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The Unresolved Issues of Atheism

Started by SidewalkCynic, January 25, 2019, 01:15:44 PM

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SidewalkCynic

The Thinking Atheist forum that I was a member of shutdown.

Since 2003, I have been a member of several other atheists forums that have shut down for reasons unknown to me. It's not me, I do not post very often, but I do like to engage when the discussion of unresolved atheist issues arises; which is what prompted me to register - I noticed a recurring issue was recently discussed here.

I believe the over-all reason that atheist forums fail is because of the failure to reach binding resolution of unresolved issues, because of the lack of a reliable system for the review of the arguments. Eventually, members tire of the recurring discussions not resolving the issue, and they rationalize that there is no reason to continue paying their membership dues.
If there were a god, then it would have revealed itself to me. There has never been anything more important in the history of Mankind than what I am delivering - scientific collation theory for the organization of technology.

Tank

Quote from: SidewalkCynic on January 25, 2019, 01:15:44 PM
The Thinking Atheist forum that I was a member of shutdown.

Since 2003, I have been a member of several other atheists forums that have shut down for reasons unknown to me. It's not me, I do not post very often, but I do like to engage when the discussion of unresolved atheist issues arises; which is what prompted me to register - I noticed a recurring issue was recently discussed here.

I believe the over-all reason that atheist forums fail is because of the failure to reach binding resolution of unresolved issues, because of the lack of a reliable system for the review of the arguments. Eventually, members tire of the recurring discussions not resolving the issue, and they rationalize that there is no reason to continue paying their membership dues.

Hi and welcome aboard. I too have been involved in a few atheist forums over the years. It is my impression that they wither due to lack of contribution, implode due to personality clashes or because the owner gets bored/fed up with breaking up fights :D

As you say the issue of dealing with all the same old issues can lead to a forum withering. I came here originally because this was one of the oldest established forums. I am now the official owner of the site. It's quite cheap to host as the database is small due to the fact we don't allow the uploading of images or files. This has the added benefit of preventing us becoming an unwitting conduit for the transfer of illegal material!

Regards
Chris
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Bad Penny II

#2
Quote from: SidewalkCynic on January 25, 2019, 01:15:44 PM
I believe the over-all reason that atheist forums fail is because of the failure to reach binding resolution of unresolved issues, because of the lack of a reliable system for the review of the arguments.

Welcome, you have heard of the herding cats thing?


Quote from: SidewalkCynic on January 25, 2019, 01:15:44 PM. Eventually, members tire of the recurring discussions not resolving the issue, and they rationalize that there is no reason to continue paying their membership dues.

I am the forum fool, banana, octopus, squid.
Only I can ask, what is this unresolved issue?
Take my advice, don't listen to me.

SidewalkCynic

Quote from: Bad Penny II on January 25, 2019, 01:33:14 PM
Welcome, you have heard of the herding cats thing?
Yes, I have; and the problem is that atheists believe that there is an infinite number of differing opinions - that is not true. Although, it appears that there are a tremendous amount of distinguishable opinions, it is not that many - there are only a few rational and reasonable opinions. Atheists are just too lazy to sort it out, and recognize that they behold incorrect concepts (dogma) that were generated by faulty dictionary editors of a bygone era of sophistication, and that they are maintaining the faulty approach to valid reasoning.

Quote from: Bad Penny II on January 25, 2019, 01:33:14 PM
Only I can ask, what is this unresolved issue?
The overall issue is addressed in my reply to the "herding cats" anecdote. To get specific, the definitions of two words in the atheists' toolbox is the starting point to deliberate:

Religion: http://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=16081.0
Atheism: http://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=15889.0
If there were a god, then it would have revealed itself to me. There has never been anything more important in the history of Mankind than what I am delivering - scientific collation theory for the organization of technology.

SidewalkCynic

Quote from: Tank on January 25, 2019, 01:28:08 PMIt's quite cheap to host as the database is small due to the fact we don't allow the uploading of images or files.
Well, that is cool. That solves a lot of problems, as well - helps keep focus on the discussion.
If there were a god, then it would have revealed itself to me. There has never been anything more important in the history of Mankind than what I am delivering - scientific collation theory for the organization of technology.

xSilverPhinx

I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Dark Lightning


Tank

Moved thread as it's heading down the discussion route.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Icarus

Welcome SC. 

The HAF forum distinguishes itself by not becoming hung up on atheistic aggravations of Christian, Muslim, Scientology, Mormanism, or other kookery.. There is little profit in bashing the other element of society. (we can do so when appropriate but that is not our main line of thought)  We have other interests that are pleasing to us.....see the photography sections, the one for foodies, the music section,  the science sections, The humor sections, and most of all the human interest commentary wherein we commiserate with each other.  So alright already we are almost all insufferable liberals who sometimes discuss political developments both here in the US and abroad.

