Agnostics.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


No, no, no. You have it wrong. It's not what you know but what you believe.

Christians believe in the existence of their God, and not in the existence of Odin, Zeus, Brahma, and Ralph the snake god.

Atheists do not believe in any of these.

Agnostics are waffling

Agnostics believe that it doesn't matter.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by SlowwHand


Well, I'm no "Trekkie" or anything, but my answer would be "I have no doubt".

You can strongly believe it, but unless you have experienced alien life for yourself you cant say you are 100% sure.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


No, no, no. You have it wrong. It's not what you know but what you believe.

Christians believe in the existence of their God, and not in the existence of Odin, Zeus, Brahma, and Ralph the snake god.

Atheists do not believe in any of these.

Agnostics are waffling

Most agnostics I know are not waffling, they really believe (as I do) that the nature and reality of God is unknowable. So believing in anything concrete of yes/no is a pointless exercise in mental masturbation. Might make ya feel good, but the end result is that it won't make a difference.

I could easily say that Theists are cop-outs who are afraid of death and hence feel compelled to believe in a God so they can feel some kind of comfort in thinking there is an afterlife. And that they also just can't accept that there's no ultimate, all-encompassing "justice" in the universe. So they take the cop out way of believing there is a God who fix everything in the end and reward the good, punish the bad, etc.

I can also assert atheists are just anti-establishment types who reject God solely on the basis that they are angry, f*cked-up people who have had personal trauma. Since they are so arrogant and can't accept that a God would let them suffer at all, then they reject God.

Of course, both assertions would be patently silly, as it would be attempting to generalize the mindset of all who believe something or another. You can't assume to know why people think the way they do.

The same applies for agnostics. Sure, there are probably many who just don't know what to believe and therefore don't commit. Call them wafflers if it makes you feel superior. However, saying all agnostics are like that is an unfair generalization based on bias and ignorance.

The alien question is actually the similar for me. I do believe that, in this vast universe of billions of galaxies, that there is tons of other intelligent life out there. However, I think it is highly unlikely that mankind will ever discover such life, as the distances involved are just too vast and, AFIK, the means of travelling any such distances would be impossible. At any rate, it certainly won't happen in our lifetimes. So why even debate or argue about it? It's something we will never know.

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


No, no, no. You have it wrong. It's not what you know but what you believe.

Christians believe in the existence of their God, and not in the existence of Odin, Zeus, Brahma, and Ralph the snake god.

Atheists do not believe in any of these.

Agnostics are waffling

Christians believe in Christ, Islam believes in Muhammed, etc.
All prophets.
Unless I'm wrong, all believe in a God of creation.

[Bereta_Eder]

IMO agnostics are the best of the bunch.

they accept that one CANNOT know.

and it is true. even that character jesus christ of nazareth said it: those who BELIEVE follow me. not those who are conveinced


just try to be a good man, if there's heaven you may go there if not, oblivion.

[Boris Godunov]

[SIZE=1]
another atheist can say: freedom of sexual choice is good.

THREADJACK

While I agree with your basic point, I still have to quibble with this phrase. If you can told me at what point you chose to be heterosexual, I might be able to say when I chose to be gay. But I didn't choose it...

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Caligastia


You can strongly believe it, but unless you have experienced alien life for yourself you cant say you are 100% sure.

Ever met Plato? Ever met George Washington? Ever met Marie Curie?
No? But you're sure they existed, right? Why?

[SlowwHand]

Besides, this isn't a Believer vs. Non-Believer thread.
It's a thread about wussies.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by SlowwHand



Ever met Plato? Ever met George Washington? Ever met Marie Curie?
No? But you're sure they existed, right? Why?

You're playing semantics now. We know such people existed because their is a historical record of their existence, they left behind writings/artificacts/etc. And we have photos of Marie.

There is absolutely no evidence of aliens, no matter how many fuzzy photos of flying pot lids we see in the National Enquirer.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by SlowwHand



Ever met Plato? Ever met George Washington? Ever met Marie Curie?
No? But you're sure they existed, right? Why?

Because there is overwhelming evidence that they did. The evidence for the existence of alien life is far from overwhelming, in fact there is no evidence.

[SlowwHand]

Into the trap steps Boris and Cal.
How are the people referenced any different than...anyone else?

[Arrian]

Ever heard of Socrates, Slow? He of the "all knowledge starts with 'I don't know?'"

I am agnostic because I do not think humanity has figured out the universe yet, and may never do so. My inclination is to say that there is no God, and that science will eventually explain the workings of the universe. But science needs an awful lot more data before we can have a "theory of everything," unless you're content with Douglas Adams' answer, 42. Because we have explored so little of the universe, I cannot rule out the possibility that there is a God, or some form of Creator. I doubt it, but I refuse to assert that I KNOW something that I consider UNKNOWABLE, at least at this time.

If you think that's "sitting on the fence" or being a "wussie" well, good for you, since you've got it all figured out.

-Arrian

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Into the trap steps Boris and Cal.
How are the people referenced any different than...anyone else?

they are well-known historical figures?

[SlowwHand]

If you're counting on scientists to "figure it all out", you're screwed.

[Arrian]

I never said that I was counting on scientists to figure it all out. Frankly, though I think the pursuit of knowledge is interesting, I don't have an overwhelming need to understand everything, and I am never really troubled by the question "why am I here?" I am here, and I intend to enjoy myself.

-Arrian