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After spending an entire semester in a course on the philosophy of religion and revieing things like the Scopes Monkey Trial during law school, I see arguments

After spending an entire semester in a course on the philosophy of religion and revieing things like the Scopes Monkey Trial during law school, I see arguments both for an against the existence of God. I think there is no proof either way. I personally believe in God and am in fact Christian, but that is a personal choice based on faith and I have great respect for people who have chosen other faiths or who believe that there is no God. This however is different. It can be shown that certain security measures actually are quite useful (sturdy, locked cockpit doors separating pilots and passengers for instance.) It can be shown that others are completely ineffective at their stated goals and seek only to avoid "donothingism" and fall into security theater

jpulgarin 15y ago
Do you think atheists will go to hell?
burgerbrain 15y ago
What evidence is there that supports the existence of a supernatural being? No, I think the TSA and religion are quite similar.
- VladRussian 15y ago
  >No, I think the TSA and religion are quite similar. that's absolutely right. There is though a difference between a God and Organized Religion. For all we know Q is as God as any other and i do hope what he exists and enjoys the TNG on Netflix as much as i do :)
  - dlikhten 15y ago
    Remember that time that Q was forced to become human and was hunted down by that cloud entity for the horrors he inflicted on their culture? Yea... All hail Q.
brlewis 15y ago
For purposes of keeping the discussion on topic, can we just assume dlikhten's comment is specifically about people whose belief in God is based on Pascal's wager, and not about believers in general?
- dlikhten 15y ago
  Its a shame people down-voted this. This is exactly what I meant. I care not about existence vs non-existence but the way people treat it.
- notahacker 15y ago
  To be fair, it could be said the analogy falls a little flat if Pascal's Wager is almost invariably considered only as an ad hoc rationalisation for things people genuinely believe to be true.
dlikhten 15y ago
I am in no way claiming the existence or non existence of god. However I am claiming that security measures are exactly like the belief in god (probably a correction is exactly like religions). It makes no difference if it's true.
derleth 15y ago
> arguments both for an against the existence of God. Arguments are one thing, evidence is something else. > believe there is no God That isn't what atheism is, or at least that isn't what most English-speaking people who describe themselves as atheist mean by it. Western atheists think the existence of any deities is unproven; it is not supported by the evidence.
- Fargren 15y ago
  That isn't what atheism is, or at least that isn't what most English-speaking people who describe themselves as atheist mean by it. Western atheists think the existence of any deities is unproven; it is not supported by the evidence. That's not atheism, that's agnosticism.
  - derleth 15y ago
    Agnosticism is a faith claim: It's claiming that we can never know anything about a deity. I'm an atheist. I say the existence of a deity is both unproven and highly unlikely given the current evidence.
    - nodata 15y ago
      .. and until the time that it is otherwise proven, an atheist doesn't believe in a deity.
      - wnight 15y ago
        There is of course, a huge difference between not believing in something and believing that it must not be.
  - burgerbrain 15y ago
    Ponder the following: I'm agnostic in the same way I'm 'agnostic' about the existence of unicorns.

jpulgarin 15y ago

Do you think atheists will go to hell?

burgerbrain 15y ago

What evidence is there that supports the existence of a supernatural being? No, I think the TSA and religion are quite similar.

VladRussian 15y ago
>No, I think the TSA and religion are quite similar. that's absolutely right. There is though a difference between a God and Organized Religion. For all we know Q is as God as any other and i do hope what he exists and enjoys the TNG on Netflix as much as i do :)
- dlikhten 15y ago
  Remember that time that Q was forced to become human and was hunted down by that cloud entity for the horrors he inflicted on their culture? Yea... All hail Q.

brlewis 15y ago

For purposes of keeping the discussion on topic, can we just assume dlikhten's comment is specifically about people whose belief in God is based on Pascal's wager, and not about believers in general?

dlikhten 15y ago
Its a shame people down-voted this. This is exactly what I meant. I care not about existence vs non-existence but the way people treat it.
notahacker 15y ago
To be fair, it could be said the analogy falls a little flat if Pascal's Wager is almost invariably considered only as an ad hoc rationalisation for things people genuinely believe to be true.

dlikhten 15y ago

I am in no way claiming the existence or non existence of god. However I am claiming that security measures are exactly like the belief in god (probably a correction is exactly like religions). It makes no difference if it's true.

derleth 15y ago

> arguments both for an against the existence of God. Arguments are one thing, evidence is something else. > believe there is no God That isn't what atheism is, or at least that isn't what most English-speaking people who describe themselves as atheist mean by it. Western atheists think the existence of any deities is unproven; it is not supported by the evidence.

Fargren 15y ago
That isn't what atheism is, or at least that isn't what most English-speaking people who describe themselves as atheist mean by it. Western atheists think the existence of any deities is unproven; it is not supported by the evidence. That's not atheism, that's agnosticism.
- derleth 15y ago
  Agnosticism is a faith claim: It's claiming that we can never know anything about a deity. I'm an atheist. I say the existence of a deity is both unproven and highly unlikely given the current evidence.
  - nodata 15y ago
    .. and until the time that it is otherwise proven, an atheist doesn't believe in a deity.
    - wnight 15y ago
      There is of course, a huge difference between not believing in something and believing that it must not be.
- burgerbrain 15y ago
  Ponder the following: I'm agnostic in the same way I'm 'agnostic' about the existence of unicorns.