Ha! That's an Atheist twist on a typical Christian argument. — Gnomon

However, unlike physicists, rational philosophers do not limit their mental explorations to the physical sensory milieu. So, a fourth option is Immanentism, which defines the logical (mathematical) & self-organizing (life-like) attributes of Evolution are limited to space-time Nature itself, while making no hypothesis about eternal-infinite origins. — Gnomon

Those Agnostic alternatives to Atheism, avoid commitment to any particular form of Theism as a doctrine. So, they don't deserve to be lumped into a category that they are designed to avoid. Don't you agree? :wink: — Gnomon

I'm surprised. You're such a popular culture curmudgeon. I have no problems with suspension of belief, but the story just didn't hold together for me. — T Clark

Much of the trouble is the result of a personality type that just can't live with "I don't know".

So they make shit up. — Banno

Theism is the consistent belief in god. Atheism is the consistent belief that there is no god. Agnosticism is not having a belief concerning god. — Banno

Therefore rocks are agnostic! — fdrake

Oh yes. But I liked Knives Out andA Perfect Murder For me, it's mostly about the story. Though I do appreciate a nice backdrop and pretty people - like the Austen movie - I get all the gimmicks I need from Sci-Fi. — Vera Mont

of course the visually incomparable Walkabout. — Vera Mont

s musical originality dying? Artists certainly are not as rare as they used to be. — Benj96

I did sit through it, for the sake of my friend, an artist herself, who loved it so much she wanted to see it a third time. Different sensibilities. — Vera Mont

They upheld the moral values of the times, which the 60’s did their best to overturn. — Joshs

I think it is large claim to make that physicalism science will one day satisfactorally explain everything. — Andrew4Handel

I am neither an Atheist nor a Theist, — Gnomon

Atheism is not an affirmative belief that there is no god nor does it answer any other question about what a person believes. It is simply a rejection of the assertion that there are gods. Atheism is too often defined incorrectly as a belief system. To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

Atheism seems to be an emotional response to certain aspects of Theism, especially the notions of divine intervention and ultimate damnation. — Gnomon

So how do you feel about movie's such as A Streetcar Named Desire or Scarface or Taxi Driver or Falling Down? — universeness

Hated it. Just too, too, too much. Same with Imaginarium.
Not everything needs to be illustrated with cartooney exaggeration. — Vera Mont

Chinatown
— Bradskii
Great movie. The only movie with Jack Nicholson I really like. — T Clark

Films like 'the grapes of wrath' are films I return to, to remind me of what's important in life. — universeness

I think there are substantial Gaps in our knowledge that seem unlikely to be explained by science like First cause and the infinite regress of causes and issues like consciousness, mental representation, emergent properties etc. — Andrew4Handel

1. God exists or does not exist [truth]
2. We don't know [knowledge]
3. We can believe or not believe [belief]

I don't have to prove god doesn't exist because I have refused to form a belief either way. — Agent Smith

in which an experience is thought to be enhanced through the benefit of some predisposing information as to its supposed sublimity. — Pantagruel

Here's an example of workplace free speech suppression: My social service agency employer held a training session on a method of therapy they wanted staff to use. The presenter began by announcing that the staff were expected to accept what was taught that day without objection or discussion. I, being the usual suspect and designated problem person, duly objected. — BC

I am not making an ethical proposal of the form “You imperatively ought to do such and so” which would require an explanation of where the ought comes from.

Rather, I am first reporting an empirical observation that virtually all past and present cultural moral norms can be explained as parts of cooperation strategies. It is the nature of empirical observations that is not necessary to explain why they are what they are and not something different (in this case different from cooperation). — Mark S

Kings want to be emperors. Governors want to be president. Millionaires want to be billionaires. Same as it ever was. — T Clark

So we're just in a lull? We can expect 100s of millions to die violent deaths at the hands of their relatives sometime around the corner?

Or could we find a way to channel our aggression with less bloodshed? — frank

Or maybe this view places too much importance on ideas. Maybe these events were the outcome of a multitude of diverse agendas.

Which makes more sense to you? — frank

think he helped set the tone of the debate with this type of comment:

“I challenge you to find one good or noble thing which cannot be accomplished without religion.”

This is an example of him taking for granted that there are good and noble things which the moral nihilist is challenging.

It helped other atheists assert you can be moral without God without arguments. When the question really is does morality itself make any sense without God. — Andrew4Handel

Would you class Christopher Hitchens as one of these because he appeared to take this stance — Andrew4Handel

Atheism would be a less compelling stance without evolutionary theory because how would people explain the existence of billions of plants and animals etc? — Andrew4Handel

Initially most atheists I have spoken to have accepted morality on no grounds whatsoever.

They just believe in moral entities and moral facts. They don't even feel they have to defend where there moral values came from. — Andrew4Handel

Even though moral values are dependent on subjectively relative emotional dispositions, it is possible to determine one moral position as being objectively better than another on the basis of non-moral meta-empirical values such as consistency, universalizability and effects on well-being. — Joshs

It has been pointed out that such an empirical stance carries with it its own ethical baggage. That is to say, the supposed neutrality of objective scientific inquiry is itself grounded in pre-suppositions ( consistency, parsimony) that amount to ethical valuations Thus, science is as much in the business of determining ‘oughts’ as any other ethical stance. — Joshs

that is where I learnt atheist were attacking things like conscious states, meaning and values in order to shore up atheism and pushing for determinism. — Andrew4Handel

If people want the material and psychological benefits of cooperation in their society, they should (instrumental ought): — Mark S

I bid (call my own and thereby take possession) of Alpha Centauri, the Milky Way and the Great or Dapper Dipper. — god must be atheist

As long as either rule evokes a sense of empathy, where you are to place yourself in the shoes of the other and ask whether what you're about to do is what they want done to them, then you're within the Golden Rule. — Hanover

Right. But ethics is a much broader subject than cultural moral norms which advocate parts of cooperation strategies. What goals ought we have for our cooperation? How ought we live, apart from living cooperatively with other people? — Mark S

Cultural moral norms are arguably heuristics (usually reliable but fallible rules of thumb) for subcomponents of strategies that solve cooperation problems. — Mark S