Sorry, yters. No harm intended.
Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
111–120 of 132 posts
Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
#112Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
#113I heard a great quote the other day, "Everyone is an atheist. Who believes in the Egyptian sun god Ra, or the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl? Or any of the other innumerable forgotten gods?"
So a muslim, atheist, and former christian preacher turned atheist walk into a debate hall...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oocFLfoT0Q4
Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
#114I 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 i…
If you were to ask me free-form about my religious views, the answer you would get would be very dependent on how you asked the question.
If you asked me, "Do you think a god exists?", I would say "no", and you would call me an atheist. If you asked, "Do you think a god could exist?", I would say, "yes", and you would call me an agnostic.
On the other hand, if you asked me "What term most closely describes your views?", I would say "secular humanist" and emphasize the humanist part. Ultimately, the question of the existence or non-existence of a god doesn't enter my life very often and that's the way I like it.
(As an aside, the term for the beliefs you describe is pantheist)
Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe we need another poll to see how many of the nubs are actually hackers...
I never call myself a hacker, because when I studied ESR's writings I was educated about the fact "that no one is a hacker until another hacker calls him so". (The antithesis to this attitude is, one word, "lifehacker".)
I concur, but I wanted to get the point across as succinctly as possible, without going off on that particular tangent.
Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're probably an atheist without realizing it. I've met many agnostics who weren't aware that there are different types of atheists, including many who don't know one way or another but lean toward disbelief, which is very close to agnosticism. The typical misunderstanding of atheism from self-described agnostics is that atheists claim to be certain that there is no God. Some atheists do that, but that's not the on…
Wow! Did I just see an Atheist trying to convert an agnostic to Atheism?
Did I just see an Atheist trying to convert an agnostic to Atheism?
I was barked at by numerous dogs. http://www.google.com/search?q=einstein+barked+%22numerous+d...
http://kirtimukha.com/Krishnaswamy/Einstein/on_atheism.htm
The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer. [...]
I was barked at by numerous dogs who are earning their food guarding ignorance and superstition for the benefit of those who profit from it. Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics and comes from the same source.
Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
#117Sorry, yters. No harm intended. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=430118
Are you saying I should have added an agnostic choice? Or there is a better intepretation to what I've seen than "religion is not attacked as rabidly?"
Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
#118If you are a Christian, you are probably very much an atheist when it comes to other religions gods (by commandment, I believe). So, what would be the right answer?
That isn't what theism means, i.e. believing in a specific god. Essentially it means believing that the primary cause of reality is conscious, and continually and intentionally active throughout history (the former by itself is deism). The specifics are a different matter.
Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
I considered whether it would be inflammatory, but figured it was different than an article, where the interaction takes the form of discussion thus potentially leading to flame wars if the issue is controversial. Here, the interaction is mainly about voting, and people will feel less of a need to make their voice heard through comments. So being curious, I decided to take the risk. So far seems ok. If not, just flag…
It's not like we haven't done it before. We usually chat for a while, people complain, and then either it is zapped or we move on. It's interesting to me to see how the influx of newbies will deal with the topic. It's a sociological/social networking question, which makes it interesting for hackers. Will the new group play by the older group's rules? Will the newcomers complain more about it "not being HN" than the o…
Looks like it went ok.
Re: Poll: Atheist, Deist, Theist?
#120I am agnostic, so I can't vote, apparently.
Sorry, my timeout is set too low, so I didn't keep track of comments. If I added it now, then it'd look like agnostics just didn't vote.