Just to clarify. I'm in no way considering atheism. It's just that in the past few weeks, I've been engrossed by the amount of content that's out there in the internet talking about this topic. I didn't take as many philosophy classes back in college so it was all new to me.
I've learned quite a lot from this atheist blog I went to. All the atheists, save for one agnostic, were very condescending and proud. Very quickly, they would assert things that weren't at all rooted in truth. They'd take one article or blog post and claim that to be true. Statements like, "Jesus never walked the Earth," or "The Bible is a myth," or "Jon, you believe in fairy tales and unicorns." They weren't alone though. Some of the theists were the same saying things like, "They have seen the evidence and chose to ignore it." This does make the threads more heated than they should be. To cleanse my palate, I tried listening to some good and intellectual debates on the issue. This made all the difference to me.
Hiding behind the internet, people can call you "stupid" or "idiotic" without any consequences. I have friends who are atheist or agnostic who wouldn't talk to me like that to my face. I know some of them might talk negatively about my views behind my back but that's true of anyone. We never push each other to the point of disrespect though.
The problem with the belief of atheism is this. When you ask the question of whether aliens exist, you can answer with one of three answers - Yes, No, and I don't know. If you say Yes or No, you have the burden of proving your point that aliens do or do not exist. The only one exempt from any burden of proof would be the one who answers, "I don't know". Now, replace alien with God and you can see that atheists aren't exempt from proving their stance. It's common for atheists to shift the burden of proof solely on the theist to prove God exists. It's very easy for them to win in this case, all they have to do is say, "That's not real evidence" and his position stands. This, however, doesn't absolve the theist from presenting evidence.
I started a thread on this atheist website which goes, "What would constitute as evidence that a god exists?" Some of them were saying things like, they'd have to see a miracle happen during a religious ritual. Some others said that a voice from heaven might convince them. Rather quickly, it turned sour with people accusing me to believing in fairy tales. Some of them were accusing me of using circular argument to prove there's a God when I hadn't even tried to make a case for God.
Some other forums phrased their questions a certain way with the assumption that God does exist. One such forum asked, "To theists: What happens in heaven?" His question was asking if free will still existed given you couldn't commit sin in heaven. I answered the best I could only to be answered back with, "Your heaven doesn't exist - Like your god." This caught me off guard as the question was phrased in a way to assume that God and heaven exist.
I used to hold on to this notion that people who are atheists or agnostic must be at the very least intellectual or intellectually honest. I admired them as I saw that they were a group of people who were honestly trying to find the truth and not accept any religion as true right off the bat. I now know this is not the case. These are the same people who rant about how religion tries to stifle them and here they are doing the exact same thing.
I'm not talking about all though. My previously held positive stereotype of atheists and agnostics was definitely shattered. I might still visit that atheist website from time to time. It still amuses me to read from different points of view.
The problem with the belief of atheism is this. When you ask the question of whether aliens exist, you can answer with one of three answers - Yes, No, and I don't know. If you say Yes or No, you have the burden of proving your point that aliens do or do not exist. The only one exempt from any burden of proof would be the one who answers, "I don't know". Now, replace alien with God and you can see that atheists aren't exempt from proving their stance. It's common for atheists to shift the burden of proof solely on the theist to prove God exists. It's very easy for them to win in this case, all they have to do is say, "That's not real evidence" and his position stands. This, however, doesn't absolve the theist from presenting evidence.
I started a thread on this atheist website which goes, "What would constitute as evidence that a god exists?" Some of them were saying things like, they'd have to see a miracle happen during a religious ritual. Some others said that a voice from heaven might convince them. Rather quickly, it turned sour with people accusing me to believing in fairy tales. Some of them were accusing me of using circular argument to prove there's a God when I hadn't even tried to make a case for God.
Some other forums phrased their questions a certain way with the assumption that God does exist. One such forum asked, "To theists: What happens in heaven?" His question was asking if free will still existed given you couldn't commit sin in heaven. I answered the best I could only to be answered back with, "Your heaven doesn't exist - Like your god." This caught me off guard as the question was phrased in a way to assume that God and heaven exist.
I used to hold on to this notion that people who are atheists or agnostic must be at the very least intellectual or intellectually honest. I admired them as I saw that they were a group of people who were honestly trying to find the truth and not accept any religion as true right off the bat. I now know this is not the case. These are the same people who rant about how religion tries to stifle them and here they are doing the exact same thing.
I'm not talking about all though. My previously held positive stereotype of atheists and agnostics was definitely shattered. I might still visit that atheist website from time to time. It still amuses me to read from different points of view.
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