/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.1178737]

Ok, real question now, I'm quite sick of the "fuck you atheists" and the "fuck you theists" thing going on. I need to make one thing clear and NO, I don't want to google because I have YOU and /sci/.

Do atheists believe in a source of unknown energy that cannot yet be explained therefore they don't accept it as a God?

Or are they completly against the whole superior unknown things?

Thank you /sci/, thank you in advance.

in return, GaGas rocket tits.

[Anonymous No.1178801]

Come on.

[Anonymous No.1178808]

It's not a matter of "don't" or "won't" with regular atheists. Most feel that there's simply not a compelling argument to give them any reason to believe in it. It's more of a lack of acceptance than a refusal. I mean, one doesn't REFUSE to believe there's a boogieman or real live unicorns, it's just that there's no reason to believe in them :\

[Anonymous No.1178824]

>>1178808
And by "regular atheists" I mean the majority, whom if you sit down with them like a civilized human and converse with them, won't bite your head off at the remote mention of anything religion.

[Anonymous No.1178828]

Dunno about myself, but as an atheist, I don't waste time with metaphysics including, but not limited to, superior unknown things.

Now, if we suddenly come across a superior unknown thing, I'd be interested and study it, but since there's no evidence it exists, I find it a waste of time.

Sage'd because I can see inevitable shitstorm thread brewing a mile off.

[Anonymous No.1178819]

lol that bitch is so crazy

[Anonymous No.1178858]

It doesn't matter. Religions will never make enough sense for rational people to accept and science will never find "THE PROOF!" they need to make the zealots shut up.

We'll keep arguing about the meaning of life until entropy destroys everything.

[Anonymous No.1178864]

>>1178808

Thank you, I'd like to tell a bit more of what I think about this subject.

First of all I think we shouldn't ever favor a side when it's a unknown area. I just wish everyone was neutral on these areas.

Second, I don't really understand why don't (just for example) christians stop and think: "Oh wait, what if their God (pointing over to muslims) is the real God?"

Third and last, why the fuck can't we copy+paste Carl Sagan? I'd like to have like 3 of him around doing 8 hours shifts.

If only we could have Sagan back.

[Anonymous No.1178870]

>>1178828
Wow, I'm retarded. Should say "dunno about others"
FFFFFFFFFFFF-

[Anonymous No.1178893]

>>1178828

OP here, thread just perfect.

I don't mind your sage nor I have fear of the shitstorm, if it gets nasty I'll just abandon the reason battlefield and I'm off to bed.

I do meditation regularly and want to learn Reiki when I have a bit more time in this summer.

Do I look for something when meditating? yes.
Have I ever found anything? Once I had 2 seconds of a really strange pleasure. I've done a couple types of drugs and that feeling I had for 2 seconds was superior that any of the drugs.
Was it placebo? Don't know and don't really care, I feel good after meditating.

What about you guys, what are your semi-rational (if you allow me to name it that way) beliefs?

[Anonymous No.1178904]

>>1178808
This dude got it right, at least IMO. As an atheist, I don't sit around and actively not believe in a god. I just don't see any compelling evidence for a belief, so I don't have one.

And like >>1178828 said, were we to find some kind of superior being, or if it found us, I'd be down with getting to know it. But I'd need compelling evidence to believe it was what we would think of as a god, and not just some super advanced, Lovecraftian ancient being that was just crazy evolved.

[Anonymous No.1178909]

>>1178737

All atheism means is that the person in question doesn't believe in god/gods. It doesn't mean anything more than that.

Some atheists may believe in a 'source of unknown energy that cannot yet be explained', some may believe in fairies or UFO's.

Most of the atheists you find on /sci/ though are rationalists. There is no proof that god exists so we don't believe in him. That doesn't mean that he can't exist, and if proof was ever found most people would be happy to accept it... but until then no cookie. Rationalists not trying to be mean to religious people by thinking this way as we apply the same criteria to everything.

[Anonymous No.1178915]

>>1178864
People often forget (on both sides, unfortunately) that science is agnostic. There is no emotional attachment to the fact that there is no god. If all of a sudden, god were to randomly appear and create a whole new species of like, pink winged my little pony unicorns because he felt like it, science wouldn't scream in agony at it. It would just open more questions and scientists would continue on trying to understand the natural world (and the newer addition of the supernatural world...which would be interesting, to say the least). Granted, it would be a very shocking event...but I'm sure everyone would get over it eventually. There's no need to be so hostile to people with opposing views, and even ignorant people. It's the willingly ignorant and the ones that want to tear the opposing side to shreds at the drop of the hat that makes EVERYBODY look bad. People need to calm down, jeez...

[Anonymous No.1178918]

I love Carl Sagans position. I never saw anyone deny his opinions / views.

