Again, this doesn't belong in the Science forum. Please try to stick these posts in the proper forums.

Whoops, sorry.

No problem. I moved the posts here.

DB Roy wrote:Whoops, sorry.

LoL!

You know the difference between atheism and science, right, cowboy?

DB Roy wrote:Whoops, sorry.

Random question:
You dont by chance live in Atwater Village?

numbered statements are from the article.

This conflates science and atheism, which are not identical. I am however an atheist who relies on science instead of un-supported claims to form my world view, so I will address these 7 things as they are laid out in the article.


1. Religion Is About Morality, Not Creation Myths

Religions can be about morality, but so can any philosophy. What makes a religion a religion is belief in supernatural claims and predictions about what your “soul” will do after you die. Humanism is a philosophy that deals with morality but does not put forward claims of supernatural spookery, magic gods, or the persistence of personality beyond the death of the brain, and is therefore not a religion.

2. Religion Is the Foundation of All Morality, Not Merely an Expression of It

Not true. Religion is the codification of morality. And since religion often forbids change whatever backward thoughts the authors had are then engraved in stone and expected to be followed forever after.
Morality is fundamentally about what actions enhance the mental and physical well being of others and those that do not. It is a system of consideration for the other that allows us to live together and coexist. To turn competition for resources into cooperation for resources.

A number of religious rules directly contradicts good morality and it does so by subverting the purpose of morality in favor of a definition that means “how closely do you follow this set of politically motivated rules” rather than maximizing the mental and physical well being of all involved.

Discrimination against gay people, or the insistence that no god be put before your god are examples where well being is put soundly on the back burner.


3. Religion Was the Foundation of Society, Not an Addition to It

Not true. Many animals form societies that do not differ in structure from our own without having any recognizable form of religion.

4. Atheists Do Believe

Not true. This is a mis-application of the word belief and your particular definition of the word belief. There are big distinctions to be made about the reasons people believe.

Terminology I find accurate and useful is to frame things in terms of faith and confidence.

Faith is an expectation without evidence, against the evidence and regardless of the evidence.

That means no new information will change your faithful belief. If you ever stop believing in an article of faith then it’s because you have LOST faith in that thing… and possibly gained confidence in something else.

Confidence is an expectation built on the preponderance of evidence in support of it. Confidence is flexible. It can increase or decrease depending on the quality of the data. Data which builds a predictive pattern that will either fail or succeed to correlate with the events of reality demonstrating the objective accuracy of that expectation. And as the true mark of justified belief this correlation determines the amount of confidence you should have in your belief.

The difference between confidence and faith is the entire purpose of the scientific method.

5. Science Can’t Teach Us Right from Wrong
That is how we learn what’s right and what’s wrong. Do something, observe the results, adjust future behavior to get the results you desire.

So, cutting people off in traffic causes stress and perhaps accidents. Observe the truth of that prediction. Adjust future behavior.

Predict, test, results, predict.... the process of the scientific method. What this will not do is put you into accord with "God's will" because there is no god nor a will to put yourself into accord with. So results can't tell you which way to go in that case.

6. Religion Complements Science, It Doesn’t Oppose It

Except in all instances when religion says something unsupported that does not agree with the predictions of science which are supported by the vast preponderance of evidence in support of those predictions.

7. Ignorance of Religion Is Ignorance of History, For Atheists and Everyone

That’s true. And we would all be well served to learn about religions.

If ignorance of religion is ignorance of history then how can religion be about morality and not creation myths which the believers usually take as history?

I am however an atheist who relies on science instead of un-supported claims to form my world view

If this worldview of yours includes any flavor of Being or is laced with telos that you are not consciously aware of, but are nevertheless doing, you are relying on science for the wrong thing and misusing it grossly.
I bet there is truth to the above.

Also, there is nothing unique about the extent to which you rely on science as a guide to understanding and describing nature. Lots of theists are well versed on these matters and do not make usupported claims about nature.

What you mostly rely on is the science of technology, Johnson. It's not much deeper than that.
Induction guides the rest of your life. The scientific method does not.

DB Roy wrote:If ignorance of religion is ignorance of history then how can religion be about morality and not creation myths which the believers usually take as history?

You are an uninformed moron about history.