Tank

Quote from: Icarus on January 26, 2019, 02:08:36 AM
Welcome SC. 

The HAF forum distinguishes itself by not becoming hung up on atheistic aggravations of Christian, Muslim, Scientology, Mormanism, or other kookery.. There is little profit in bashing the other element of society. (we can do so when appropriate but that is not our main line of thought)  We have other interests that are pleasing to us.....see the photography sections, the one for foodies, the music section,  the science sections, The humor sections, and most of all the human interest commentary wherein we commiserate with each other.  So alright already we are almost all insufferable liberals who sometimes discuss political developments both here in the US and abroad.

Well said.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

SidewalkCynic

Quote from: Icarus on January 26, 2019, 02:08:36 AM
Welcome SC.
Thank you - nice to meet you. And everyone. . .

Quote from: Icarus on January 26, 2019, 02:08:36 AM
The HAF forum distinguishes itself by not becoming hung up on atheistic aggravations of Christian, Muslim, Scientology, Mormanism, or other kookery.. There is little profit in bashing the other element of society. (we can do so when appropriate but that is not our main line of thought)
When you do, I probably will not - I usually do not care what they do in their irrational campaigns to justify their actions, except when it actually causes harm to the rational approach of humanism.

Quote from: Icarus on January 26, 2019, 02:08:36 AMWe have other interests that are pleasing to us.....see the photography sections, the one for foodies, the music section,  the science sections, The humor sections, and most of all the human interest commentary wherein we commiserate with each other.  So alright already we are almost all insufferable liberals who sometimes discuss political developments both here in the US and abroad.
Politics is the best thing for atheists to concentrate on - Atheism is a political doctrine, humanism is the ontological doctrine that is the proper retort to theism. It is in the best interest of atheists to begin sorting the rational and reasonable from the irrational and unreasonable.

Liberals will see me as conservative, and theist conservatives will see me as liberal. I believe conservative commentators have a much better exercise of reason than liberals; but being an atheist and campaigning for a new government chartering system seemingly lands me in the liberal pile.

I believe that eventually, conservatives will be much more inclined to accept the idea of a new charter system before liberals will. Liberals are more inclined to believe that corruption is inevitable, and the more corrupt, the better the politician; and so, a new system is detrimental to their ability to exploit the inadequacies of the subsisting system.

The solution to the immigration problem is to provide a reliable government charter for the developing nations to eliminate the corruption and educate the population. No system is convertible for use in developing communities. The US system "works," because it is a product of its own soft corruption, but it is deteriorating now, because its optimum aspects cannot handle the inadequacies that are exploited by the tremendous increase of diversity.
If there were a god, then it would have revealed itself to me. There has never been anything more important in the history of Mankind than what I am delivering - scientific collation theory for the organization of technology.

Bluenose

Quote from: SidewalkCynic on January 26, 2019, 03:10:34 PM
The solution to the immigration problem is to provide a reliable government charter for the developing nations to eliminate the corruption and educate the population. No system is convertible for use in developing communities. The US system "works," because it is a product of its own soft corruption, but it is deteriorating now, because its optimum aspects cannot handle the inadequacies that are exploited by the tremendous increase of diversity.

No, the US system does not work.
Exhibit 1: the election of Trump despite overwhelmingly losing the popular vote. 
Exhibit 2: the electoral college, a major cluster fuck if ever there was one
Exhibit 3: ridiculously gerrymandered electoral districts
Exhibit 4: voter suppression
Exhibit 5: the government could not secure supply, but did not fall?  Seriously?

I could go on, but you get the point.
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


SidewalkCynic

I put the word, "works," in quotes, because I understand that it is flawed, and I described how it overcomes its flaws to appear to "work." (I am an excellent reasoner) Although, you have a fair collection of grievances, you have not generated a solution. Who do you want to generate a solution - the overwhelming population of Christian lawyers???

How about the point of the paragraph that you erroneously cherry-picked a specific sentence to contest - how do We fix the corrupt governments of the countries that the people are abandoning for the fucked-up racist Amerikkka? My agenda is to fix it!!! Your agenda is to just contest me! You missed the point, because you are jealous that you could not generate a solution.  It would seem that brilliant liberals would have a plan, other than to just welcome them to the racist country to somehow overwhelm the racist population and redistribute the wealth - eventually the wealth runs out.
If there were a god, then it would have revealed itself to me. There has never been anything more important in the history of Mankind than what I am delivering - scientific collation theory for the organization of technology.

Tom62

Welcome to HAF, SidewalkCynic.
Don't worry, not all HAF members are liberals  ;).
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

Tank

"(I am an excellent reasoner)"

In my experience people who say this sort of thing are trying to convince themselves. This adds neither to you case nor your credibility. It means less than nothing to me, nor I suspect anybody else here. Bring your arguments and then walk away and let them do your work for you. If your arguments are that good they don't need your help or force of assertion to convince us.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.