Page 5 of 20

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 6:56 pm
by iambiguous
seeds wrote: Sat Jun 04, 2022 6:21 pm
iambiguous wrote: Sat Jun 04, 2022 5:36 pm But, okay, let's assume for the sake of argument that IC's Christian God does in fact reside in Heaven.

For me, however, the existence of God -- any God -- always brings the discussion back around to this:
...the existence of earthquakes, tsunamis, super-volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and the extinction events brought on by asteroids and comets and other "Heavenly bodies". Not to mention the AIDS and Covid 19 viruses, the bubonic plaque and hundreds and hundreds of terrible health afflictions.
The Christian God -- any God said to be omniscient and omnipotent -- and theodicy.
Yes, and comments such as yours above always bring me back to the suggestion that we must abandon the silly mythological nonsense handed down to us from ancient humans, and instead focus on the unfathomable order of this vast reality laid out before our senses.

And the point is that if there truly does exist an actual Creator of this unimaginable level of order consisting of trillions upon trillions of suns and planets,...

(potentially [theoretically] created out of the living mental fabric of the Creator's very own being)

...then it is utterly ridiculous of us lower forms of consciousness to try to second-guess the motives of this Being.

In other words, we may not like what we are seeing and experiencing from our lower perspective, but the Creator of the universe may have a perfectly logical reason for allowing for...
...the existence of earthquakes, tsunamis, super-volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and the extinction events brought on by asteroids and comets and other "Heavenly bodies". Not to mention the AIDS and Covid 19 viruses, the bubonic plaque and hundreds and hundreds of terrible health afflictions.
_______

Bottom line: No God, and all of these terrible things have to be endured as just a manifestation of an essentially meaningless and purposeless existence that, for each of us one by one, ends in oblivion.

They don't call it the brute facticity of existence for nothing.

So, how can those who are able to think themselves into believing that a God, the God, their God will have an explanation for them one day in Paradise not be the winners here?

I'd sure believe it if I could.

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 7:03 pm
by Iwannaplato
Immanuel Can wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 6:35 pm You clearly have your own special nomenclature. And that's allowed, if you stipulate as to what your definition is, precisely.
No, these are not my own special definitions or nomenclature. There are a couple of kinds of atheists - what the terms means to them and in common usage. And a couple ways of defining agnosticism. In common usage by people not interested in philosophy agnosticism tends to mean they don't know. In philosophy it has the main other meaning I mentioned and this can be seen in the link I included.
Likewise, I'll happily stipulate what I mean. Whenver I write "Atheist," I mean somebody who says, "No gods," or any variety o if that. Whenever I say "agnostic," I mean somebody who says, "There may or may not be a God," regardless of the probability estimate they assign to their uncertainty.
Yes, that is what you mean.
So it's very simple: I prefer to go with the analytical meaning of the words. "A-theism" is "no-God" ism, and "agnosticism" is "I don't know for sure" ism.

You can count on that being how I'll speak going forward, so we can't misunderstand one another.
I understood that from before we started communicating, since I read your post. I was answering including the meanings that other, significantly large groups of people mean and intend.
I've heard some of them call this "Apatheism." But it's a pointless declaration, since it only means, "I don't wanna think about it."
More mindreading.
No. It's what they say they think. Or rather, that they don't think.
It was mindreading in context. I was talking about the group as a whole. Then you refer to a subgroup as if their psychology is relevent to the whole.
No, it's very ordinary.

It's like saying, "I don't like vanilla ice cream." Such a claim has zero implications for anybody but the person stating it. :shock: Maybe you DO lkike vanilla ice cream. The speaker isn't even implying you can't. So if all one says is, "I don't believe in God," the answer is, "Gee...too bad for you." But if he means to add, "...and you shouldn't, either," then he owes reasons: and Atheism lacks sufficient means to do that.
First of all it doesn't matter in the context of this discussion if it has implications for others.
It matters very much to Dawkins et al. They are very much wanting to convince everybody that God is a "delusion," and hence that no rational person should believe in God.
Dawkins isn't in the discussion.

