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Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?

news.ycombinator.com

11–20 of 132 posts

Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?

#11
post #8

These results, at least so far (ath=16, dei=4, the=5), are encouraging. I know you'd expect to see less religion in a science and tech community, but I've never seen anything beyond my group of friends, even in the scientific community, where atheists outnumber theists. I'm sometimes split between the views that religion is harmless and comforting for those who believe and should just be left alone, versus every serv…

[deleted]

Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?

#13
I wonder how many atheists are actually agnostics (depend on your definitions, naturally). No one can (yet?) prove the existence or non-existence of a god, and although there are some who claim that they can show that a god isn't necessary for all of this reality stuff to have come about (read: Dawkins), I am less convinced of that -- we (via science) don't know enough to make that argument. Yet.

Are you sure there is no god at all, or do you just doubt?

Myself, I suspect the universe itself is "god", so to speak. We are a way for the universe to know itself.

Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?

#15
post #8

These results, at least so far (ath=16, dei=4, the=5), are encouraging. I know you'd expect to see less religion in a science and tech community, but I've never seen anything beyond my group of friends, even in the scientific community, where atheists outnumber theists. I'm sometimes split between the views that religion is harmless and comforting for those who believe and should just be left alone, versus every serv…

logic alert. It just doesn't make sense to me, given all evidence is so clearly, hugely against it.

You can't have evidence against something that does not exist. That's like saying all the evidence is against there being a real-live cartoon Donald Duck. What we can say is that there is a lack of evidence for something. We can further say that unless there is evidence for something we don't see any point in believing in it. But you can't disprove a negative. There is no evidence against God. We simply have no scientific way to talk about God existing. There is a lack of proof. Different animal.

Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?

#18
post #5

Posters here tend to be a little more reserved. Reddit can be a bit like tabloid newspapers. G-d kills millions, Noah unavailable for comment! Atheist saves boy from well; Christians baffled. The discussion here just tends to be less absolute about things and considers more viewpoints. Nuanced thought is more highly regarded and rewarded (in terms of voting) and people who post with comments that one would never say…

There's been a bit of a reaction against the constant anti-religious bashing on Reddit lately and I don't think that it's any less secular than it used to be. I think people just eventually get tired of hearing the same arguments repeated over-and-over against, with less intelligence and less wit each time. I think that people here realize the problems that a religious debate can lead to, and so avoid them.
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