[Anonymous No.1178920]

>>1178893
I believe there are religious people (such as myself) who know religion is not based on, or a substitute for, or in conflict with science.

I believe there are scientists who are aware that science is not a replacement for religion, nor does it require the non-existence of God.

I believe both of these groups are in the minority.

[Anonymous No.1178927]

>>1178915
Well, I oughtn't say it's a fact. More like the lack of viable evidence. Excuse my slip up :X

[Anonymous No.1178932]

>>1178893

Rationalists also take the same scepticism we have towards supernatural beings to the practice of Reiki.

Unlike meditation (which has been proven to offer certain health and mental benefits) there is no evidence that Reiki energy exists or offers any healing/health benefits.

[Anonymous No.1178937]

Since people who actively believe in the non-existence of god call themselves atheists, should people who are simply unconvinced of his existence use the same label?

[Anonymous No.1178950]

I bet most people would actively deny the existence of a flying teapot in the asteroid belt, even though no proof exists for either side so we should accept both theories equally.

[Anonymous No.1178952]

>>1178920

What's your religion?

[Anonymous No.1178959]

The views of atheists on there not being a god are pretty close to the views of Christians on there being a god. Both sides have idiot extremists who either want to shoot Christians in the head or burn atheists at the stake. Most of both are pretty chill about the topic, and don't care what people of the other faction think (other than the occasional sigh at how stupid everyone else is). Also, this is not /sci/ - Religion. Please take your religion threads to /b/ where they belong.

[Anonymous No.1178962]

>>1178915

That's not what agnosticism means... and science isn't theist/agnostic/atheist. Science is a method of observing and discovering knowledge.

[Anonymous No.1178964]

>>1178937
People who go out of their way to actively believe there is no god are defined as more of an "anti-theist" than an "a-theist", iirc.

[Anonymous No.1178965]

>>1178937

In my opinion, Atheists are the ones labeled as unconvinced and Agnostics are the ones that deny the existance.

[Anonymous No.1178978]

>>1178950

forgot to say - replace "people" with "scientists", and "flying teapot in the asteroid belt" with "God"

[Anonymous No.1178980]

>>1178962
sorry if I didn't use the term in a way that you liked. I was trying to describe that there is no active belief/disbelief/anything of the sort in the scientific method. I couldn't think of a better term to use...

[Anonymous No.1178981]

>>1178959

Um not really.

Militant christians want to shoot people in the head and burn people alive. Militant atheists just write books and want to teach evolution in school.

[Anonymous No.1178998]

>>1178937

Nope.

Atheists are the one that remain unconvinced of the existence of god but would change their minds if evidence was ever produced.

Agnostics think it's impossible to know if god is real or not. They think that god is beyond science and mankind.

[Anonymous No.1179031]

>>1178998

Thank you, that was perfect

[Anonymous No.1179035]

>>1178981
a) AFAIK, Christian fundamentalists aren't in the habit of shooting people for being atheists
b) militant atheists go into fits of rage at the thought of mentioning god in a classroom.

[Anonymous No.1179048]

>>1178998
>change their minds if evidence was ever produced

can you give an example of an evidence that would make you change your mind?

[Anonymous No.1179058]

>>1178737
>Do atheists believe in a source of unknown energy that cannot yet be explained therefore they don't accept it as a God?

lolwut

Agnostic atheists (the sensible kind) just won't take such sweeping claims on faith. Unless there is compelling evidence to back it up, there's no reason for them to change their views or hold unsubstantiated beliefs.

Then there's the gnostic atheist that firmly believes such things are simply impossible. It's quite likely that they're correct from what we understand, but taking that on faith or trying to disprove negatives are not sensible things to do.

>>1178998

This is inaccurate. These two views are not mutually exclusive.

An atheist does not believe in theism. The reason for this and any other view they might hold in light of that are completely irrelevant.

An agnostic understands that they simply do not know. Some also believe that it is unknowable, but this is not a given.

You can be both at once. See above.

Also sage because this is still cancer.

[Anonymous No.1179060]

>>1179035

True but Christian fundamentalists do shoot people for other reasons.

(being gay, performing abortions or being witches)

[Anonymous No.1179069]

>>1179035
I know it's a troll, but Christians can be plenty hurtful to atheists simply because of their lack of belief:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiyJzWy3CDQ

[Anonymous No.1179105]

>>1179048

Speaking to god, seeing god, discovering evidence that god had been in the universe such as fossil evidence. Seeing a real miracle that has no scientific explanation, something that defied the known laws of the universe... like seeing a man turned into salt or an amputee healed through the power of god.

Literally anything. Most atheists want to believe in god. I would like to believe in god. Knowing that death is not the end and the afterlife is real would be awesome...

[Anonymous No.1179141]

HYPOTHESIS: "God exists. He created the universe and then intervened in human affairs."

