people who say 'there might be a god or gods, I'm not sure either way' are called Agnostics. Not sure why, not sure who came up with it.
Agnosticism is a philosophy that deals with more than just gods. The word itself stems from the greek "gnosis", which means knowledge. Agnosticism deals with truth and certainty - not just in religion, but in everything. It allows for the possibility that we are wrong. If you jump off a building you'll fall to your death....probably... All evidence points to that conclusion, but there is a very small possibility that some random/freak gust of wind might save you, or a passing roc, or whatever. Doesn't mean an agnostic is going to go around jumping off buildings because they don't think they'll fall. Just means that they're willing to admit that there is a possibility that you wouldn't fall to your death.
Most folks in America, if you get right down to it, are religiously agnostic. Most folks will admit, regardless of which way they're leaning, that they can't be 100% certain. You can be an agnostic theist (I think there's a god, but I can't be 100% certain) or an agnostic atheist (I don't think there's a god, but I can't be 100% certain). As such, calling yourself an agnostic is almost useless.
There is no scientific evidence either for or against the existance of any God. Nothing in modern science eliminates the possibility of God creating it all.
Science is all about repeatable tests and predictions. You have a theory. You make a prediction based on that theory. You run a test. If you predicted correctly, that aspect of your theory looks good and you can test something else. If you predicted incorrectly, that aspect of your theory needs to be revised somehow.
This means that talking about scientific evidence for or against gods is about as sensible as talking about the proper way to install a banana in your new computer.
Religion isn't about testing anything. Religion isn't adjusted when your predictions come out wrong. Religion is about following a specific set of rules regardless of what is going on around you.
How do you scientifically test that a god exists, when every time your test comes back negative the answer is simply "God did it."
Atheism is a religious viewpoint since you're have a stance on the whole creation of the world thing.
Atheism has nothing to do with the creation of the world.
Atheism is the belief that there are no gods. Nothing more, nothing less.
Where the world/universe came from is not addressed in atheism. If there are no gods it could not have a supernatural origin, but whether it was a big bang or quantum fart or whatever else is an entirely separate discussion.
I still think it's a stupid belief, but hey, whatever they want to believe. As long as it does not influence any non-believer's life. That is, total secularity for everything effecting the people rather than only the believers.
The problem with this is that religion causes people to do some really fucking stupid things. And lots of innocent/uninvolved people get hurt.
Which isn't to say that we'd be living in a utopia if all religion went away... But I firmly believe that religions and religious thinking cause far more harm than good.
I'm not talking about fringe nutcases who decide they're talking to Jesus and go on a killing spree. But people who happily mutilate generation upon generation of children because some dusty old book says so. Or folks treating women like cattle because god said so. Or going to war because somebody claims their imaginary friend is better than your imaginary friend.
Author
Topic: Religous Viewpoints and Freedom (Read 12353 times)