Skip to main content

Home/ Groups/ Reason/s & Belief
Rss Feed
Sort By: Most Recent | Popular Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Sunny Jackson

Bundlr - Reason(s) & Belief - 0 views

bundlr.com/reasons-and-belief

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • contrived
  • circumstantial evidence
  • all members of that religion would speak with one voice regarding ethical and theological issues
  • ...97 more annotations...
  • some piece of knowledge that the people of the time couldn't possibly have known but that is now known to be true
  • still explicable as the result of purely human forces
  • To convince me, a miracle would have to be genuine, verifiable, and represent a real and inexplicable divergence from the ordinary.
  • If a given religion's sacred text consistently promotes peace, compassion and nonviolence
  • Anything that can be explained by peer pressure, the power of suggestion or the placebo effect does not count.
  • Did God intend to communicate his message clearly but failed to do so?
  • if that religion's history reflects that fact
  • I'll be happy to believe in God if he tells me to in person, as long as he does it in such a way that I could be sure that it was not a hallucination
  • interesting theological problems
  • subjective experience
  • self-fulfilling
  • impressive
  • a dramatic, statistically significant increase in recovery rate
  • True inerrancy
  • Almost every religion claims their scripture is perfect, but none that I know of have actually met this exacting standard
  • almost every religion that has ever had the power to do so has persecuted those who believed differently, and I do not think it likely that a morally good deity would allow his chosen faith's good name to be smeared by evil and fallible humans
  • It seems reasonable to expect that, if there existed a god that was interested in revealing itself to humanity and desired that we follow its commands, that god would write down whatever instructions it had to give us in a way that was only amenable to one interpretation.
  • for no apparent reason
  • tended to explode in flames
  • interesting
  • even minor but objectively verifiable miracles would do
  • Favorable coincidences or kind or courageous acts performed by human beings also do not meet this standard.
  • the temporal lobes, especially the left lobe, are somehow involved in religious experience
  • compelling
  • this could still be the result of human influence
  • detailed, specific and unambiguous
  • result could be repeated and confirmed
  • multiple reliable witnesses
  • I invite all theists to respond by preparing a list of things that they would accept as proof that atheism is true.
  • glowing auras of h*** light
  • Why doesn't this happen any more today?
  • conclusive
  • proposed those ideas long ago
  • a double-blind study
  • verified by independent evidence
  • indisputable proof
  • circumstantial, not conclusive, evidence
  • a h*** text entirely without error or self-contradiction
  • extra-biblical evidence
  • I'm not interested in the testimonials of people who converted to a religion, not even if they used to be atheists.
  • to protect them from harm
  • independent of any claim
  • faith healing, or people being "slain in the Spirit" and toppling over, owes more to showmanship and the placebo effect used on eager-to-please individuals that have been worked up into highly excitable, suggestible states
  • possible to disprove
  • there must be independent verification that the piece of knowledge was written in texts that existed well before it was actually discovered by science
  • Everyone has moments of weakness in which emotion overrides logic.
  • Biblical miracles are people raising their hands and telling something impossible to happen, and it happens.
  • something so counter-intuitive that the odds against guessing at it correctly would be staggering
  • the lone success among a thousand failures
  • members of all faiths claim to have had convincing subjective experiences of the truth of that faith
  • something surprising, unlikely or unique
  • if faith healers could restore severed limbs...
  • explain what logic and evidence persuaded them
  • If you attempt to prove God's existence to me by listing the evidence for a young earth, more likely than not you'll be disappointed. (Though I'm always happy to debate the merits of evolution.)
