Oh yay, another political thread! (Prop 8, gay marriage stuff)

[streetwaves]

Originally Posted by Anteater

Not all Christians fall into that Bible-Belt BS that many stereotype them to be, just as not all atheists are simple-minded, apathetic wannabe scientists who cannot see beyond the ends of their own noses. But I think this thread is getting off topic now...

streetwaves: what you consider truth may in fact be mere delusion. The same can be said of all systems of belief and thought.

Delusion isn't the word you're looking for. While religious people are deluded because they base their beliefs on absolutely nothing, people like me have educated opinions that might be wrong, but are still rational because they are based on evidence.

And yeah, Bill Maher is agnostic. He doesn't deny that there could be a god, but he has a problem with people who claim they do know the answers, because they couldn't.

[TheBig3]

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Bill Mahr is not a self-identified atheist, he's a self-identified agnostic or apatheist depending on which interview you listen to.

...so then he is?

[streetwaves]

...

[Alfred]

Originally Posted by streetwaves

Delusion isn't the word you're looking for. While religious people are deluded because they base their beliefs on absolutely nothing, people like me have educated opinions that might be wrong, but are still rational because they are based on evidence.

Religious people have something called faith.

[jibber]

Originally Posted by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog

...so then he is?

he's a agnostic. an agnostic is different from an atheist in that atheism is the assurance that there is not a god (just like christians are assured that there is a god). agnostics are mainly defined by their belief that it simply does not matter.

And about your accusations that atheists are more bigoted than religious people, i beg to differ. I'll focus on Christianity since that's the religion under discussion at the moment. If taken literally, and followed exclusively and entirely, the bible is an incredibly exclusive group of teachings. It excludes people of other religions, it excludes ***s, people who have sex before marriage, people who divorce, I could go on. And no, many intelligent (key word there), rational Christians realize the absurdity of this. What Bill Maher did was to expose the VAST amount of bible thumping bigots, who use religion as a tool to justify their own intolerence. Atheists CAN be just as hateful and bigoted towards those kind of religious people, and in truth, some are just as bigoted towards anyone who believes in a deity. But there is not the vast numbers of bigoted atheists as there are bigoted bible thumpers.

[streetwaves]

Originally Posted by Alfred

Religious people have something called faith.

What's this post supposed to do?

[Alfred]

It's not to convince you of anything, I just don't like how you make it out that religious people have no reason to believe in anything.

[jibber]

Originally Posted by Alfred

It's not to convince you of anything, I just don't like how you make it out that religious people have no reason to believe in anything.

But that is his belief. You can't just throw the word "Faith" around as if that makes religion an off-limits subject. He is stating his beliefs just as you are stating yours.

[Alfred]

Christians base their beliefs on the Bible. Since there isn't proof on whether it is true or not, and many people think it is bullshit, the Christian needs faith.

[WWWP]

Let's not turn another thread into a religious debate.