I think yall managed to evade the point I was making. I know how the theory goes. When creationists object to it, they object to the monkey stuff. It's not an accurate representation of human evolution but that's how they criticize it (much in the same way atheists criticize Christianity without understanding it). The particulars of human evolution isn't actually relevant to the conversation.
Let me amend what i said based on what you underlined. I base my belief that there isn't a god on the knowledge that there's no evidence to his existence. That knowledge isn't nothing. Not even comparable. The amount of evidence for evolution as opposed to god isn't even a discussion. Christians insulted by evolution choose to ignore the evidence. Honestly I find it ridiculous to compare evolution and god on some equal level. One is science and one is a belief. I'm not choosing to ignore evidence because it doesn't exist.
Again not comparable, saying you believe in something that I find stupid and judging my character aren't the same things.
I respect this pope so much more than his predecessor, not just because of this issue, he just seem so much more like what I expect a Christian to be.
No Im not. The reason why I tend to ignore it because the point he made is rather irrelevant. Being an atheist has nothing to do with evolution. Evolution is a proven scientific theory with millions of evidences to back it up, being an atheist is the skeptical stance towards certain religious claims. There's no necessary correlation between those two. I can't speak for others, but I used to be a Christians, I've read various versions of Bibles and I still go to the local church with my wife every now and then. Hell I even ended up in Kingdom Hall a couple times out of curiousity. To say that atheists don't understand christianity/religion is a far-fetched claim, some of us probably know more and are way more skeptical than your average Christians that cherry pick Bible phrases. Then again, the point that he made about evolution and atheism is irrelevant...and I still feel like getting into it because trust me, I could almost see where the conversation would end up being.
:garm mode on: this is what you get when you put a young* latin american to be part of the vatican! next thing you he is going to be talking about serving the poor. :smh: gtfo *mid 70s is like 23 in pope years.
I tend to agree with this and look at it as a primarily a political move to improve the relationship of the church with the modern secular world. That said I am not going to criticize the Pope for this. Given the history of the church this is more than other Popes would've done especially the last Pope.
Also I really hope that licorice planet isn't made of black licorice. Yeah I am racist against black licorice..
It must really suck to be somebody who has to have evidence of everything before you will consider it possible. There is no evidence that there is a God, so there must not be one. Right? 200 years ago there was no evidence that a person could climb into a pressurized metal tube and hurtle through the air at 500mph and in 4 hours be in Seattle. I am happy that not everybody needed evidence before believe something to be possible. If it were not for those willing to open their minds to possibilities, I never would have seen the Space Needle.
I don't consider god impossible but Christians dont propose god as a possibility. I'd love for there to be a god honestly, it would make my life easier to know these teachings to be true. Thats an incredible peace of mind to have. As it is I struggle to find my own way, to find my own answers through experiencing and learning as much as I can. You're an intelligent poster from what I've read and I apologize for offending you personally if thats what Ive done but I'm not making a character judgement on you because you have a belief that I don't see any evidence for. When the leader of a church says I can do good because his god created me but I can't be a good person because I have a different religion then he is speaking to my character and I resent that.
Magic =/= Law of Physics The laws of physics were always there, just undiscovered. Like gravity. We didn't know what caused it, still don't. But its a property that we know exists, yet hasn't been fully evidenced yet. Its observational. God, higher beings? I won't discount them, but saying that they are there because you can't discount them is just fundamentally illogical. Its the other way around. If its entirely unobservable, its not there. The proof of burden lies on believers. Otherwise I could claim there are magical invisible dragons floating around killing people... we just can't see them; and the funny thing is that is about as credible as telling people there is a god. Funny how you correlate religion with open-mindedness. The irony of that statement. You are right though. If people were more open minded... all those things and more would have been possible 200 years earlier. Of course that is the basic premise of faith. The absence of evidence is what makes it faith, otherwise it'd just be fact. I can't stop you from thinking that but I highly take offense when you start criticizing people for wanting proof. I'm sorry but the whole blind follower thing isn't my taste.
I am sorry if I have offended you. However, it is also highly offensive when you call the existence of God "magic" as though it were somehow equivalent to David Copperfield making the Statue of Liberty disappear.
http://www.examiner.com/article/vatican-corrects-pope-atheists-are-still-going-to-hell I'm confused. Why did the Vatican feel the need to say this, when all the Pope said was that they can "do good"? He didn't say they're going to heaven, so why the correction? Either the Vatican (or the people who wrote this article) seem to be trying to put words in the Pope's mouth.
As someone who is neutral to this argument, I don't think most atheists think religion is good or bad in and of itself, they just can't stand religious fanatics who try to push their ideas onto others, especially through public code (e.g. laws, schooling, etc...). And there are some atheist fanatics that pick fights with religious people and ridicule them for their beliefs. Told you I was neutral.
