Religion Discussion Thread

[count2infinity]

Rational, reality based argument being sought in a religion discussion thread... interesting.

[columbia]

Rational, reality based argument being sought in a religion discussion thread... interesting.

This conversation (a lack of free will) is not about religion - supposedly.

[Kaiser]

If you believe in string theory, you pretty much have to admit that all time is relative depending on your highest dimension, and has occurred in the future just as it is occurring right now.

[count2infinity]

I'm not sure what kind of proof you want... and I'm not sure shmenguin would ever for a second suggest that he has absolute proof of this belief.

[columbia]

I'm not sure what kind of proof you want... and I'm not sure shmenguin would ever for a second suggest that he has absolute proof of this belief.

He unambiguously claims that we have no free will.

The onus is on those who claim that we don't....unless they have evidence to the contrary. Let's hear about it.

[count2infinity]

It's a philosophy/belief ...there's no onus on anyone.

[columbia]

ie He's pushing religion.

[count2infinity]

I didn't know he was praising the universal equation or allows that belief to impact his life in any meaningful way. If he is then sure. If not it's a belief, just like my beleif that blue is the best wall color for a bathroom. Maybe I'm wrong though. Maybe he does praise that equation.

[columbia]

You might or not have access to sulfuric acid and/milk at work. Suppose you start doing shots of both of them tomorrow (and I'm not sure if you would get past one of the former): would that be an act of free will? If not, would it be because of some external controlling force in the universe, which prohibits your free will? I would think not, so I'm confused as to why anyone would believe that.

[Reveutopique]

I didn't know he was praising the universal equation or allows that belief to impact his life in any meaningful way. If he is then sure. If not it's a belief, just like my beleif that blue is the best wall color for a bathroom. Maybe I'm wrong though. Maybe he does praise that equation.

[Kraftster]

I'm not sure what kind of proof you want... and I'm not sure shmenguin would ever for a second suggest that he has absolute proof of this belief.

He unambiguously claims that we have no free will.

The onus is on those who claim that we don't....unless they have evidence to the contrary. Let's hear about it.

Why is there no onus on one claiming we do have free will?

[shmenguin]

Because of optics.

We look like crazy people.

[Kraftster]

Yeah, I guess. When I went through my moderately militant atheist phase in college, I remember this burden of proof issue coming up a lot. At the end of the day, if you're willing to entertain that everything is incapable of being proven with complete, objective certainty, then you fall into this world where you're just smack in the middle on everything--50/50 chance God exists, 50/50 chance flying spaghetti monster exists, 50/50 chance we have free will, etc.

I don't think anyone actually behaves this way, and doing so basically neuters our rationality and reasoning ability.

I don't recall this with great specificity, but I know on this point Richard Dawkins uses the 1-10 (or is it 0-10) scale for certainty. No one really behaves like everything is a 5, right?

So, the no-free-will argument should certainly be capable of moving one well beyond a 5. Maybe it can't move one to a 10 (what can?), but an 8? That sure seems reasonable.

[Craig]

Because of optics.

We look like crazy people.

And then kraftsters post.


Pop

[shmenguin]

@columbia

I want to get into this. It's my favorite topic. But I legit can't because of time. But here's one thing...the difference between what I believe and religion is that I arrived at my conclusions exclusively through logical deduction. There's no "faith" involved. You may disagree with the logic, and so be it. But 100% of how I feel is based on pragmatism. You won't find any religion in aware of where a member with an adult IQ would make the same claims. It's not an insignificant difference.

[count2infinity]

Did yinz get the dirt dot on your forehead today?

[tifosi77]

Mama Tif said there are churches in Altoona doing drive-through dirt dots today.

[dodint]

A guy that I've been friends with casually for a long time, and am becoming closer to is much more religious than me. So far we haven't talked about it much at all. We're supposed to go to the game on Friday, I"m getting the tickets and he's getting dinner. I think I'm going to order the biggest burger I can find as a litmus test for how this might play out.

[columbia]

So he's Hindu?

[Silentom]

So are you the pitcher or the catcher?

[count2infinity]

@PFiDC?

[CBear3]

Mama Tif said there are churches in Altoona doing drive-through dirt dots today.

Ours is doing that here in KC. First time I've ever heard of it. They were doing drive through ashes with a free coffee and breakfast burrito.

[dodint]

So he's Hindu?

I haven't kept up in about 15 years. Are Catholics not doing the meat-ban on Friday during Lent anymore?

Not PFiDC, but Matt was a mutual friend of ours. He has alienated both of us independently. Go figure.

Wouldn't you like to know, 'Om.

[Silentom]

So he's Hindu?

I haven't kept up in about 15 years. Are Catholics not doing the meat-ban on Friday during Lent anymore?

Not PFiDC, but Matt was a mutual friend of ours. He has alienated both of us independently. Go figure.

Wouldn't you like to know, 'Om.

Yeah, meat ban is still a thing.

He's not as cool as Jack.

[dodint]

So columbia is just being a knob, then? No surprise I guess.