I have been answering your orginal question. It's not relevant to that.
If their disbelief has no implications for others, then they're out of luck on that.
Another idiotic statement. Sure, if they really need or want other people to change their minds suddenly because lack a belief, THEN they might be out of luck. They are weak, they are out of luck. What's next? Some other meaningless negative something or other they must have.
So you think one can be an "Atheist," and believe God may exist?
If you are using the term to mean you lack a belief, sure.
l
How is that different from agnosticism? Help me out, here. [/quote]I have answered that question[/quote]
Not really. Your answers have been equivocal.
Nope.
But if you want to stipulate your own definitions now, go ahead. It will make things confusing for any other readers, but you can do that.
[/quote]
Now you've got the point!
What point did that indicate I got?[/quote]
You got Dawkins's game.
No. I simply asked for you to give me someone who believes those two things.
At least, if you don't understand it now, you should.
I have understood how idiotic those two assertions are for many decades.
Dawkins (for example) wants to say BOTH "God is a delusion," AND "I'm only a 'firm agnostic' about God." Those are mutually contradictory claims. And I think he's smart enough to realize they are...but he still has to make both, because the former is non-evidentiary and vulnerable, and the latter is weak and devoid of implication for others.
I asked for someone here.
Oh "here," as in on the PN forum?
Yeah, not here on earth. As I said...
So please put me give me the name of someone here or on another forum who makes those two assertions.
But you don't read well it seems or care to.
It would be the equivalent of saying 'There are no Arabs' but I am not making a claim that is relevant to anyone else's belief.

Wait: are you saying they are saying "There is no God," like "There are no Arabs"? :shock: Are you drawin that parallel?
But if you're saying that, you're agreeing with my definition of Atheism. You've just conceded it.
No. I am talking about someone asserting those two things that you say many people assert.
However, it does not matter whether or not they IMAGINE it has any relevancy to anybody else: it just doesn't, logically. My personal preferences, or yours, are not obligatory for anybody else. If I don't like vanilla, it never implies you can't.
Yeah, which doesn't make it weak or mean someone is out of luck.
Sure it does. It's weak in that it ought not to convince anybody else of anything at all.
It's not an argument. It is the definition that many people use. They are saying what they mean by that term. Saying what someone means by a term is not weak or strong. Yes, if someone says I don't believe in God and my lack of belief should convince you, that would be a weak argument. I'd ask you to show me someone making that argument but God knows how many posts, diversions and bs I'd have to go through to find that.
Yet to convince others is exactly what Dawkins et al. are trying to do. They want people to belief faith is a "delusion."
Well, duh.
So they're failures, logically speaking. Their arguments lack gravity or evidence. Nobody needs to take them seriously at all.
Yeah, but they don't make the argument that their lack of belief should convince us. It's a strawman.

As one theist to another. You are an embarrassment. And I do notice the things you don't respond to. For example when I said you were psychologizing. YOu said you weren't and I pointed out the obvious psychologizing....silence from you. A lack of integrity.

Your responses slide all over the place, you don't read well and you either lie or lack a basic competence to participate here. I'll ignore you from here on out.

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 7:49 pm
by seeds
Veritas Aequitas wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 6:03 am
Immanuel Can wrote: Mon May 30, 2022 10:17 pm Oh, and PS -- Even Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHXXacBAm2A
Going to watch that one?
Hey IC, I told you deception is a SIN thus possibility of ending in Hell.

"Dawkins and Hitchens DID not admit there IS evidence for God"
Dawkins and Hitchens are part of what I call the necessary "demolition crew" tasked with helping to tear down the old worn-out edifices of the "old spiritual paradigm bubble" that humans have lived in for the last several millennia.

However, neither of them are in possession of anything resembling "blue prints" for the creation of a "new spiritual paradigm."

Indeed, Richard Dawkins is nothing more than a tiny-minded materialist who exemplifies the sentiment depicted in this famous cartoon...

Image

In other words, give Dawkins the pre-existent "MIRACLE" of a fully-functioning biosphere orbiting the absolute perfect source of bio-driving energy, and he can explain the simple-minded mechanics of how evolution works.

Big deal!

