[TML] Breeding (was: xBoat List Etiquette)

[Richard Aiken]

On Dec 28, 2007 10:03 AM, Walt Smith <firelock_ny at hotmail.com> wrote:

<serious snippage follows, mostly of my comments to which Walt was responding>

> Atheism is a religion if not collecting stamps is a hobby.

> The atheist can list for you exactly what it would take
> to refute his or her beliefs.  Can the theist?

> Where the usual 'rightness' of the atheist view is "stop
> acting like your religion gives you the right to treat
> people who don't share it like second-class citizens".

> Come now...*Professional Wrestling* has extremists that
> give it a bad name! ;-)

I'm sorry for your bad experiences, Walt.  Really, I am.  But are they
that much worse than someone who followed a "cult" religion might have
gotten, once he was "exposed?"  I think it might have been at least
somewhat "he's really different yet he seemed so normal" than "he's an
atheist."  In other words, tribalism - with perhaps a subconscious
dollop of injured trust - in action.

As for your responses, note that you give different examples on each.
None of which cover any of the others.  Does a professional wrestler
seek to change how people think about the ultimate questions?

But you do bring up one interesting point, when you ask about a list
of what it would take to refute a theist's belief in God.  I've
actually never thought about it.

<thinking>

You know, I believe I'm hitting the "you can't prove a negative" wall,
here.  What evidence *could* you cite to conclusively prove the
non-existence of something immaterial?  In this sense, I'm guessing
that an atheist has it much easier.  All he has to experience is a
verifiable miracle, something not otherwise explainable by science.

Of course, different atheists probably have different definitions of
what constitutes a serious-enough miracle for them.  Also, I can see
one atheist saying another atheist's "real" miracle is just an example
of scientific principles that we haven't learned yet.  And - thinking
about it a bit more - this sort of "we just haven't learned that yet"
response could be pushed out pretty much to infinity.  So would the
"typical" atheist ever really change his view, any more than the
"typical" theist would?

-- 
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein