Truth Journal---Theism, Atheism, and Rationality

Origins.org/ ^ | Updated: 11 June 1997 | Alvin Plantinga

[Vercingetorix]

Atheism as generally expressed is not a belief. It is more often the simple knowledge that all known religions are patently false in their primary assertions about the nature of reality. -- Vercingetorix

"If it is knowledge, then it should be provable. Again, what proofs are there besides the apparently flawed evidentialist and geneticist rejections of theism?" -- Dumb Ox

That was the point of my very first post. The proof is always in the history and most especially the history of the origin of the religion. Religions are invariably founded on philosophical concepts that, once usurped, are always corrupted or abandoned in favor of the expedient of survival. Well established religions may become benign but this hardly means they have discovered the truth.

Religions also inspire and shed new cults constantly. Judaism depended on Zoroastrianism, Christianity on Judaism and Pagan Mythology, Islam on Judaism and Christianity. Heresies spring up and become new religions. Sects proliferate and contest with one another for adherents. None of recent vintage are connected in any way with the sort of events that believers associate with the great monotheistic religions of antiquity (a god actually involving himself in the affairs of men). Yet these upstarts don't seem to have any trouble finding adherents and growing by leaps and bounds.

A great number of religions are founded on nothing more than gross misinterpretations of some obscure passage from this or that scripture. The point is that there are other historical records than those that any particular religion uses to substantiate its claim to special knowledge of god. Unfortunately for the posturing proselytizer, history gives the lie to his claim of unique divine revelation when he foolishly copies or modifies preexisting practices and beliefs which themselves are recorded elsewhere. When the hierarchy of such a religion, realizing the mistake that has been made, seek to destroy the record of their origin, they leave an additional record of the deceit. No religion is exempt and none passes the test. They are all false.

Does that prove that a god does not exist? No, but it does prove that every god that man has worshipped so far is only an invention or, more likely, a poor copy of a prior invention. Does the earliest recorded versions of god provide anything which might support any of the later versions? Absolutely not. The earliest recorded gods were powerful and meddlesome but pretty much human otherwise. In fact, the proclivity for mating with humans was one of the distinguishing features of the most powerful. Every god to follow derives some of its qualities from the earliest versions until god finally winds up as an abstract supreme being without much in the way of human properties save for a reputed but remarkably inconsistent paternal affection (minus the sexual attraction) for his chosen ones.

[Vercingetorix]

"Philosophical geniuses...agnostic-atheist are not synonyms!" -- f.Christian

My point exactly. Which is why I pointed out that using the Atheist label is rarely correct. People too commonly refer to anyone who doesn't accept their particular brand of religion as an atheist.

[Vercingetorix]

"Both heathens." -- Khepera

Heath Dwellers. Country folk not disposed to abandon their household gods in favor of the new Christian deity preferred by the disenfranchised masses of uneducated city dwellers. Likewise Pagan is from the Latin, Pagani, meaning village dweller. Folks also content with the official gods revered by their fathers and naturally disinclined to join strange cults at the behest of roving madmen.

[f.Christian]

Additionally, Planting offers an argument to the effect that intellectual malfunction cannot be objectively defined with respect to belief in a god. He does not ask how the believer acquired his belief or if it matters at all what is believed as long as something is believed. If and when he treads down that path he will likely become an atheist himself.

9 posted on 3/1/02 8:44 PM Hawaii-Aleutian by Vercingetorix

Translation--explanation for that one!

Maybe you could critique the... Realatarian Party---for me!

[f.Christian]

Main Entry: evo·lu·tion
Pronunciation: "e-v&-'lü-sh&n, "E-v&-
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin evolution-, evolutio unrolling, from evolvere
Date: 1622
1 : one of a set of prescribed movements
2 a : a process of change in a certain direction :
UNFOLDING b : the action or an instance of forming and giving something off : EMISSION c
(1) : a process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse to a higher, more complex, or better state : GROWTH
(2) : a process of gradual and relatively peaceful social, political, and economic advance d : something evolved
3 : the process of working out or developing
4 a : the historical development of a biological group (as a race or species) : PHYLOGENY b : a theory that the various types of animals and plants have their origin in other preexisting types and that the distinguishable differences are due to modifications in successive generations
5 : the extraction of a mathematical root
6 : a process in which the whole universe is a progression of interrelated phenomena

[f.Christian]

Main Entry: sci·ence
Pronunciation: 'sI-&n(t)s
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin scientia, from scient-, sciens having knowledge, from present participle of scire to know; probably akin to Sanskrit chyati he cuts off, Latin scindere to split -- more at SHED
Date: 14th century
1 : the state of knowing : knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding
2 a : a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study b : something (as a sport or technique) that may be studied or learned like systematized knowledge
3 a : knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method b : such knowledge or such a system of knowledge concerned with the physical world and its phenomena : NATURAL SCIENCE
4 : a system or method reconciling practical ends with scientific laws

[f.Christian]

"The theist without evidence, we might say, is an intellectual gimp."

The A-theist/evolutionist without evidence, we might say, is an intellectual gimp.

[JediGirl]

thank you for the bump, dear, and i will read this

[RnMomof7]

Ping

[anniegetyourgun]

A philosphy is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. Therefore, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on the only One who can save.

[RnMomof7]

Amen sister

[f.Christian]

Main Entry: phi·los·o·phy
Pronunciation: f&-'lä-s(&-)fE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -phies
Etymology: Middle English philosophie, from Old French, from Latin philosophia, from Greek, from philosophos philosopher
Date: 14th century
1 a
(1) : all learning exclusive of technical precepts and practical arts
(2) : the sciences and liberal arts exclusive of medicine, law, and theology
(3) : the 4-year college course of a major seminary b (1) archaic : PHYSICAL SCIENCE (2) : ETHICS c : a discipline comprising as its core logic, aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology
2 a : pursuit of wisdom b : a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means c : an analysis of the grounds of and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs
3 a : a system of philosophical concepts b : a theory underlying or regarding a sphere of activity or thought
4 a : the most general beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group b : calmness of temper and judgment befitting a philosopher

In a sense...every soul is a philosophy(consciousness)---good/saved vs bad/lost!