The atheist has no "faith." So he believes
The atheist has no "faith." So he believes Ray Comfor<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />t<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
"I was just reading some reviews of your book over on Amazon. LOL. I had a quick look at the first page of the book and I just had to pass on my observation. The first lie I can see is in the third sentence on page 1: 'An 'atheist' believes that there is no God...' While that statement correctly describes me -- I believe that there is no God -- the vast majority of atheists do not hold this view. They merely lack belief in gods. Quite different from what you are saying. I'm calling you out on the lie as I know we've explained the difference to you many times now. It isn't just a simple mistake on your part. It's a lie Ray." alphgeekIt's true. Most contemporary atheists carefully say that they "lack belief in gods." I say "carefully" because they don't want to be seen as having any "faith" at all, probably because of its overtones.So let's look closely at what they are saying. If I tell you "I lack belief that my Ford truck has a maker," I am saying that I think nothing made it. It just happened. That is scientifically impossible. Nothing is nothing. It cannot "make" anything. If it can make something, then it's not nothing because it has the power to make something.So the contemporary atheist with his semantics paints himself into an intellectual dilemma. He has the choice of thinking nothing made everything, that something made everything (perhaps God) and is no longer an atheist, or he joins the "Don't Understand How" club--the DUH.Penn Jillette is a well-known atheist. Look at his honesty when it comes to the issue of believing: "I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy . . . But, this 'This I Believe' thing seems to demand something more personal, some leap of faith that helps one see life's big picture, some rules to live by. So, I'm saying, 'This I believe: I believe there is no God.'"
Darwin's Cabbage Racism
Charles Darwin's Origin of Species hasn't always had that title. The book's full title is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. For some reason, in the 6th edition of 1872 the title was changed. Deborah Drapper said, "Yes its title really is a bit too long. So why don't we call it The Preservation of Favoured Races? Don't you think it is time to give the other half of the title its turn. It might catch on really well."Of course, Darwin's followers don't think he was a racist. When he was talking about "favored races," he wasn't talking about people, but cabbages:"Nevertheless, as our varieties certainly do occasionally revert in some of their characters to ancestral forms, it seems to me not improbable, that if we could succeed in naturalizing, or were to cultivate, during many generations, the several races, for instance, of the cabbage, in very poor soil (in which case, however, some effect would have to be attributed to the direct action of the poor soil), that they would to a large extent, or even wholly, revert to the wild aboriginal stock."However, before faithful believers stand in line to look at the facial hair of Charles Darwin in England's Natural History Museum, they may like to rethink about the character of the man to whom they are paying homage. Darwin also said,"Lastly, more than one writer has asked, why have some animals had their mental powers more highly developed than others, as such development would be advantageous to all? Why have not apes acquired the intellectual powers of man? Various causes could be assigned; but as they are conjectural, and their relative probability cannot be weighed, it would be useless to give them. A definite answer to the latter question ought not to be expected, seeing that no one can solve the simpler problem why, of two races of savages, one has risen higher in the scale of civilization than the other; and this apparently implies increased brain-power."[1]"At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace throughout the world the savage races. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break will then be rendered wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as at present between the negro or Australian and the gorilla."[2]Could someone explain talkorigins.org means by: "Darwin himself was far less racist than most of his contemporaries"?[1] Origin of Species, Charles Darwin, page 181[2] Darwin, C. R. 1871. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. London: John Murray. Volume 1. 1st edition.
Trending Stories
Latest
WE'RE A 100% LISTENER SUPPORTED NETWORK
3 Simple Ways to Support WVW Foundation
Make Monthly Donations
-or-
A One-Time Donation
-
Mail In Your Donation
Worldview Weekend Foundation
PO BOX 1690
Collierville, TN, 38027 USA -
Donate by Phone
901-825-0652