Now if Dawkins could provide a truly logical explanation for, again, the pre-existing "MIRACLE" of this amazing setting that made our coming into existence possible, then he might be worth listening to.

Until then, he is nothing more than a sledgehammer wielding member of the abovementioned demolition crew.
_______

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:01 pm
by Sculptor
seeds wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 7:49 pm
Now if Dawkins could provide a truly logical explanation for, again, the pre-existing "MIRACLE" of this amazing setting that made our coming into existence possible, then he might be worth listening to.

Until then, he is nothing more than a sledgehammer wielding member of the abovementioned demolition crew.
_______
Sadly by invoking the word "miracle" you are already making a massive claim for which you have precisely ZERO reason or evidence.
On the other hand Dawkins and Hitchens are honest enough to state that the fine tuning of the universe might be the best chance for a theist to have some ground to stand on, but you have blustered onto that ground and already made a damn fool of yourself by suggesting that you already have an answer.
Are these the thin straws to clutch onto in your feeble attempt to claim the existence of a god? Pathetic

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:25 pm
by seeds
seeds wrote: Sat Jun 04, 2022 6:21 pm In other words, we may not like what we are seeing and experiencing from our lower perspective, but the Creator of the universe may have a perfectly logical reason for allowing for...
...the existence of earthquakes, tsunamis, super-volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and the extinction events brought on by asteroids and comets and other "Heavenly bodies". Not to mention the AIDS and Covid 19 viruses, the bubonic plaque and hundreds and hundreds of terrible health afflictions.
_______
iambiguous wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 6:56 pm Bottom line: No God, and all of these terrible things have to be endured as just a manifestation of an essentially meaningless and purposeless existence that, for each of us one by one, ends in oblivion.
Or, how about, yes, there is a God, and all of these terrible things that have to be endured are simply a necessary part of our temporary "gestation period," so to speak, within God's "cosmic womb" (the universe)?

I'm talking about a temporary situation that doesn't end in oblivion, but in a second and final birth into a higher context of reality that holds a purpose for us that is so amazing and so wonderful that it must be kept hidden from us so that we are not tempted to seek it out prematurely.
iambiguous wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 6:56 pm So, how can those who are able to think themselves into believing that a God, the God, their God will have an explanation for them one day in Paradise not be the winners here?
I don't quite understand that question. Could you please reword it for me?
_______

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:47 pm
by bahman
The fine-tuning argument at best, even if it could be proven to be true, does show the intervention of higher beings, for example, spiritual beings, aliens, etc., and not necessarily the intervention of God that is by definition is the creator of everything. Unfortunately, evolution is not a precise science so no one can prove the existence of any intervention.

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:49 pm
by bahman
seeds wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 7:49 pm
Veritas Aequitas wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 6:03 am
Immanuel Can wrote: Mon May 30, 2022 10:17 pm Oh, and PS -- Even Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHXXacBAm2A
Going to watch that one?
Hey IC, I told you deception is a SIN thus possibility of ending in Hell.

"Dawkins and Hitchens DID not admit there IS evidence for God"
Dawkins and Hitchens are part of what I call the necessary "demolition crew" tasked with helping to tear down the old worn-out edifices of the "old spiritual paradigm bubble" that humans have lived in for the last several millennia.

However, neither of them are in possession of anything resembling "blue prints" for the creation of a "new spiritual paradigm."

Indeed, Richard Dawkins is nothing more than a tiny-minded materialist who exemplifies the sentiment depicted in this famous cartoon...

Image

In other words, give Dawkins the pre-existent "MIRACLE" of a fully-functioning biosphere orbiting the absolute perfect source of bio-driving energy, and he can explain the simple-minded mechanics of how evolution works.

Big deal!

Now if Dawkins could provide a truly logical explanation for, again, the pre-existing "MIRACLE" of this amazing setting that made our coming into existence possible, then he might be worth listening to.

Until then, he is nothing more than a sledgehammer wielding member of the abovementioned demolition crew.
_______
I thought that you don't believe in God's intervention, so-called miracle.

