A poster on Reddit gave reasons for his atheism

By Anonymous -
After a three-month layoff, I decided to do a report about something that I shared recently with Joe. I don’t think that I will be doing these bi-weekly anymore, but from time to time, I will do a report (on a Tuesday) sharing interesting things that I find.

A week ago on Reddit, there was a list from this atheist sharing the reasons for their atheism. They decided to take it down, but he also posted it on another site (with a long discussion thread):

Bitcointalk.org: Why I am an atheist

His username on this site is Trading, and his phrase is “Nothing like healthy skepticism and hard evidence”. That’s what they all say.

Here are some excerpts:
There is no use to invent a helping imaginary “friend” who will offer you immortality.
Hold on. It gets better (lol).

It’s absurd to ruin your life (a lucky but tiny oasis that exists between two almost infinite deserts of nothingness) by following absurd or immoral rules invented by primitive people of the Bronze Age which have no relation whatsoever with the happiness of other people.
After this, he discusses his eleven main points, and then he rambles on about how religions have negative social consequences.

It's sad to see ignorance like this continually pop up online, but maybe a reason for it is what JP was alluding to the other day with these feel good-type book stores putting out spiritual junk food. You put garbage in, you get garbage out. 







Comments

Anonymous said…
Posted on 3:00 A.M EST 3/7/2017 (Tues)
3/07/2017 12:00:00 AM
Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said…
"...tiny oasis that exists between two almost infinite deserts of nothingness..."

almost infinite...
3/07/2017 12:35:00 AM
Anonymous said…
Might have been interesting if you had addressed at least one of his eleven points.

Pix

3/07/2017 02:52:00 AM
Mike D said…
It's a rather hard piece of writing to address, just because the author seems to trade in argument by assertion - he/she doesn't support any of the 11 points with logical arguments or facts, but just states them. Mind you, given that, it seems a little peculiar to then write a blog post on it!
3/07/2017 05:24:00 AM
im-skeptical said…
he/she doesn't support any of the 11 points with logical arguments or facts, but just states them.

And this is different from religious arguments ... how?
3/07/2017 01:19:00 PM
Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said…
e/she doesn't support any of the 11 points with logical arguments or facts, but just states them.

And this is different from religious arguments ... how?

because his arguments are ot supported and ours our, you have not ever answered one of them. You can say the studies I cite don't say Gd exists but you have never answered a single argumnet i make connecting their findings to my conclusions, that tells me you cant reason, all you do is regurgitate,so your little quip is not meaningful.
3/07/2017 04:52:00 PM
im-skeptical said…
So the ontological argument that simply asserts God exists by definition is supported by logical argumentation and facts? Right.
3/07/2017 07:23:00 PM
Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said…

Draw me a square circle. when draw me a square circle I'll agree things can't be true by definition.

Husbands are married men, true by definition

wives are married women

Dogs are mammals

numbers are either ordinal or cardinal

all tue by definition
3/07/2017 09:40:00 PM
Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said…
OA does not definite go into existence anesthetists quite listening,

God cannot be contingent and still be God because the concept God is the necessary aspect of being.

because God is necessary and not contingent he is either necessary or impossible. Meaning he either must exist or can't possibly exist. Given that choice you must show why he is not possible.

this is why the atheist saying there's no support for a God argument is a meaningless statement. It doesn't matter how good the argument or how strongly it's supported, I have 7000 good reasons to assume miracles happen but because he could find fault with one of them it;s nothing, there are no examples.

the OA is not defining God into existence, they turn out, aklalkakakalallalla No listening,knot e er going to learn the answer.

Most atheists do not think. most atheists are regurgitating the echo chamber. Here's a little secret, most of those Secular outpost guys agree.
3/07/2017 09:53:00 PM
im-skeptical said…
Most atheists do not think. most atheists are regurgitating the echo chamber. Here's a little secret, most of those Secular outpost guys agree.

Here's a secret for you, Joe. Most of those Secular Outpost guys vehemently disagree with all of your "arguments".
3/08/2017 08:12:00 AM
Anonymous said…
I am not sure that the Secular Outpost is a great source. A year ago, your buddy (Papalinton) posted a link from there on your site about the Jesus Myth, and someone in the comments tore that author apart. I shared that with Papa, and he said that I was doozy for religious woozy or something. Not very good.
3/08/2017 10:05:00 AM
Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said…
Here's a secret for you, Joe. Most of those Secular Outpost guys vehemently disagree with all of your "arguments".

not the point,I don't care who agrees with me. I know Lowder is perturbed with most atheists for being uncritical and clinging to echo chanter without thinking deeply about the things they argue.
3/08/2017 01:00:00 PM
Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said…
I am not sure that the Secular Outpost is a great source. A year ago, your buddy (Papalinton) posted a link from there on your site about the Jesus Myth, and someone in the comments tore that author apart. I shared that with Papa, and he said that I was doozy for religious woozy or something. Not very good.

