zedvictor4

Most atheists don't bother, and neither do most theists.

A few atheists nit pick and a few theists are over zealous. Which makes discussion interesting.

Well. Epistemology is as epistemology does, but if you mean the limits of human knowledge, then we continually explore the rabbit hole further.  Science (in the literal sense) allows us to extend the limits of knowledge....So we haven't gone there yet.... So maybe we will or maybe we will not.....Nonetheless, stopping and not going any further isn't human nature.

Perhaps looking forwards will eventually bring us back to the beginning.

What what?

Yep, one of thousands of examples of tradition.

But not as traditional as abortion.

Is public nudity at crisis point?

Nonetheless, nudity and our fascination with it is an interesting issue.

Perhaps I'll create a forum debate on the subject.

You have to be prepared to factor in bias.

Given the medium, it's impossible to moderate bias effects.

It must be or you wouldn't be arguing about.

I think that what you mean is, that it's a tradition you are not interested in. 

Similarly a lot of Americans are not interested in your anti-abortion tradition.

Nonetheless you are happy to adopt a 2000 year old Middle Eastern tradition, and dismiss an even more traditional  3550 year old Middle Eastern tradition.

Some might refer to this as double standards...I refer to it as selective morality....

Thanks....Though I was aware of the basics.

I was really making the point, that in order for something to go bang, then there must be something to go bang. ( Not a direct reference to big bang theory).

What fuels a creation event?

And more importantly, who or what provides the fuel.

Though if something provides the fuel, then what provides the provider....Same old insurmountable conundrum.

When stairs explode...Use the lift.

And why does nuclear fusion occur?

True...Maybe Trump is just a glitch.

Yep. if you could afford a radio and the time to listen to it.

I like to think that I can recognise common sense.

Though one persons sense is often another's nonsense.

And calling oneself a "conservative libertarian" is like putting one's cards on the table, face down.

I think  that U.S. liberty is already coughing up blood.

Why does one need a belief?

Gods are made up.

Religious myths are largely made up.

Everything that you and all of us continue to contrive, is made up.

Data in, data assimilation, data resequencing, data out = making it up.

Accusing Stephen of making it up is a very childish argument.

I'm a sceptic, so not incorrigible.

I accept a GOD principle but not myths embellished with fantasy.

Show me real evidence of your particular god and I will be instantly converted.

Of course it is. The first recorded evidence of induced abortion is from 1550 BCE....Even more traditional that Christianity for example.

Perhaps certain people with interests in certain things might do.

Yep the bible is silent on a lot of things....Which in fairness is no more than one would expect from such a naive hypothesis.

Debs correct. 

Clever people, gullible people....It's the ongoing story of mankind.

Clever and gullible might at first seem paradoxical, but no, it's the ongoing story of mankind.

Dismiss the obvious in pursuit of the fantastic.

So let's get back to basics.

Considering for a moment that a bible at some point is a fairly accurate record of events and people.

Who  was Jesus?

Son of man or son of a god.

Above, you clearly suggest that Jesus was descended from,  mankind.

So you agree that abortion has become a tradition, and that it should never go away?

Cleansing in water....What a bizarre thing to do....Who ever thought of that.....Give the guy a certificate.

Anything you want them to be, or none.

Though firstly we need to establish what the creator might be, if anything at all.

Because continuing debate shows us that one persons logic is another persons illogic.

Perhaps I should have said, that logic is not consistent.

And you're right, ontology is as ontology does. 

Yep floods is a consequence of weather and water.....All backs up my Great Goat Flood theory....... And the bloke with a reasonably sized boat.....And the ever taller and taller tales that ensued......Myths and legends.....A peoples favourite.....And people are still led to believe that it's all true....And people still believe that it's all true.....That's conditioning for you.

Were Neanderthals saved?

It seems far more logical to me, that something that cannot be proven to exist is unlikely to exist.

Proving that something doesn't exist is unnecessary, if said something cannot be proven to exist in the first place.

Let's take the flying spaghetti monster for example.....Do you find it necessary to disprove it's existence?

I think that this just goes prove, that logic is not reliably logical. 

Generations come and go and so do traditions.

We have a tendency to pick and choose though.

