The ATHEISM Thread

[I've Got the Monkeys]

Well when someone misinterprets formula for the penalties of parrying with a two-handed +2 badger on a stick while prone and flanked, there's little chance they'll spend eternity fellating a cactus to amuse the devil.

With some of the DMs I've known, that's exactly what it'll mean.

But ok, I've got a question for you atheists then. Taking god or a divine creator out of the question, how do you feel about order vs chaos? In other words, do you believe that there is order in the universe, or do you feel that that universe is all random?

Everything will eventually trend towards chaos. That's just thermodynamics. But initial order in the sense of deliberation, no. That would have to be imposed.

Yeah, it would be pretty stupid to think there's nothing because, like, there's evidence that there's, y'know, stuff. Atheists aren't people who believe in "nothing."

That would be "nihilist". "We believe in nothing, Lebowski!"

I'd say I'm an agnostic theist. I don't know if there is a God, but I try to live my life as if there's a "test at the end", if you will.

I admire that. It leads you to good things.

For my personal perspective, I've never been able to give Pascal's wager credit, so I try to live morally because i want others to do the same in regards to me.

[Ben]

Like God.

Or unicorns.

[Generic Poster]

Do you believe that every thing is governed by chance?

The argument along the lines of "This can't have all arisen by chance" or "surely this couldn't have just popped into existence - there must by a mind behind it" baffles me. While belief in the existence of a creating deity may explain that the universe didn't just randomly generate itself, it still means that the organizing being somehow just arose by random chance.

In other words, who created the creator? If you can't stomach the universe coming into existence without a guiding mind, I'm not sure why you can stomach the guiding mind coming into existence without some super-creator, and so on ad infinitum.

[Jason California]

Or unicorns.

Maybe, but I don't know that unicorns have that kind of power. I saw Legend.

[Ben]

Do you believe that every thing is governed by chance?

This is too vague. What do you mean by "governed by chance"? I believe in particle physics, things are pretty deterministic (i.e., if you rewound the universe and ran it again, the same things would happen), whereas quantum physics is pretty unpredictable with potential outcomes having different probabilities of occurring.

[Ben]

Maybe, but I don't know that unicorns have that kind of power. I saw Legend.

I wouldn't put too much stock in that anti-unicornist propaganda film!

[Hate_Prime]

Do you believe that every thing is governed by chance?

Again, define chance.

[HOOKS]

[Matt Jay]

Like God.

Not in the sense of the fan-fiction and wish fulfillment we get from religion, but there's an excellent chance that there's more to existence than what we can perceive. The only way to learn the "how's" and "why's" about our existence (which some could call "God") is through science.

[Ben]

What have you done! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!!!!!!