Religion and Morality

[Bono]

'Morality' is nothing more than one's personal preferences.  There is no objective morality.  And of course religious belief is a mental disorder.

I am however one of the most polite persons you'ld ever meet - particularly to the help.

So, as an avowed atheist, you admit to having a mental disorder?

Atheism is a lack of belief really, not a system of belief.

Actually, agnosticism is the lack of belief, atheism is the belief that there is no god of any sort.

exactly. for instance, Budhism and Jainism don't aknowledge the existace of God(s) [not as a supreme being, anyways].

[Bono]

'Morality' is nothing more than one's personal preferences.  There is no objective morality.  And of course religious belief is a mental disorder.

I am however one of the most polite persons you'ld ever meet - particularly to the help.

So, as an avowed atheist, you admit to having a mental disorder?

Atheism is a lack of belief really, not a system of belief.

Actually, agnosticism is the lack of belief, atheism is the belief that there is no god of any sort.

exactly. for instance, Budhism and Jainism don't aknowledge the existace of God(s) [not as a supreme being, anyways].

I wouldn't classify those as atheism though, because I think atheism usually also denies any kind of afterlife(you just rot in the ground).

Those are acessory beliefs.
Atheism simply means that one belives there is no God(s).
the rest may come in addiction.

[Bono]

'Morality' is nothing more than one's personal preferences.  There is no objective morality.  And of course religious belief is a mental disorder.

I am however one of the most polite persons you'ld ever meet - particularly to the help.

So, as an avowed atheist, you admit to having a mental disorder?

Atheism is a lack of belief really, not a system of belief.

Actually, agnosticism is the lack of belief, atheism is the belief that there is no god of any sort.

exactly. for instance, Budhism and Jainism don't aknowledge the existace of God(s) [not as a supreme being, anyways].

I wouldn't classify those as atheism though, because I think atheism usually also denies any kind of afterlife(you just rot in the ground).

Those are acessory beliefs.
Atheism simply means that one belives there is no God(s).
the rest may come in addiction.

Well, having just done some reading, your claim on Buddhism and Jainism having no gods isn't true anyways - I believe what they deny is a supreme creator God(big G), but there are numerous smaller gods.

Buddhism just doesn't have an explicit God(though some variations worship Buddha as one), though they don't deny the existence of gods either - so really they are more agnostic than atheist.

On Jainism http://www.angelfire.com/co/jainism/jaingods.html

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I got to that page too, and altough I can't atm think of any link against that, what they refer to as gods, unless my book is wrong, is really freed souls, a similar state at what budhism calls Nirvana.

[Bono]

'Morality' is nothing more than one's personal preferences.  There is no objective morality.  And of course religious belief is a mental disorder.

I am however one of the most polite persons you'ld ever meet - particularly to the help.

So, as an avowed atheist, you admit to having a mental disorder?

Atheism is a lack of belief really, not a system of belief.

Actually, agnosticism is the lack of belief, atheism is the belief that there is no god of any sort.

Atheism: Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.

Disbelief: Refusal or reluctance to believe.

Even if you don't accept that and still maintain that Atheism is a belief, Opebo spoke of religious belief.

Religious: Having or showing belief in and reverence for God or a deity.

As atheism is the belief that there is NOT a God or deity, if you still classify it is a belief, it is not a religious belief.

Agnosticism isn't necessarily a lack of belief, it may be a lack of religious belief, but not necessarily a lack of belief as agnostics generally believe you cannot prove/disprove the existence of God.

A religious belief is a belief in something that is out of the observable bounds.
The existance or non-existance of God is scientificaly unobservable, so it can only be debated on philosophical terms.n
Where was I going with this?

[Bono]

'Morality' is nothing more than one's personal preferences.  There is no objective morality.  And of course religious belief is a mental disorder.

I am however one of the most polite persons you'ld ever meet - particularly to the help.

So, as an avowed atheist, you admit to having a mental disorder?

Atheism is a lack of belief really, not a system of belief.

Actually, agnosticism is the lack of belief, atheism is the belief that there is no god of any sort.

Atheism: Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.

Disbelief: Refusal or reluctance to believe.

Even if you don't accept that and still maintain that Atheism is a belief, Opebo said spoke of religious belief.

Religious: Having or showing belief in and reverence for God or a deity.

As atheism is the belief that there is NOT a God or deity, if you still classify it is a belief, it is not a religious belief.

Agnosticism isn't necessarily a lack of belief, it may be a lack of religious belief, but not necessarily a lack of belief as agnostics generally believe you cannot prove/disprove the existence of God.

Just keep in mind you are talking to an agnostic here.

I view atheism as a belief, at least bordering on the religious and definitely being so in some cases, because to say there is no God or gods without having any evidence to support that belief means you believe there is no God(s) entirely on faith.

As for agnostics, it really is the lack of belief - since we believe you cannot prove/disprove a religion, we take the "I don't know" route. Since we don't know what divine beings may or may not be out there, we do not make claims one way or the other.

If I say there is no Loch Ness Monster without any evidence to support it, am I basing that entirely on faith? The burden of proof should lie with those stating the existence of something. If I said there were unicorns at the North Pole, whose request of proof would hold greater merit, yours that I prove my statement or mine that you disprove my statement?

No, because that's in the realm of the observable.

[Bono]

'Morality' is nothing more than one's personal preferences.  There is no objective morality.  And of course religious belief is a mental disorder.

I am however one of the most polite persons you'ld ever meet - particularly to the help.

So, as an avowed atheist, you admit to having a mental disorder?

Atheism is a lack of belief really, not a system of belief.

Actually, agnosticism is the lack of belief, atheism is the belief that there is no god of any sort.

Atheism: Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.

Disbelief: Refusal or reluctance to believe.

Even if you don't accept that and still maintain that Atheism is a belief, Opebo said spoke of religious belief.

Religious: Having or showing belief in and reverence for God or a deity.

As atheism is the belief that there is NOT a God or deity, if you still classify it is a belief, it is not a religious belief.

Agnosticism isn't necessarily a lack of belief, it may be a lack of religious belief, but not necessarily a lack of belief as agnostics generally believe you cannot prove/disprove the existence of God.

Just keep in mind you are talking to an agnostic here.

I view atheism as a belief, at least bordering on the religious and definitely being so in some cases, because to say there is no God or gods without having any evidence to support that belief means you believe there is no God(s) entirely on faith.

As for agnostics, it really is the lack of belief - since we believe you cannot prove/disprove a religion, we take the "I don't know" route. Since we don't know what divine beings may or may not be out there, we do not make claims one way or the other.

If I say there is no Loch Ness Monster without any evidence to support it, am I basing that entirely on faith? The burden of proof should lie with those stating the existence of something. If I said there were unicorns at the North Pole, whose request of proof would hold greater merit, yours that I prove my statement or mine that you disprove my statement?

No, because that's in the realm of the observable.

So as long as it is in the realm of the unobservable, I can make whatever claim I wish and it is up to those who doubt to disprove it? I'm a gonna go and have some fun!

I agree with JFK. I could, for example, that these unicorns at the North Pole are invisible, inaudible, etc. Does that suddenly make my claim of their existence valid?

Atheism is nothing more than the absence of theism. It is not a positive belief system in and of itself (although so-called "gnostic atheism" or "strong atheism" is). A lack of belief in a god is perfectly harmonious with reason, and are logically concordant with Occam's razor.

The explanation that requires less assumptions for teh origin of the unvierse is that a supreme being created it. You can ask Muon about that, the Big Bang requires a lot of assumptions.