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE:


CONCLUSION: "Well, you can't prove me wrong."

[1179035 No.1179148]

>>1179060
>>1179069
Touché.

[Anonymous No.1179170]

>>1179105
> Implying god is a person.

check out the life of this guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg

He was a scientist before having spiritual experiences.

[Anonymous No.1179172]

EVIDENCE: The world around you

HYPOTHESIS: "Black Holes" exist even if we can't see them.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Well... We see their effects...

CONCLUSION: We accept this just because.

[Anonymous No.1179187]

The reason that religious people--and by that I mean theists, particularly Christians and Muslims--can be so damned hostile to atheists is because they are frightened of them.

A Christian and a Muslim may cohabit in relative peace--for one reason and one reason only: They can't disprove each other's bullshit. Both assert the existence of similar deities. Even if they refuse to accept the validity of each other's beliefs, they agree to disagree--most of the time.

However, an atheist tends to have well thought-out reasons for refusing any kind of God at all, and this is intimidating. Whereas a Christian might be able to live alongside a Muslim thinking, "He doesn't have any evidence to back up his nonsense, and he has no way to disprove mine", the atheist tends to be able to explain the origins of life in a scientific way, utilizing evidence and thoughtful reasoning to come to his conclusion that nothing such as God exists.

People know, deep down, that God cannot exist. The Christian knows that Allah doesn't exist; the Muslim rejects the divinity of Christ and anything but Allah. And they know that they reject other people's beliefs--for the same reason that other people reject their own.

Atheists are frightening to theists because they use logic and evidence--things that religion rarely comes near.

[Anonymous No.1179193]

>>1179172

Holy fucking dicks, ALLOFMYHATE.JPEG

[Anonymous No.1179207]

>>1179187
>The Christian knows that Allah doesn't exist

Holy shit, a real live American.

Protip: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all worship the same exact deity; Allah is just Arabic for "God".

[Anonymous No.1179218]

>>1179170

So?

Most scientists pre-Darwin were religious and believed in god.

[dogma No.1179220]

>>1179207
you just need jesus

[dogma No.1179213]

>>1178737
atheism as no organized belief system so no single person posting on this board can answer this question and be speaking for atheism as a whole...

that being said, i consider myself a non-religious person and i am against most religious institutions especially the extremist backwards ones, but i do not completely rule out the possibilities of the unknown but the possibilities are nearly endless at this point that your theory is not less plausible or implausible as the next.

[Anonymous No.1179240]

>>1179207

Christianity and Islam both spawned from Judaism, so in that sense, yes, they worship the "same" God; however they treat each other as though they do not. All religion is metaphysical dick-waving.

"My God could beat up YOUR God."

And that's really all it is. This is how the most faithful of each religion view it. If they all acknowledge that they worshiped the same God, you would hardly see as much violence as you do between these groups.

[Anonymous No.1179242]

>>1179213
accept the Lord as your savior and all will be clear my friend... but its good to see you have open mind :)

[Anonymous No.1179258]

>>1179242

Why would you post an image of something as hateful as a cross on a safe-for-work image board? That's a tool of torture.

[Anonymous No.1179264]

>>1179240

Yeah.... If Catholics and protestants, Sunni and Shi'a can find reasons to kill each other I think different religions would still manage it.

[Anonymous No.1179268]

>>1179207

>implying that any Christian, Muslim or Jew feels that way.
>btw how's your recession going? I hear shit's getting rough over there.

[Anonymous No.1179278]

>>1179258

This better?

[Anonymous No.1179286]

>>1179278

Fuck yeah, Buddy Christ!

[Anonymous No.1179313]

>>1179105
>Seeing a real miracle that has no scientific explanation, something that defied the known laws of the universe

These don't really qualify because they could be the result of entirely non-deistic phenomena we still need to learn about. Science is a tool that has allowed us to know enough to know that we don't know nearly enough.

>>1179218
Take care in how you throw that term around. The scientific method is 373 years old. If you go back any farther than that, the thinkers you refer to were not scientists.

[Anonymous No.1179355]

>>1179218
unlike scientific experiments and evidence that you can just publish and convince others, spiritual experiences can't be fully shared buy talking about it you have experiment it.

[Anonymous No.1179378]

>>1179218

No small wonder when heresy effectively meant the end of your life.

[Anonymous No.1179398]

Atheism is the absence of religious beliefs. Religious beliefs address supernatural or magic explanations of the origin of man and the universe and involve deities. These explanations are based on superstition and bogus evidence.

[Anonymous No.1179469]

As an atheist, I feel no need to believe in magic. It is laughable to believe in some mysterious force, that was written about thousands of years ago. I believe that the book was written to lead people to war against the Philistines, fooling them that they will be rewarded for it.