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Poll: How religious is hacker news?

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Re: Poll: How religious is hacker news?

#161

Post by [deleted] »

tcskeptic wrote: post #18
designNERD wrote: post #3

You can be an Agnostic Atheist. Agnosticism is about whether you believe you can prove the existence of God or not. Atheism and Theism is about actual belief in God. One can be an Agnostic Atheist or Agnostic Theist. Agnostic atheist= I don't know whether we can prove God exists but I don't believe in God Agnostic theist= I don't know where we can prove the God exists or not but I do believe in God. Being an agnostic…

Right, and I would describe myself as an agnostic Christian. The claims of Christianity are ridiculous and unprovable, and I believe them.

[deleted]

Re: Poll: How religious is hacker news?

#162

Post by cheshire137 »

gfodor wrote: post #30
designNERD wrote: post #3

You can be an Agnostic Atheist. Agnosticism is about whether you believe you can prove the existence of God or not. Atheism and Theism is about actual belief in God. One can be an Agnostic Atheist or Agnostic Theist. Agnostic atheist= I don't know whether we can prove God exists but I don't believe in God Agnostic theist= I don't know where we can prove the God exists or not but I do believe in God. Being an agnostic…

Inevitably any internet thread about religion has the "what does agnostic mean" argument. It's dumb, nobody cares. People who call themselves agnostic usually do so because they are too scared to call themselves atheist for whatever reason. (Fear of religious friends judging them, fear of losing pascal's wager, etc.) Or because they think they are clever and think atheists are foolish for asserting there is no God wi…

And for us agnostic theists out there that don't believe we can prove it to you, but do believe there is a God? I'm definitely not an atheist, thanks for telling me to suck it up.

Re: Poll: How religious is hacker news?

#163

Post by hnriot »

gfodor wrote: post #89
hnriot wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would contest that. They can be either but not both. They are either not very smart biologists or not very devout creationists. Or more likely just attention seekers.

Not true. I know someone who last I spoke was in graduate level cell biology and did lab work on brains at a top university, yet did not believe in evolution. In fact, I recall her citing her personal awe of the brain etc as evidence of intelligent design. Don't underestimate humans' abilities to selectively ignore evidence, the immense pressure of their peers, parents, and friends who have similar beliefs, and the u…

"Don't underestimate humans' abilities to selectively ignore evidence" - right, that pretty much proves my point, you friend is not a scientist.

Re: Poll: How religious is hacker news?

#164

Post by robotresearcher »

zaphar wrote: post #92
pubby wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you deal with all the inconsistencies between science and religion? e.g. evolution vs creationism.

I consider most if not all those consistencies to be manufactured. Evolution vs Creationism is of course the poster child for this. The simple answer is I wasn't around for either Evolution or Creation whichever one happened so I can't give a definitive ruling either way. I happen to believe that God did some sort of creative act. What form that act took (7 days of creative work? or billions of years of guided evolut…

> I wasn't around for either Evolution or Creation

You are around for evolution.

Re: Poll: How religious is hacker news?

#166

Post by Rooster61 »

gfodor wrote: post #101
gliese1337 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teapotism doesn't have significant cultural importance. Atheism does. To a lot of people, it really does make a difference whether you actually disbelieve in the god they believe in, or if you are genuinely undecided. It is thus useful to have a word to distinguish between those two states, and perfectly honest (hardly weasely) to use them. Even if its only for social signalling, that's important!

I would guess most atheists would not say that they are certain a God does not exist. They certainly wouldn't say they can prove it to be the case. The path that leads you to atheism is the lack of evidence in favor of an unfalsifiable claim, that God exists. So the claim "God does not exist" is kind of meaningless, since it relies upon the definition of God, which is something atheists do not have a definition for s…

Speaking of weasel words, you use the word definition in place of concept. Atheists do have a concept of God. Otherwise the argument of what an atheist is would not only be moot but would in fact never arise as an argument.

Re: Poll: How religious is hacker news?

#167

Post by zaccus »

gfodor wrote: post #101
gliese1337 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teapotism doesn't have significant cultural importance. Atheism does. To a lot of people, it really does make a difference whether you actually disbelieve in the god they believe in, or if you are genuinely undecided. It is thus useful to have a word to distinguish between those two states, and perfectly honest (hardly weasely) to use them. Even if its only for social signalling, that's important!

I would guess most atheists would not say that they are certain a God does not exist. They certainly wouldn't say they can prove it to be the case. The path that leads you to atheism is the lack of evidence in favor of an unfalsifiable claim, that God exists. So the claim "God does not exist" is kind of meaningless, since it relies upon the definition of God, which is something atheists do not have a definition for s…

How can you be certain that 0 times any other number will always equal 0? Have you tried multiplying it against every number? Of course not, that's impossible. Does that count as uncertainty?

So I'll put it this way: I am as certain that there is no God (narrowly defined as an omnipotent being) as I am that 0 times any other number will always equal 0. The reason is because omnipotence is a logically inconsistent concept, and is thus impossible. That's as certain as I can be about anything.

Re: Poll: How religious is hacker news?

#168

Post by walljm »

hellogoodby3 wrote: post #69
Retric wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Christianity and Judaism are considered separate religions. So, I don't think Mormons are technically Christians or Jewish despite using both of there religious texts. Or if they are then I think Muslims might also qualify as they also believe in Judaism + Christ + one more prophet. Though depending on who you ask they might require Jesus to be part of the holy trinity and not just another prophet. PS: Granted, I thi…

Muslims believe in Jesus as a prophet, but not that he is the son of God. Mormons do believe that Jesus is the son of God, which is the defining characteristic of being Christian

I think it would be more accurate to say the defining characteristic of being Christian is that Jesus was not only the Son of God, but God himself. My understanding of Mormon theology is that Jesus is not considered God. There is a distinct difference in the understandings of the Trinity.
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