Nonetheless, abortion has become a tradition.

And so has anti-abortion.

Exactly....Case not proven.

Nope. The Americans would have a canal and the Panamanians wouldn't....That's not par.

When does a tradition become a tradition?

Anything can be a paradigm example of confirmation bias...Next comes climate change denial.

Reality is, what ever that might be....Everything inside a human brain.....But not necessarily anything inside a human's brain.

You've got no more chance of pinning it down than I have.

It was certainly sexist by todays standards.

Confirmation bias....Same applies to Christian creationists.

Though, I am a creationist evolutionist, so I have no bias then?

I just think that the CHRISTIAN GOD creation-hypothesis is extremely flawed and therefore unlikely.

Some might argue that spirituality is a state of mind rather than actual existence.

I was under the impression that only men were Levites.... A bit sexist I know, but the bible is extremely sexist.

In terms of a habitable environment, is the Earth perfect?

The Earth is tenuously habitable only by virtue of it's location within a dynamic solar system.

So as far as habitable real estate goes, is GOD a bit of a rogue landlord?

1. Yep. The coma idea is valid.

2. Mary was unfaithful and hatched a cunning plan with a cunning lover and gullible Joe fell for it. D'oh.  Must have been an influential lover as she managed to avoid a stoning.

3. The universe was created, thus giving rise to a variety of GOD principles, of which christianity is but one.

4. Not literally....Mythical pseudo-hypothesis.

5. Probably a local but extensive flood event whereby a guy rescued some goats in a boat....A tale retold and exaggerated.

6. We know that the Earth isn't 6000 - 10000 years old. That's just a figure derived from a myth based pseudo-hypothesis....Refusing to admit this is just pig headedness.

7.  As a myth, the bible is a collection of exaggerated hand-me-down tales, which are probably based upon factual events that occurred in real places. Factor in a lot of fanciful supernatural GOD hypothesising, and you end up with elements of truth and an awful lot of baloney.

Why to which bit?... Or to all of it?

Though if your profile is to be believed, then you should be clever enough to work it out.

Humanity made in a GODS image and a GOD made in humanities image is exactly the same thing, if you think about it from a human perspective....Which after all, is the only way that people do think.

Humanity creates GODS in its image, and humanity creates GODS that create humanity in it's image.....It's all man made.

Reconciliation with GOD is a very good analogy for being nothing more or less than the rest of the universe.

You give your life meaning because that it what you are programmed to do, and if that includes believing in a specific GOD, then that is absolutely fine.

My life has meaning without the need for belief in a specific GOD.

Nonetheless, should there be a specific GOD, I expect that they would be wise and noble enough to understand.

Even people on remote islands got there somehow.

Not recognising material evolution is just plain silly.

Material development/evolution is a key element of any universal hypothesis.

A  god did not create today, today.

Don't get hung up on Darwin. He was only concerned with a brief period of development.

A GOD principle and evolution work perfectly well together.

Even the bible evolved.

I do not try and prove your version of things, wrong..... I can simply see the obvious holes in it, and I point them out...Obviously, such is the nature of the biblical stories that it's easy to cover up the holes.....Nonetheless the holes are still there.

LOL.... Other than god or not god, which in terms of reality and function is an equality,  your beliefs Trade, are exactly the same processes as Stephens. 

And no one can ignore the realities of life.

And inactive idle people are "lazy"......Which is a label that can be applied to both theists and atheists alike.

Being content to live in isolation without money, in a temperate environment, would be freedom from capitalist oppression, but immediate subjection to the oppression of survival.

In terms of freedom it's a no win situation.

Contentment within a capitalist society is perhaps as good as it get's.....Which doesn't necessarily mean striving to acquire wealth....Just an easily affordable day to day routine with no greater expectations....After all a kitchen is a kitchen, so why would you need a newer one.

Sorry, but when I think about materialism, I always think of fitted kitchens for some reason.

We all recognize differences..... But this does not necessarily prejudice us......This would depend greatly upon our formative conditioning, and so I would confidently conclude that Donald Trump was probably and unavoidably conditioned to be prejudiced.....We can certainly modify our behaviour in response to a changing and more tolerant society, but it is difficult to re-programme our underlying influences completely.