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:51 pm
by Atla
In the video Dawkins stated the fine-tuning argument MAY be a possible argument for God from the Physics perspective [not biological] and Hitchen stated it is the best argument theists can present for their theism.
By the way, the fine-tuning argument also fails. No matter how improbable our universe is, using the same probability rules, a being capable of designing and creating our universe is even far more improbable. This argument wonderfully destroys itself.

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 10:19 pm
by Sculptor
Atla wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:51 pm
In the video Dawkins stated the fine-tuning argument MAY be a possible argument for God from the Physics perspective [not biological] and Hitchen stated it is the best argument theists can present for their theism.
By the way, the fine-tuning argument also fails. No matter how improbable our universe is, using the same probability rules, a being capable of designing and creating our universe is even far more improbable. This argument wonderfully destroys itself.
True enough.
For my money the argument is a backwards one. It's not that fine tuning makes the Universe possible; it is that the Universe makes the fine tuning possible. The fine tuning is nothing more than the human need to model and quantify the Universe.
The Universe abides and we look on in confusion and wonder. The theist in confusion and the scientist in wonder.

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 10:38 pm
by Atla
Sculptor wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 10:19 pm
Atla wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:51 pm
In the video Dawkins stated the fine-tuning argument MAY be a possible argument for God from the Physics perspective [not biological] and Hitchen stated it is the best argument theists can present for their theism.
By the way, the fine-tuning argument also fails. No matter how improbable our universe is, using the same probability rules, a being capable of designing and creating our universe is even far more improbable. This argument wonderfully destroys itself.
True enough.
For my money the argument is a backwards one. It's not that fine tuning makes the Universe possible; it is that the Universe makes the fine tuning possible. The fine tuning is nothing more than the human need to model and quantify the Universe.
The Universe abides and we look on in confusion and wonder. The theist in confusion and the scientist in wonder.
Sculptorian word salad

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2022 11:02 pm
by Sculptor
Atla wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 10:38 pm
Sculptor wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 10:19 pm
Atla wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:51 pm
By the way, the fine-tuning argument also fails. No matter how improbable our universe is, using the same probability rules, a being capable of designing and creating our universe is even far more improbable. This argument wonderfully destroys itself.
True enough.
For my money the argument is a backwards one. It's not that fine tuning makes the Universe possible; it is that the Universe makes the fine tuning possible. The fine tuning is nothing more than the human need to model and quantify the Universe.
The Universe abides and we look on in confusion and wonder. The theist in confusion and the scientist in wonder.
Sculptorian word salad
No Atlean ignorance and dull wittedness.

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:33 am
by uwot
attofishpi wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 3:23 pm
uwot wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 9:43 amAnyone who understands that they don't really know anything is much wiser than the halfwits and nutjobs who claim they do.
Granted. But Socrates was logically incorrect in his statement, humble but wrong.
It's not an accident that people still study him two and a half thousand years after he pegged it.
attofishpi wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 3:23 pm
uwot wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 9:43 amIn the context of this thread, of course there is evidence for god, but if evidence were proof, we wouldn't need courts.
What evidence?
Well, first you have to understand evidence. There's stuff that you can see and stories you make up to explain it. Anyone with even a mild dose of creativity will be able to fashion a few possibilities from any set of observations. Someone who thinks there is only ever one explanation is an idiot.
attofishpi wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 3:23 pm...I will not agree that I don't know that at the least there IS an intelligence capable of constructing the reality that we perceive. (beyond us of our own minds)
For all I know you're right, and as long as the god of your experience hasn't told you to tell me what to do, before talking to me directly, I have no problem.

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 1:49 am
by Immanuel Can
Iwannaplato wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 7:03 pm
Immanuel Can wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 6:35 pm You clearly have your own special nomenclature. And that's allowed, if you stipulate as to what your definition is, precisely.
No, these are not my own special definitions or nomenclature.
Well, they don't fit the literal meaning of the words at all.
Likewise, I'll happily stipulate what I mean. Whenver I write "Atheist," I mean somebody who says, "No gods," or any variety o if that. Whenever I say "agnostic," I mean somebody who says, "There may or may not be a God," regardless of the probability estimate they assign to their uncertainty.
Yes, that is what you mean.
So it's very simple: I prefer to go with the analytical meaning of the words. "A-theism" is "no-God" ism, and "agnosticism" is "I don't know for sure" ism.

