Atheism

[maxxrox]

Yes, we become more organized, but this does not break the laws of entropy. As the second law of thermodynamics states, it is possible to concentrate energy in a certain specific place, but the overall energy of the system still decreases. In other words, you need to see the big picture. Evolution does not stop the universe from expanding and the Heat Death from coming closer and closer.

I'm a hardcore atheist myself. In my opinion this is not due to my lack of faith, but to my mode of thinking. I always say that "scientist" is not a profession, but a method of thought, meaning one who thinks and lives by the scientific method. By that definition, I am a scientist.

Frankly, though, I don't see the reason for a god. When someone miraculously heals from cancer, why can't we thank the marvels of modern medicine and blind dumb luck instead of thanking god for a miracle? Why do we need to believe in a higher power?

[marina salem]

Originally posted by maxxrox:
Why do we need to believe in a higher power?

Possibly because, when something goes wrong, people need someone to blame. An example is the Greeks of the earlier days, who believed in Zeus and his fellow gods/goddesses. When something went wrong, they blamed the gods instead of their own free will to choose the wrong path.

According to my Theology teacher, the Creation story may not actually have happened. The earliest of God's people needed a way of explaining how the world came to be, so they made a Creation story. The story of Adam and Eve also explains how sin came into the world and passed through the generations through Cain and Abel. The tower of Babel explains how there are so many different languages and peoples.

I am a baptized Catholic. I have been asked a couple of times in chat if I am religious, but the answer has to be no. I attend church on Saturdays, but I lack the faith that some people can place in God without proof. My Theology class is aggravating, because it basically repeats that Jesus is God, with only the Bible for evidence. I sway between belief and disbelief, because nobody has offered me solid enough proof to make a firm believer out of me.

[maxxrox]

For that I commend you. For those who are religious, I ask what has ever been accomplished through blind faith? Isn't it true that all of the advancements in human society have been from those who were willing to risk asking questions? I can back this up, too. During the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Industrial Revolution, arguably the most innovative times in known human history, the church as a governing body lost power among the people. There is strong evidence that Da Vinci and Voltaire were atheists. Inversely, religion gained power during the Dark and Mideival periods, arguably the least innovative periods in human history.

I was raised Jewish, and all of the things I was taught about "relative" interpretations of the bible seemed to me to be weak excuses. Some say that God triggered the Big Bang, and that each "day" of creation was actually many millenia. But why does some higher power have to have a hand in creation? What is so frightening about the concept of our existance being a collection of chemical and physical mechanisms, formed randomly by chance of trillions of years?

Also, as to humans being "god's chosen", I ask why, in the infinite universe, he/she/it would choose us? What makes us special? (And don't talk about a soul or morality or free choice, because all of those things can be proven to be aspects of the brain.)

I am not trying to criticize those who are religious. I am actually interested in how they believe such far-fetched things, just because they were told them by their parents, or a priest, or a book. I am also asking them to open their minds and question not just their faith, but everything in life. Nothing was ever achieved by accepting everything you were told to be indesputable fact.