views when you are questioned.

And we will defend our views.

That’s what dialogue is all about here.
 
Careful, Russell. It is good for you to be here and in dialogue with knowledgable Catholics.

Try to defend your views when you are questioned.

And we will defend our views.

That’s what dialogue is all about here.
Thanks I guess.

To everyone else: what is he/she talking about here? What are they referring to since they are not point out why they are going down this line of dialog.
 
How do you falsify supernatural claims through this process? I don’t see how you can.
So I presume that you are against making assertions which can’t be falsified?
But remember, reality is constantly changing our assumptions about logical conclusions about it.
I wonder…how does one falsify this claim? I don’t see how you can.
 
…Also just because you’ve come to the conclusions of X, Y, Z does not mean that you apply that understanding to every social issue…
If religion must answer to the concerns of materialism, why don’t the alternatives you replace it with have to answer to the same standard?

-Inversely-

If you can hold a worldview that doesn’t have to answer to the rigors of materialism, then why must religion?

Check and Mate.
How come it has to wait until there is enough public outcry before they admit their infallibility is fallible?
This old canard…
The view that “The Church is infallible. Every man that comprises it is not” answers the concern and is most definitely not novel. We read Paul admitting to his own failings while the New Testament was being written. The “idea” is the only thing that’s unassailably perfect. Again, this is not an innovation. It is as old as the ideas of “perfection” and “humanity”. It is present in the Judaism that precedes us.
In other words, straw-man.
This isn’t a place for the excuse of “some people”. This is what the institution is doing as an official policy. As to bringing up the good works as a counter balance, how many birthday gifts would your daughter’s husband have to give her to excuse him raping her? That seems to be a calculation that religion has down, but not my world view. Or am I wrong here?
And there’s Begging the Question… In addition to being wrong, you’re certainly fallacious.
The Church absolutely punishes these men, even as you apparently either lack that information or think that the punishment is not up to your admittedly arbitrary standards.

The greatest of jokes is your use of rape being wrong. It’s wrong because Judeo-Christian culture has forbidden it for thousands of years. Violators of that standard have sinned grievously.

Without religious constructs or equally fallacious appeals to “common sense”, how does an atheist materially argue rape is even wrong? We certainly see practically every other semi-intelligent species rape all the time such as monkeys, ducks, dolphins… the list goes on and on.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top