I don't consider most of the posters om that site to be representative of the blog. I think of the blog authors as representing the blog.It is Lowder's blog I dom't claim to speak for him but I get the impression he's not real pleased with most of the posters.
the actual blog authors have treated me better than the Christians on dangerous idea have,except for Repert himself.
3/08/2017 01:07:00 PM
Anonymous said…
Joe, are there a lot of conservatives on DI? I was asking because there is another conservative (Crude) that used to post on Vic's site (maybe he still does. Skeppy and Papa's tactics were exposed by him on DI and Feser's blog). He isn't a big fan of Liberal Christians:

Crude Ideas

Check out the first and third entry. In the first one, he seems to go after Liberal Christians, and in the third entry, he talks about DI and the direction that he sees it going now.
3/08/2017 03:10:00 PM
im-skeptical said…
crude is a small-minded alt-right Trump-loving bigot. Whatever he has "exposed" about me is a reflection of his own extremely narrow and biased thought processes. It doesn't harm me in any way to be seen as opposing that guy.
3/08/2017 06:05:00 PM
Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said…
JBsptfn said...
Joe, are there a lot of conservatives on DI? I was asking because there is another conservative (Crude) that used to post on Vic's site (maybe he still does. Skeppy and Papa's tactics were exposed by him on DI and Feser's blog). He isn't a big fan of Liberal Christians:

I've seen him there, yes there are a lot of conservatives, but he;s not the worst.real liberal theology types don't care about apologetic
3/08/2017 08:17:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Many Children in Bethlehem Did Herod Kill?

By -
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about the Gospel of Matthew’s account of the slaughter of the innocents. Therein, I argued that some of the skepticism about the account was unjustified. One argument I made was that the number of children killed in Bethlehem would likely have been no more than 20. Though obviously an act of great evil, the killing of 20 children would be much less likely to be noticed by historians of the time than the slaughter of thousands as later traditions speculated. In response to the post, Peter Kirby asked a few questions. He has patiently waited my response, continuously delayed by work, family, and the completion of my Acts article . Two of the questions had to do with how the amount of 20 was determined. Others with the omission of the account by Luke and the reliability of the tradition recounted by Macrobius. Peter also mentioned that there were other reasons to doubt the story's historicity beyond just the silence of other sources. I
Read more

The Bogus Gandhi Quote

By J. P Holding -
Image
I first made this post in 2012, and since then I've made a sort of mini-career out of tracking down bogus quotes like this one (including a video version below). It's a sort of fun microcosm of the way information is mishandled in the Information Age. ** I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. – Mahatma Gandhi A Christian can probably expect to get this quote thrown at them at least once in their lifetime, and waved in their face many more. I had it put to me recently, but my experience with this sort of thing immediately led me to wonder -- is it real? The evidence at this point seems to be no. The first signal of a problem was that anywhere I found it, no source was given. That's often a sign that something is being passed around uncritically. Whether online sources or books, no one seemed to have a source for this quote. A second warning was that the quote has been given more than one context. As
Read more

Where did Jesus say "It is better to give than receive?"

By -
A visitor to the CADRE site recently sent a question about Paul's statement in Acts 20:35 which records Paul as saying, "And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is better to give than to receive'." The reader wanted to know where Jesus said this. This was my answer: You are correct in noting that this saying of Jesus quoted by Paul is not found anywhere in the four Gospels. My own study Bible says "This is a rare instance of a saying of Jesus not found in the canonical Gospels." Does the fact that it isn't stated in the Gospels mean that it isn't reliably from the lips of Jesus? I don't think so. The Apolstle John said at the end of his Gospel (John 21:25): "Jesus did many other things as well.If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." Obviously, this is exaggeration for the sake of making a point, but it means that Jesus
Read more

Discussing Embryonic Stem Cell Research

By -
Stand to Reason has published a list of "talking points" that can be used as a quick reference sheet for answering questions about embryonic stem cell research and why people ought to oppose this procedure. The piece, entitled "Are you against stem cell research and cloning?" give good, concise answers to some of the questions that arise concerning why Christians would oppose this procedure when it supposedly holds such great promise. For example, consider the following from the "talking points": Where do we get human embryonic stem cells? We can only derive human embryonic stem cells by killing a human embryo. Removing its stem cells leaves it with no cells from which to build the organs of its body. What is the embryo? An embryo is a living, whole, human organism (a human being) in the embryonic stage. All the embryo needs to live is a proper environment and adequate nutrition, the very same thing all infants, toddlers, adolescents, and adults need.
Read more