  • “There exist instances of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse" (Rowe, 1979, p. 336).
  • travel to every planet in the universe individually
  • what arguments and tactics are likely to be ineffective at convincing an atheist to change their mind
  • religious hallucinations associated with epilepsy
  • "An omniscient, wholly good being would prevent the occurrence of any intense suffering it could, unless it could not do so without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally as bad or worse" (Rowe, 1979, p. 336).
  • In order to leap the chasm from deism to theism; from deism to Christianity - you need to establish that Yahweh was not merely the natural evolution of Canaanite polytheism, and more importantly, rationalize how an all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good God, is compatible with pointless animal suffering.
  • case histories with hallucinations of a religious nature
  • Family religion was focused on the god of the settlement
  • "God by definition is all-powerful, all knowing and all good. If God is all-powerful, He can prevent evil. If God is all knowing and can prevent evil, He knows how to prevent it. If God is all good, He would want to prevent evil. But since there is evil God cannot exist” (Martin & Bernard, 2003, p. 316).
  • there is a profound chasm between (1) deism and (2) theism
  • The Christian God does not exist.
  • The Bible is not the Word of God.
  • The Bible is not 100% factually accurate.
  • This god was the patron of the leading family and, by extension, of the local clan and the settlement
  • the magnetic configurations, not the subjects’ exotic beliefs or suggestibility, were responsible for the experimental facilitation of sensing a presence
  • Convergence involved the coalescence of various deities and/or some of their features into the figure of Yahweh
  • The Cosmological argument, the Kalām cosmological argument, the Teleological or Design argument, and the Ontological argument - merely take you to the deists' side of the chasm.
  • Features belonging to deities such as El, Asherah, and Baal were absorbed into the Yahwistic religion of Israel.
  • religion was predominantly a matter of the family
  • speaks in tongues (glossolalia)
  • Jesus was not God.
  • “The text itself of each Gospel is anonymous and its title represents what later tradition had to say about the identity of the author … the first Gospel was put together by an unknown Christian who utilized the Gospel of Mark, the Matthean collection, and other special sources.” (Metzger, 2003, p. 114)
  • Allegiance to the clan god was concomitant with membership of the clan
  • Epicurus (341 - 270 BCE) Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
  • "Many of the books of the New Testament are pseudonymous – written not by the apostles but by later writers claiming to be apostles" (Ehrman, 2009, pp. 5-6).
  • God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
  • Ecclesiastes 9:5 – "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten."
  • Religious experience can be replicated using magnetic fields
  • at least one of the gospel authors is making content up
  • “The text itself, like all the gospels, is anonymous.” (Price, 2006, p. 493)
  • At least one of the gospels is incorrect
  • seizures can also be “focal”; that is, they can remain confined largely to a single small part of the brain
  • even if both phrases were said together, he could only die immediately after one of them
  • 80% of normal people will feel a sensed presence within the room if you stimulate a person’s temporal lobes with magnetic fields
  • at least one gospel is making content up
  • they cannot both be true
  • “To refer to the author as Matthew is only a convention.” (Miller, 1995, p. 56)
  • “Like all the gospels, our so-called Matthew was originally anonymous.” (Price, 2006, p. 114)
  • if they happen to be in the limbic system, then the most striking symptoms are emotional.
  • God changed his mind
  • put to death men and women, children and infants
  • “The text itself of each Gospel is anonymous and its title represents what later tradition had to say about the identity of the author.” (Metzger, 2003, p. 114)
  • there do exist instances of intense suffering which an omnipotent, omniscient being could have prevented without thereby losing some greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse” (Rowe, 1979, p. 337).
Sunny Jackson

