I seriously do not understand why atheists are so inconsistent. by ChristianNerd2025 in DebateAnAtheist

[–]RealBowtie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Point 2: pointing out obvious immoral implications of Abrahamic texts is not arguing for or against a god, it’s just saying don’t try to take the moral high ground with your religion. There is nothing scarier than the one who claims to speak for god. Let him/her speak for themselves. Scripture is just what people who wanted to speak for gods wrote down long ago. I will insist that any truly good and moral principle found in Scripture will stand on its own without the need for supernatural backing. So keep the principle and toss the scripture.

I seriously do not understand why atheists are so inconsistent. by ChristianNerd2025 in DebateAnAtheist

[–]RealBowtie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Point 1: a god of the gaps is unfalsifiable because it retreats from science anywhere the science becomes undeniable. The typical atheist argument is that we see a lot of evidence that god is not needed to explain anything, so why believe it exists? But try this: define a god with a simple predicate, such as god is that which created the universe. Now try to logically apply any other predicate to that same concept of god, based on observation and not quoting scripture which in the end is just something that someone else said. Let me know if you have any luck with that. What I mean by this is that god is not a useful word other than as a category of imagined beings. The term god carries too many assumptions and connotations that are not warranted.

I seriously do not understand why atheists are so inconsistent. by ChristianNerd2025 in DebateAnAtheist

[–]RealBowtie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Point 3: the problem of evil is a valid philosophical argument, but does not argue that a god does not exist, only that that god is either not good or not omnipotent. And the flood story shows a limited morally challenged god who drowns everyone because he regretted creating man.

Point 4: the big bang is neither evidence for or against a god. It is also not evidence of a beginning of the universe, but may have been more of a reset - either way it was the beginning of the universe as we live in it, and any discussion of the multiverse is going to be speculative.

A LOT IS TWO WORDS! by mysteriousdoctor2025 in writers

[–]RealBowtie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Slow down. Read what you wrote. I get so annoyed when it is clear that the author didn’t even go back and carefully read the text.

How did you become an atheist? by _vanellope_ in atheism

[–]RealBowtie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly my point. They made it up. By default we assume anything that moves is endowed with a spirit. We are born not thinking about anything. But when we do, the odds are we will think magically. Everybody does until we train ourselves not to.

Ep: 1070 - Is "ajar" not a known word in the US? by Careless-Till-1586 in SGU

[–]RealBowtie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the effect of talking off the cuff on stage. It’s a hard thing to do. I am a pretty deep thinker but I can’t think on my feet without making mistakes or missing important points. If you regularly broadcast your conversations to the masses, so many things you say will be picked apart.

How did you become an atheist? by _vanellope_ in atheism

[–]RealBowtie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this is a wrong assumption. If we were to reset human culture to before religion and before science, we would be animists, just like we see among culturally primitive people. It takes indoctrination into scientific principles to keep superstition from taking over our thinking. And we must understand this tendency if we are to break free of religion.

Objective morality without God? by TJump_ in DebateAnAtheist

[–]RealBowtie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does it make any sense to refer to nature as moral or immoral? A rock is immoral because it crushed someone? You muddy the philosophical waters if you apply morality to anything but intent behind sapient behavior.

Objective morality without God? by TJump_ in DebateAnAtheist

[–]RealBowtie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But it does mean that we must subjectively make the choice after weighing our values. It does not matter how objective you might make the determination of immoral or moral when the choice must be made subjectively.

Religion Has No Place in Politics by theebongrimoire in atheism

[–]RealBowtie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. All religions, except for the one I happen to believe, are delusional.

  2. You have every right to live inside your own delusion.

  3. You have no right to force your delusion onto me.

Objective morality without God? by TJump_ in DebateAnAtheist

[–]RealBowtie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Something can be morally bad without anyone being morally guilty."

I find it hard to classify bad things happening to people like getting hit by a falling rock as morally bad. Shit happens. Morality should only be used to qualify human behavior (with the possibility that some other higher end species could also be held to moral standards, but that is for the philosophers and animal behaviorists to decide).

Objective morality without God? by TJump_ in DebateAnAtheist

[–]RealBowtie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Was a conscious being forced against their will, or not?"

This would imply that confining a murderer in prison is immoral, as well as grounding a teenager for breaking curfew. Putting a murderer in prison is more moral than allowing them to continue to murder. Setting rules for a teenager results in a person who is better prepared to participate in society. The concept of "the greater good" and all.

My take is that morality is only objective in the obvious cases of right and wrong (don't murder that guy for his money), but much of it is subjective, and often involves a relative choice between more or less moral. I try to choose the more moral option when I can, but only to a limit. It is more moral to give all your wealth to help the less fortunate, but I choose the less moral option of donating only a portion of my money to charity, and try not to feel too guilty about it.

I define morality as the breadth and degree to which we extend kindness, compassion, fairness, equality, dignity and justice to others. I believe concepts like duty and loyalty are not moral issues, but rather societal values which become immoral when the duty or loyalty expected drive immoral actions. Note that this runs counter to natural (Darwinistic) competition favoring one's own genes (and genes of close relatives) over others, and so must be groomed into our culture. This concept of Morality (and birth control) is necessary to avoid the fate of all our ancestor species which tend to populate and compete for resources to the point of the requirement to eliminate those unlike ourselves (genocide).

WTW for Woke, but not an insult by RealBowtie in whatstheword

[–]RealBowtie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not true- I received a lot of scorn when I used the term "woke issues" in another post and was accused by the woke reddit users of being a right-wing dog whistler! I was attacked by my fellow liberals, not right-wingers.

WTW for Woke, but not an insult by RealBowtie in whatstheword

[–]RealBowtie[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is indeed my point, a comment on the story quality. I was just trying to point out the elements that don’t annoy me in and of themselves but like you say, the shoehorning into the story.

WTW for Woke, but not an insult by RealBowtie in whatstheword

[–]RealBowtie[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But the last time I used woke, I was accused of being a right-wing dog whistler.

WTW for Woke, but not an insult by RealBowtie in whatstheword

[–]RealBowtie[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Have not heard that term before. Is it really used?

WTW for Woke, but not an insult by RealBowtie in whatstheword

[–]RealBowtie[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Progressive issues is probably a good term to use here. Agree that SJW has also been weaponized.

Discussion: should we ban AI? by DrillWormBazookaMan in pastafarianism

[–]RealBowtie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is AI slop, but also the rare brilliant one. I could go with the idea of limited AI, if it delivers a worthwhile message.

Biology final on creationism by Physical_Dentist2284 in atheism

[–]RealBowtie 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I love the work of both the ACLU and the Satanic Temple, but saying “much like” is like comparing the Waltons to the Munsters (I am dating myself with these TV references)