The right to be wrong and the crucial ability to acknowledge one's fallibility.

[Davin]

@Crow: I agree with you. Though I would recommend not using my endorsement because my agreement is based on anecdotal evidence.

[Melmoth]

In my experience the people who I would consider absolutists are also theists/deists of some kind, not exclusively but predominantly. More often than not their emotional attachments to their world view overrides their ability to hold a view that has any scepticism of their position whatsoever. I'm being careful not to be absolutist about theists though because a) I have not met all theists (and never could), b) I have come across a few that have claimed they would concede their world view could be changed (although in practice this has proved to be a hollow claim).  

I tend to agree with this. That having been said, we're often blind to fault with those who share our opinions. That's a weakness that none of us are above. I've met plenty of atheists who like to throw words like 'objective' 'rational' 'logical' around with very little idea of what they actually mean, and this recent Atheist movement has begun to look dangerously like a massive circle-jerk in certain corners of cyberspace. Here, people don't seem to have their heads too far up each others arses. But there are other atheist forums around which cultivate some incredibly arrogant, hypocritical attitudes - where the members are so smugly certain of their intellectual highground it make me want to yank something's teeth out.

[Tank]

In my experience the people who I would consider absolutists are also theists/deists of some kind, not exclusively but predominantly. More often than not their emotional attachments to their world view overrides their ability to hold a view that has any scepticism of their position whatsoever. I'm being careful not to be absolutist about theists though because a) I have not met all theists (and never could), b) I have come across a few that have claimed they would concede their world view could be changed (although in practice this has proved to be a hollow claim).  

I tend to agree with this. That having been said, we're often blind to fault with those who share our opinions. That's a weakness that none of us are above. I've met plenty of atheists who like to throw words like 'objective' 'rational' 'logical' around with very little idea of what they actually mean, and this recent Atheist movement has begun to look dangerously like a massive circle-jerk in certain corners of cyberspace. Here, people don't seem to have their heads too far up each others arses. But there are other atheist forums around which cultivate some incredibly arrogant, hypocritical attitudes - where the members are so smugly certain of their intellectual highground it make me want to yank something's teeth out.

I agree. Arrogance is a personal trait that knows no ideological boundaries. 

[xSilverPhinx]

In my experience the people who I would consider absolutists are also theists/deists of some kind, not exclusively but predominantly. More often than not their emotional attachments to their world view overrides their ability to hold a view that has any scepticism of their position whatsoever. I'm being careful not to be absolutist about theists though because a) I have not met all theists (and never could), b) I have come across a few that have claimed they would concede their world view could be changed (although in practice this has proved to be a hollow claim). 

I tend to agree with this. That having been said, we're often blind to fault with those who share our opinions. That's a weakness that none of us are above. I've met plenty of atheists who like to throw words like 'objective' 'rational' 'logical' around with very little idea of what they actually mean, and this recent Atheist movement has begun to look dangerously like a massive circle-jerk in certain corners of cyberspace. Here, people don't seem to have their heads too far up each others arses. But there are other atheist forums around which cultivate some incredibly arrogant, hypocritical attitudes - where the members are so smugly certain of their intellectual highground it make me want to yank something's teeth out.

I agree. Arrogance is a personal trait that knows no ideological boundaries. 

Arrogance has to be earned, but to able to be humbly arrogant is an art.

But back to the point, yes, I agree that some of the new atheists look a bit too much like a religious following.

[Davin]

But back to the point, yes, I agree that some of the new atheists look a bit too much like a religious following.

Your criticism has been reported to the Elders of Atheism, you will now be harassed by thousands of mindless atomotons until you apologize for saying something not flattering about us.

[xSilverPhinx]

Your criticism has been reported to the Elders of Atheism, you will now be harassed by thousands of mindless atomotons until you apologize for saying something not flattering about us.

Atheists have their own version of the inquisition ??? I didn't sign up for this!

[Stevil]

I think it is really interesting to try and understand the way others think. Sometimes when I dialogue with theists, i really struggle to understand how they can believe in the things that they say. it almost feels like they are taking the piss.

But they really do believe it and they struggle, really struggle to understand my position, how i can not have a belief in god. How i can want to be good dispite there not being an objective morality or a god to please or a heaven to earn my way into.

Sometimes I think these people are brainwashed and incapable of really seeing and understanding things for what they are.
Sometimes I wonder how limited my own thinking is, for what things am I brainwashed in, what beliefs of mine are rediculous but where I am unable to see clearly enough to know this?

[Melmoth]

Sometimes I wonder how limited my own thinking is, for what things am I brainwashed in, what beliefs of mine are rediculous but where I am unable to see clearly enough to know this?

Safe to assume all of them, since there's no real way to tell.

[xSilverPhinx]

I think it is really interesting to try and understand the way others think. Sometimes when I dialogue with theists, i really struggle to understand how they can believe in the things that they say. it almost feels like they are taking the piss.

But they really do believe it and they struggle, really struggle to understand my position, how i can not have a belief in god. How i can want to be good dispite there not being an objective morality or a god to please or a heaven to earn my way into.

Sometimes I think these people are brainwashed and incapable of really seeing and understanding things for what they are.
Sometimes I wonder how limited my own thinking is, for what things am I brainwashed in, what beliefs of mine are rediculous but where I am unable to see clearly enough to know this?

I think its easier to imagine thinking as a theist for an atheist than the other way round, god is so ingrained in the fabric of reality for them that they can really have a hard time understanding a paradigm or interpretation of existence without god.

IMO god is essentially unknowable so whether he exists or not is irrelavent and won't get us any closer or further away from any objective metaphysical truth (assuming there is one). Beliefs about god would not fall within the range of 'justified knowledge' in epistimological terms, just 'belief'.