Our Humanity, Naturally | Psychology Today - 0 views

www.psychologytoday.com/...our-humanity-naturally

Humanism

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13
     
    Our Humanity, Naturally presents issues of life, society, and philosophy from the naturalistic standpoint of Humanism. A progressive philosophy of positive values without dogma and superstition, Humanism is becoming more prevalent among those concerned about anti-intellectual and dysfunctional trends in modern society. Our Humanity, Naturally applies Humanist concepts to a wide array of personal and social issues, demonstrating that there are pragmatic answers to many of the big (and little) challenges of contemporary life.
Sunny Jackson

What is Ethical Culture? | Ethical Society Without Walls - 0 views

www.eswow.org/what-is-ethical-culture

Humanism

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity
  • For Ethical Humanists, the ultimate religious questions are not about the existence of gods or an afterlife, but rather, "How can we create meaningfulness in this life?" and "How should we treat each other?"
  • we choose to treat each other as unique individuals having intrinsic worth
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • Members are not bound by any community creed or dogma. Rather, Ethical Societies emphasize the importance of developing a clear personal philosophy that makes your life understandable and meaningful.
  • Learning to benefit from a diversity of viewpoints is one of the challenges of membership. Members encourage each other to think freely and to disagree without being disagreeable.
  • When we stimulate our thinking with new insights, information, and inspirations, our understanding of the world evolves, and we realize the full capacity of our human spirit.
  • It is by acting in a way that encourages the finest characteristics in others that we bring out the best in ourselves.
  • We treat all people as having an inherent capacity for fairness, kindness, and living ethically.
  • When we put into practice ethical principles such as love, justice, honesty, and forgiveness, we experience harmony within ourselves and in our relationships.
  • Ethics, most broadly, is the study of human behavior and its consequences in the light of what is ideally possible.
  • ethics define the social conditions necessary for human beings to thrive.
  • Ethics Begins with Choice
  • In order for human beings to have good lives, love must prevail, truth must be respected, honesty esteemed, justice secured, and freedom protected.
  • We Seek to Act with Integrity
  • we learn to act with integrity. This includes keeping commitments, and being honest, open, caring and responsive.
  • The most central human issue in our lives is creating a more humane environment.
  • Creating a more humane environment begins by affirming the need to make significant choices in our lives.
  • We are Committed to Educate Ourselves
  • Personal progress is possible, both in wisdom and social life
  • Learning how to build ethical relationships and cultivate a humane community is a life-long endeavor.
  • Shape a More Humane World
  • people are social, needing both primary relationships and larger supportive groups to become fully human
  • Our social nature requires that we reach beyond ourselves to decrease suffering and increase creativity in the world.
  • respect for the worth of persons requires democratic process, which elicits and allows a greater expression of human capacities
Sunny Jackson

As Religion Fades, Will Atheism Be Enough? | Psychology Today - 0 views

www.psychologytoday.com/...n-fades-will-atheism-be-enough

Humanism

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - No Cached
  • the atheist identity refers only to the singular issue of god-belief
  • approaches the world from a natural standpoint
  • rejects all supernatural beliefs, not just the singular issue of divinities
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • seeking truth and knowledge
  • accepts empiricism, science, and reason
  • holds certain values, including a support for human rights, peace, democracy, and personal liberty with a sense of social responsibility
  • humanism rejects outright the notion of dogma
  • humanism is a progressive, forward-looking lifestance that encourages creativity, critical thinking, and personal fullfillment within the context of social well-being
  • Many humanists, but not all, also identify as atheists; many atheists, but not all, also identify as humanists.
  • the "atheist" label is wrongly stigmatized in American society
  • My humanism is more important to me than my atheism
  •  we're doing a service if we can help the public to realize that atheists should not be feared
  • the important element will be the broad, affirmative values of humanism, not a singular notion of nonbelief
Sunny Jackson

Amsterdam Declaration 2002 | International Humanist and Ethical Union - 0 views

www.iheu.org/adamdecl.htm

Humanism

shared by Sunny Jackson on 22 May 13 - Cached
  • the official defining statement of World Humanism
  • Humanism is ethical. It affirms the worth, dignity and autonomy of the individual and the right of every human being to the greatest possible freedom compatible with the rights of others.
  • Humanists have a duty of care to all of humanity including future generations.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Humanists believe that morality is an intrinsic part of human nature based on understanding and a concern for others, needing no external sanction.
  • Humanism is rational. It seeks to use science creatively, not destructively. Humanists believe that the solutions to the world's problems lie in human thought and action rather than divine intervention.
  • Humanism advocates the application of the methods of science and free inquiry to the problems of human welfare. But Humanists also believe that the application of science and technology must be tempered by human values.
  • Humanism supports democracy and human rights. Humanism aims at the fullest possible development of every human being. It holds that democracy and human development are matters of right. The principles of democracy and human rights can be applied to many human relationships and are not restricted to methods of government.
  • Humanism insists that personal liberty must be combined with social responsibility. Humanism ventures to build a world on the idea of the free person responsible to society, and recognises our dependence on and responsibility for the natural world.
  • Humanism is undogmatic, imposing no creed upon its adherents. It is thus committed to education free from indoctrination.
  • Humanism is a response to the widespread demand for an alternative to dogmatic religion. The world's major religions claim to be based on revelations fixed for all time, and many seek to impose their world-views on all of humanity.
  • Humanism recognises that reliable knowledge of the world and ourselves arises through a continuing process. of observation, evaluation and revision.
  • Humanism values artistic creativity and imagination and recognises the transforming power of art. Humanism affirms the importance of literature, music, and the visual and performing arts for personal development and fulfilment.
  • Humanism is a lifestance aiming at the maximum possible fulfilment through the cultivation of ethical and creative living and offers an ethical and rational means of addressing the challenges of our times. Humanism can be a way of life for everyone everywhere.
« First ‹ Previous 521 - 540 of 712 Next › Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page