Revamping and New Articles at the CADRE Site

By -
We have changed the Christian History page at the CADRE site from the old design to the new one. The focus of the revamped page has expanded, with many new articles: This page provides links to websites and articles relating to Christian history, including theological development, notable figures, contributions of Christianity to society and culture, and the archaeological evidence for the facts of the Bible. We have also added four new articles by Darin Wood, PhD: John Chrysostum: His Life, Legacy, and Influence Dr. Wood provides an informative sketch of Chrysostum's life, as well as an exploration into his writings and impact on church evangelism. The Righteousness of God in the Pauline Corpus Dr. Wood examines the crucial role that righteousness plays in understanding Paul's perspectives on justification, propitiation, expiation, and covenant. The Structure of the Apocalypse Dr. Wood provides an in-depth analysis of the structure (or structures) behind the Book o
Read more

Tillich, part 2: What does it mean to say "God is Being Itself?"

By -
 In this essay, which is a chapter from the new book I'm now working on, I'm moving toward defining what I think Tillich means exactly by being itself. It's a long journey but an important one. What does Tillich actually mean by “being itself?” Does he mean the same things as other theologians who use the phrase? It’s a mysterious sounding phrase and Tillich never actually comes out and says what he means by it. As I will show there is a reason for this, and I will show what I think that reason in is. In the mean time the task of this chapter is to deduce exactly what Tillich actually means by this phrase. There are three basic possibilities: Three alternatives as to meaning (1) The basic fact that things exist is all that the concept of “God” amounts to. (2) There is a special quality to being, an impersonal aspect” ground of being” or “being itself” and that quality constitutes ‘the divine.’ This possibility excludes God as “king of the universe.” (3) God is b
Read more

A Botched Abortion Shows the Lies of Pro-Choice Proponents

By -
One of the classes I teach at the university is a course on Ethics, and I am using a book by Ralph Dolgoff, Donna Harrington and Frank M. Lowenberg entitled " Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice " as the text. Overall, I think that it is a good Ethics textbook largely because it provides a balanced viewpoint on the need for values in social work. For example, the book makes the argument (without committing to it) that those engaged in social work cannot avoid making value judgments in ethical decisions because trying to do what is right necessarily involves making an value choice. Also, I book notes that some (including me) think it is ethically wrong for a social worker to cover-up her own values when counseling another person because it creates a false (and ultimately unproductive) relationship with the person being counseled. Still, one of the exemplars in the book gave me pause – not because I thought it raised a deep ethical quandary, but because I wondered how
Read more

The Folded Napkin Legend

By J. P Holding -
I wrote about t his "urban legend" a few years ago, but it's typical of the silly urban legends we hear about now and then, such as the idea that the head of Proctor and Gamble went on Oprah to pledge his allegiance to Satanism. Christians are no less gullible for this sort of nonsense than anyone else, and frankly, some seem more gullible to believe anything that they consider "edifying". It's no wonder we're mesmerized by self-comfort tunes like "I Can Only Imagine" that contain about as much useful theology as a thimble. ** The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.... In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The fol
Read more

Exodus 22:18 - Are Followers of God to Kill Witches?

By -
Image
A few days ago I stumbled upon an article published on a website named Haaretz which appears to be a news site for Israeli news. The article entitled " Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live: A Murderous Translation ," discussed the correct understanding of Exodus 22:18. According to the Haaretz article (authored by Elizabeth Sloane), the word "witch" may have been an erroneous translation. And, to read into Ms. Sloane's argument just a bit, the erroneous translation contributed to the deaths of many innocent witches. Specifically, she notes: This quote, found in the King James Version of the Bible, has been widely held responsible for the witch burnings that plagued Europe, and later America, in the Early Modern Period (1450 C.E. – 1750 C.E.). But the murderous practice may have all been the result of a Biblical mistranslation. Now, as I am not an expert on ancient Hebrew, I need to approach translation issues such as this by accessing sources readily
Read more

A Non-Biblical Historian Accepts the Key "Minimum Facts" Supporting Jesus' Resurrection

By -
In their book, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus , Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona argue for the historical reality of Jesus' bodily resurrection using the "minimum facts" approach. Rather than get bogged down in inerrancy and other debates, they focus on the key facts demonstrating Jesus' resurrection. For them, the key facts are: *Jesus' death by crucifixion. *Disciples' Beliefs that Jesus Appeared. *Conversion of Paul. *Conversion of James. *Empty Tomb. William L. Craig, another significant apologist for the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus likewise focuses, in his accessible The Son Rises , on the empty tomb and Jesus' resurrection appearance. Craig gives special emphasis to Jesus' honorable burial by Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus' appearances to James and Paul and their subsequent commitment to the Christian cause. Craig, Licona, and Habermas argue that these basic facts are generally supported by most of the relevant sc
Read more