"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

Stephen Roberts

[QUOTE="quiglythegreat"]Buddhism. Anything similar enough to Buddhism. I kind of like Asthetics, but I realize that all that will be destroyed someday and in the end it is best to not obsess over such superficial things as looks.
foxhound_fox

You should read Fritjof Capra: The Tao of Physics. It's a wonderful book that teaches you of Buddhism by comparing it to quantum physics and vice versa. It's outdated now, but it's a fantastical read.

thats the beauty of science, and an irony of sorts. Many scientists believe in evolution, and thats fine, but those that study the creation of the universe are actually more likely to believe in God. The more they study it, the more the realize that there really was nothing before the big bang, and that the only thing that could turn nothing into something is a supreme being.

Im not atheists btw, just agnostic.

mrbojangles25

That's actually not true anymore.

Data taken from 1998 issue of Nature, article by Edward J. Larson and Larry Witham:

BELIEF IN PERSONAL GOD            1914   1933    1998

     Personal belief              27.7    15       7.0
     Personal disbelief           52.7    68      72.2
     Doubt or agnosticism         20.9    17      20.8

[QUOTE="123625"]

[QUOTE="foxhound_fox"][QUOTE="whos_next000"]You must use that a lot around here.Bourbons3

Its also fun too.

There is a saying in Sweden that epitomises the state of internet forum discussions:

(Actually from the Swedish comic strip Arne Anka)

"To think before you speak is like wiping your ass before you ****"

Von Wright had an interesting analogy about free will i read once. I don't remember it exactly but this was more or less his thoughts.

So, you look at the ant and you come to the conclusion that an ant has no free will, only instincts. Then you look at the rabbit, and you only see instinct. Just breeding and eating. The same goes for a deer. Then you look at a chimpanzee, and go, hey, it's almost only instincts, but they seem to rationalize and they may have something else. Then you look at man and you say "oh look free will"!

Now, picture a vast intellectual superior alien species studying earth and humanity. What would they see? Probably only instinct. I mean you look at yourself and tell you that you are in love and want that girl. Then you look at the rabbit and see that his instincts tell him to go breeding with that rabbit chick.

But i bet that rabbit thinks he wants that chick, not that his instincts tell him to.

The greatest problem with evolution is that people not believing in it simply doesn't know what they do not believe in. Before you continue to criticise it, please look it up.

Here's a starter:

What wiki has to say.

Five misconceptions about evolution.

Read that and then please stop blaming evolution for our creation. Blame abiogenesis.

...matter cannot be destroyed or created. Hewkii

Yes it can. It's energy that cannot. But yes, matter is energy.

I dont its about faith. Once again two choices.

Either God made us.

Or Nothing made us.

These are you're only choices whatever way you look at it. And they both recquire some amount of faith.

123625

Well, to believe that nothing made us is not faith, it's absence of it. Second, what do you actually mean with "nothing" made "us"? That nothing made man or that nothing made the universe? Please specify.

We don't know exactly how the universe was created, and we don't know exactly how organic matter (people, trees, bacteria) came to in the first place, but we have theories. Right now the theories of abiogenesis and the Big Bang are the most logical ones, based on our current knowledge, but that could change. This doesn't mean that these theories are wrong. That is not how science works. Look, for example of the theory of gravity by Newton. It was disproved by the theory of relativity by Einstein. Which is it's turn was disproved by the quantum theory. But Newtons theory is still viable when calculating the earth movement around the sun. And the quantum theory just proved that the theory of relativity didn't work at really small scales (at subatomic levels). But what all these theories have in common is that they are based on empirical proof. You can verify that they work. Science is the interpretation of our world based on the current knowledge. As our knowledge expands, our theories will evolve.

Which leads to my final argument. We need to understand that there is a difference between to believein a scientific theory and religious belief. If we don't, these discussions are pointless.

Cheers

Are you blaming the US for the deaths caused by terrorism because if you go to your website it seems like you are go to your website look at what caused the casualties its not American soldiers its terroist the people we are fighting here are some examples from YOUR website

storedpie

And trust me abot the fact that our healthcare system is better than Saudi Arabias in quality. Its a matter of technology in which we are vastly superior. How many times have you heard of a siuation were a man has a rare disease and is rushed to Saudi Arabia for emergency care; never but it happens in the US.