You can count on that being how I'll speak going forward, so we can't misunderstand one another.
I understood that from before we started communicating...
That's all I'm suggesting.
No, it's very ordinary.
Dawkins isn't in the discussion.
Heh. :D

He's in the headline above. I'm thinking he's in.
If their disbelief has no implications for others, then they're out of luck on that.
Sure, if they really need or want other people to change their minds suddenly because lack a belief, THEN they might be out of luck.
Dawkins does. Hitchens does.

And so does anybody who argues in favour of Atheism. If they didn't, there'd be no motive for them to argue at all. "I don't believe..." isn't even a controversial claim.
So you think one can be an "Atheist," and believe God may exist?
If you are using the term to mean you lack a belief, sure.
I don't use it that way.
I have answered that question
Not really. Your answers have been equivocal.
Nope.
Well, it's not comprehesible or consistent. But okay, we'll leave it there.
I asked for someone here.
Oh "here," as in on the PN forum?
Yeah, not here on earth. As I said...So please put me give me the name of someone here or on another forum who makes those two assertions.
What did you do with the links I included?

They provided exactly what you asked for. I can provide them: I can't make you look at them.

In any case, there is your proof, not just with Dawkins, but with Atheists on PN.
Yeah, which doesn't make it weak or mean someone is out of luck.
It makes it hopelessly weak for the purpose of persuading anybody else.
Yeah, but they don't make the argument that their lack of belief should convince us.

You're joking, right?

You can't possibly be that unaware of Dawkins and Hitchens...can you? :shock:
...silence from you. A lack of integrity.
No. You'd asked the question, and been rightly answered. What more could be said?

I simply felt no further need to respond to a charge that's already been debunked, even if you want to insist.

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 4:11 am
by attofishpi
uwot wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:33 am
attofishpi wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 3:23 pm
uwot wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 9:43 amAnyone who understands that they don't really know anything is much wiser than the halfwits and nutjobs who claim they do.
Granted. But Socrates was logically incorrect in his statement, humble but wrong.
It's not an accident that people still study him two and a half thousand years after he pegged it.
Absolutely. I enjoyed a doco on him a while back. As an aside, knowing of what is capable with this 'God' entity and some pretty amazing stuff re 'heaven' since setting things right last week - maybe I will get to watch him (like a video) some day, and indeed one or more of my past lives.
uwot wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:33 am
attofishpi wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 3:23 pm
uwot wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 9:43 amIn the context of this thread, of course there is evidence for god, but if evidence were proof, we wouldn't need courts.
What evidence?
Well, first you have to understand evidence. There's stuff that you can see and stories you make up to explain it. Anyone with even a mild dose of creativity will be able to fashion a few possibilities from any set of observations. Someone who thinks there is only ever one explanation is an idiot.
Sure.

uwot wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 12:33 am
attofishpi wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 3:23 pm...I will not agree that I don't know that at the least there IS an intelligence capable of constructing the reality that we perceive. (beyond us of our own minds)
For all I know you're right, and as long as the god of your experience hasn't told you to tell me what to do, before talking to me directly, I have no problem.
Well, it's funny you should mention that :wink:

Re: Dawkins and Hitchens admit there IS evidence for God?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2022 6:20 am
by Dontaskme
Sculptor wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:01 pm


Sadly by invoking the word "miracle" you are already making a massive claim for which you have precisely ZERO reason or evidence.
On the other hand Dawkins and Hitchens are honest enough to state that the fine tuning of the universe might be the best chance for a theist to have some ground to stand on, but you have blustered onto that ground and already made a damn fool of yourself by suggesting that you already have an answer.
Are these the thin straws to clutch onto in your feeble attempt to claim the existence of a god? Pathetic
Oh let them have their beliefs. 🤢

Magic has to mean God did it, there's no other explanation out there, we all must concede to the mystery of MAGIC.

Image