Atheism (Agnosticism)

by dhw, Sunday, January 20, 2008, 11:42 (6151 days ago) @ David Warden

Thank you for this very stimulating contribution. If the website comes to anything, I can imagine lots of people making their calculations ... in my own case with pretty absurd results. If you ask me whether I believe in Chance, I'll have to admit to a 75% no, but if you ask me whether I believe in a personal God watching over me, I'll give you a 75% no as well. Some sort of designer, present, absent or dead? It ought to be,it has to be a 75% yes, but it isn't. Maybe 50%. The figures don't add up. As you so rightly indicate, it's much easier to be negative than positive. - Two more points. The comments made by David and Jake show clearly that my statement on the home page about atheists is an unfair generalization. It may well be that many are simply unaware that atheism entails faith (even Dawkins tells us of his beliefs and hopes, as if belief and hope were not integral to faith). No doubt I shall have a great deal more recanting to do, but that will be good for me and maybe for others like me. - Secondly, though, I think David's indirect dismissal of agnosticism as "rather sterile" is an equally unfair generalization. It depends on the agnostic. Not all of us have given up. "It is not unreasonable to come down on one side of the argument" is a bit like Pascal's wager ... but personally I can't make myself believe something because it's better or reasonable to make a decision. I see nothing wrong in remaining open-minded. As for the argument that an omnipotent God is incompatible with human dignity, privacy etc. (covered in my section on "Religion") I agree totally, but the fact that we don't want something doesn't mean that it isn't there. - Like evolution itself, personal beliefs are an ongoing process, and I suspect that although both of you are atheists, you have only logged onto this site because you too are still searching. Thank you again for these illuminating comments.