Spencer

Not that *all* theists object to the BB. This is in response to the scientifically illiterate theists who ask silly questions about the BB.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/03/17/big-...

If so, then I'd love to know how it can possibly make sense that atheists hate something (god) they don't believe exists.

Theists who ask us why we hate God...I fail to see how asking this question about God rather than leprechauns makes it any less absurd.

E.g. "I feel so good right now and I am attributing this feeling to God! God must be real! This invisible and immaterial entity is imposing this feeling onto my soul even though I have no good reason to think a soul exists and it's definitely not my brain making me feel this way."

Then do you think it's about time creationists actually understand how evolution works?

"the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion."

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/am...

Essentially there's this argument that if God steps in to prevent evil from happening, then we cannot have free will. Free will is something God wants us to have (he doesn't want robots). Therefore, God chooses not to intervene.

However, I don't think the first premise is true. Think of it this way: If you had the power to stop a person from raping another person (I choose this example because it is something clearly and obviously immoral), and you succeeded in stopping this person, does that mean that you took away this person's free will given the definition above?

If so, how

If not, then I fail to see how replacing yourself with "God" makes any crucial difference.

I would.

That is the difference between me and your god, theists (besides the imaginary part). I would step in and stop all of them if I had the power to. Not just stand aside and let it happen.

Not only am I more moral than your god, I think you are more moral than your god.

I would love to see this evidence that theists claim exists for their god. What more reliable source than something that has withstood the scrutiny of peer review and published?

For being an atheist, that is. My family is Christian and I'm the only outspoken atheist out of all of them. Seems like every Xmas when we all get together, there just has to be at least one sarcastic remark about me being an "unbeliever."

BQ: Anyone here ever get some sort of religious present as an atheist?

Fill in the blank.

A common objection to inserting creationism into science classes is that it has nothing to do with science, much like teaching British literature in math class.

When people in support of putting creationism into science classes hear this objection, do they disagree? Or do they agree and just not care?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ajo42...

For example, "look at the complexity of the universe! Look at all the beauty around you! There must be a god."

Another example, "Take a look at this Bible verse."

So basically they either don't understand what constitutes evidence, or their standard is really low.

"Why don’t you just be an atheist? If there is a god, and it is moral and loving and worthy of respect, then it won’t mind if people have rational doubts about it and rational reasons for not believing in it. This god won’t punish people for exercising their critical thinking skills and are skeptical of the claims of other, fallible humans. Thus, you wouldn’t lose anything.

And if there is a god who punishes people for rational doubt, why would you want to spend an eternity with it anyway? Such a capricious, egotistical, and nasty god wouldn’t be much fun. If you can’t trust it to be as moral as you are, you can’t trust it to keep its promises and make heaven nice or even let you stay for long. Not spending eternity with such a being doesn’t sound like much of a loss."

-Austin Cline

I like to think of winning and losing in terms of who out-plays the other person. So in a game of pool, you can sink every single ball way before the other person, and then lose by sinking the cue ball?

Does anybody else find this completely absurd? You can totally outperform someone and still lose?

And/or is it because you have an interest in religion itself?