Richard Dawkins? Religon?

[Pestcontrol]

Well Loki, i brought it up to call into question Dragon's statement and imho it does that convincingly. Of course the actual situation is always more complicated than can be captured in any single debate.
My point is that religion does not have exclusive rights to morality. The lack of a god does not necessarily make society godless.

The purpose of my existence is to leave the world a better place compared to when i came on it.

 

[Loki]

Ok as this is a religous debate here I would like to ask some questions to the atheists. Why are we here/what is the point of our existence? Do you hold spiritual beliefs?

These are nonsense questions, that all have an underlying assumption of creation with a purpose. It should be noted too, that creation with a purpose only follows from the theories of ancient highly spiritual/religious scholars. I have yet to recieve a vision or instruction from a diety, and as such have to rationally consider the information presented to me.

To adopt a more rigorous and defendable approach one has to look for the most parsimonious explaination, i.e. the one with the least number of steps. Unfortunately for me adding an omnipotent, omniescent creator and ruler of the universe that operates outside its boundaries without leaving physical evidence or communicating in a obvious way with his/her/its creations adds one too many steps to be rational.

In addition, Ron Liddle's response to Richard Dawkins documentary is an equally laughable piece of reactionary trash from a known political raconteur and protagonist.

 

[Loki]

Well Loki, i brought it up to call into question Dragon's statement and imho it does that convincingly. Of course the actual situation is always more complicated than can be captured in any single debate.
My point is that religion does not have exclusive rights to morality. The lack of a god does not necessarily make society godless.

The purpose of my existence is to leave the world a better place compared to when i came on it.

I totally agree. There is no such thing as absolute morality in a society of people with free will. The popular religious arguement that states morality as their sole reserve laid down by god, I find despicable. Our morality is a reflection of our parents and grand parents, and so on.

 

[Pestcontrol]

I don't think the point of existence is a nonsense question to an atheist. It's easier to see when you rephrase the question: What, at the most basic level, do you want to achieve in your life?

Also denying the existence of a supreme being as atheism does doesn't necessarily mean you deny all higher powers.

 

[Haven]

Ok as this is a religous debate here I would like to ask some questions to the atheists. Why are we here/what is the point of our existence? Do you hold spiritual beliefs?

My answer in order:
Mathematics.
To migrate to the lowest (and most stable) energy state possible.
No.

 

[Gibsonfire]

Loki I am sorry if I offended you with the questions, I just was interested in what you as a person feels their life here in this universe is all about, I really don't think its such a nonsense question to ask.

 

[Loki]

There was no offence taken. I wasn't sitting at the keyboard with mouth slathering at the prospect of a believer.

No rather, the the questions themselves only have meaningful answer when taken in the context of a higher power and as such are heavily loaded from the off set.

 

[DocBot]

Interesting fact I just learned; Sweden is the least Christian country in europe...

edit: also, in the Swedish Church the devil is not a part of the faith.

 

[Dragon]

really? strange then ... how do your priests convince people to listen to gods words if they do not have to fear the devil instead? ^^ (btw I think I'll just move to Sweden)