Re: Is evolutionary chance impossible?
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 3:13 pm
Thanks for correcting my assumption of which segment of atheists you were talking about. It's really important for us to be clear on what we don't know. Theists say that God explains everything; atheists may exhibit the same thinking in saying that science has explained everything, or they may be making a faith statement when they say science will explain everything.ant wrote: Correct - but sorta correct
I am generalizing about certain common atheistic bigots, not prominent atheists like Smolin or Dawkins. Quite frankly, I greatly admire Dawkins and his work. I'm against his militant attitude against religion, but nevertheless, I admire his work.
In his book, The God Delusion, Dawkins recommends Finding Darwin's God, by Kenneth R Miller. It's a great book.
I look to serious atheists who, like Dawkins, are intellectually honest enough to admit they don't have all the answers.
I forgot which debate it was, but in that debate, Dawkins stated that although he believes it is highly improbable that there is a god, as a scientist he can not rule out the possibility completely. His opponent responded by indicating that at best, by definition that would make Dawkins an agnostic and not an atheist.
Somebody said recently that we can be against only a particular conception of god, and I think that's true for Dawkins, Hitchens and the rest. They are in fact writing against the monotheistic God as well as any other that also supposedly has revealed the truth to select humans and requires of them definite beliefs and actions. That is what they call religion, even though many object that the word needs to be more broadly applied. Dawkins may have said that he can't rule out, through science, the existence of god, but I wager that he would say he can do so regarding the God of the Bible. I would agree with him on that, being 100% certain that the God portrayed there isn't real. I still can't offer proof to satisfy believers, but I see no point in hedging about what I think. So I am atheist regarding that god and any other that is a theism in a meaningful sense. I'm agnostic about a mysterious 'something else' that we may not be able to comprehend or discover.