Push My Buttons

[Alaris]

People don't like neutrals. They think we're undecided or something worse.

I just accept that we don't have conclusive data either way.

[shawn]

No, it's just that the default state of belief is to disbelief until evidence is provided. This goes for virtually everything on earth. Ghosts, Nessie, spirits, werewolves, vampires, souls, any of the hundred thousand gods that have existed or will exist thought history, unicorns, fairies, wraiths, zombies, the man in the moon, flying spaghetti monsters, Russell's teapot, and so on and so forth.

Neutral is for playing dungeons and dragons, not for determining the existence or nonexistence of entities. If you believe in any of those without evidence, I see no difference to those who believe you can heal a deathly ill person by massaging their "aura," or whatever that wiccan new age bull**** is. Complete quackery.

Thing is, we don't have conclusive evidence either way, because there is no evidence to get.. just like every single example listed above. There is no evidence to get, because they don't exist. We don't find evidence to prove their nonexistence.

tapatalked on galaxy nexus

[Alaris]

No, it's just that the default state of belief is to disbelief until evidence is provided.

With science, yes.

With normal human function, not so much. Only if they are taught to think critically will they learn to be more sceptical.

[raspberry jam]

ORLY?

Yes really. If you rest properly it's the exact same thing as sleep (for your body). But as I said most people can't rest properly.

[RD]

Yes really. If you rest properly it's the exact same thing as sleep (for your body). But as I said most people can't rest properly.

So, please explain how to rest properly and also cite some articles to support your position, as I have.

[sorudo]

With science, yes.

With normal human function, not so much. Only if they are taught to think critically will they learn to be more sceptical.

if i am more skeptical then i already am i just turn all negative.......>_<

[Raye]

With science, yes.

With normal human function, not so much. Only if they are taught to think critically will they learn to be more sceptical.

Get off your high horse. You can prove things exist by showing the thing in question. I can show you the phone I'm holding or the coffee I'm drinking. If I wasn't drinking my coffee, you cannot prove it doesn't exist. Because you have to find every single possible "place" it could be in the universe. Yet, no one has been able to provide evidence that a god exists.

Staying in the middle of that spectrum doesn't make you a neutral critical thinker, it makes you too lazy to really think about it. That's why I personally dislike agnosticism. (And why I stay out of these threads)

Atheists accept that they can't possibly prove the non existence of something, but given that the other side can't provide proof of existence, they don't believe it exists.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus.

[shawn]

wait when did alaris get a horse, and why is he making it get high?

[Raye]

Shawn you jerk I'm on your side of the argument. Hush! =P

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus.

[Alaris]

if i am more skeptical then i already am i just turn all negative.......>_<

Skepticism works both ways. You won't readily believe bad news either.

Staying in the middle of that spectrum doesn't make you a neutral critical thinker, it makes you too lazy to really think about it.

Staying in the middle of the spectrum, but itself, does not make you a neutral critical thinker. Agreed. It just makes you neutral.

The critical thinker part is looking at evidence for or against. I fully acknowledge that if we side with Occam (and in most cases, we should), then religion loses. My critical thinker part says that atheism is most likely correct.

However, Occam has been wrong before. There are things in this world we couldn't prove for the longest time, and then we started proving. There are things we thought were impossible, then we started doing it.

And until we start proving God, I think the safest thing to do is just accept that we just don't know anything about God, and we should not base our judgments on that concept.

wait when did alaris get a horse, and why is he making it get high?

A horse for a zebra? Preposterous.