praxis

Fort Agnostic, featuring high walls, a lovely moat, and a tall tower upon which to look down on the ignorant masses.

I don’t know if you really responded to S in that, as far as I can tell so far, there’s no meaningful difference between a “transcendent Deity” and, s...

I’m familiar with the concepts but not the terms, and they are important concepts to me, so thanks for that. In fact, I used these concepts just yeste...

No. I suppose that I'll need to study these in order to continue. Just trying to understand your concept of God, which I find fascinating.

Earlier you wrote that you didn't think God could be called "a being" among other beings, and yet here you say that God has 'a morality', 'a cognition...

Everything is not a subset of being. You've suggested non-dualism in reference to God but haven't followed through on what that may imply. What about ...

This is as redundant as saying ‘socialized language’. Also, aesthetic experience and expression do not require religion. Not that you were saying it d...

Maybe if we could fully accept the truth, no matter what it turned out to be, we’d be happy.

I realize this is a thought experiment but can't get over the contradiction that if the android were truly free it would be free to have the switch re...

No matter how you paint the picture it's 'one God fewer'. Besides, there are gods in Buddhist doctrine but they're regarded as merely other sentient b...

It seems just as sensible to say that ‘everything’ is ‘being’, or with reverence, Being. It’s what allows being. A pencil shares in everything and has...

So you don’t believe in theistic or cosmological dualism. In relation to what S wrote this could mean that you believe that God is the world (everythi...

It may be “literally everything” for some but not the vast majority. That it can be so important, combined with its tendency to devalue reason and pro...

Should the move from polytheism to monotheism be explored further or do you intend to move on, Mariner?

An overarching narrative that expresses shared values, common goals, and the like. The elements of meaning. I’d think that would be unifying and that ...

Clusters of observations are auto-associated in a neural network, I understand, so that would make a god concept superfluous to the task of unificatio...

Failure to prove something doesn’t necessarily indicate ignorance. You can’t prove to me, for instance, that you’ve visited the Eiffel Tower, at least...

I can’t tell from the review, being so thickly anti-Dennett.

An interesting and rich argument that, frankly, is beyond my depth, at least at a glance. It inspires a new thought for me though: that for theists th...

I don’t see it. Maybe you haven’t posted it yet. You seemed to suggest that clarification of symbols or concepts would be productive to a discussion s...

I was wondering if you’ve thoroughly challenged your own lofty position. In claiming “our” ignorance, you’re saying that both theists and atheists are...

Please. I just politely requested that you supply us the correct 'instructions' for what I was lead to believe is a method for seriously challenging a...

Earlier in the topic you seemed to suggest that there was some universality to the concept of God. I could be mistaken about that. In any case, I’m cu...

Would you mind posting the correct instructions? If you’ve previously posted them then you could just cut & paste.

Significantly, this at least highlights the fact that God, like any other thing, changes, and if it changes then it has no static or essential nature....

Yeah, when’s the show gonna start? I got my popcorn and watermelon bong all ready to go.

I suggest we turn to the ever titillating topic of Eliminative Ontic Structural Subjective Idealism metaphysics. Who wants to go first?

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Jake has agreed that religion is superfluous to the project of 're-establishing a psychic connection with reality', a c...

Now is that reasonable? But seriously, if you don't like reason there are countless other forums that don't appear to like it as well.

The point is as I wrote, that the claim is meaningless. Either side may or may not be a faith position. Simply asserting the existence of God may not ...

Silly straw-man. If you’re done beating on it I’ll point out that I made no claim the concept of God corisponds to nothing real, only that it’s a conc...

For example? Are you suggesting that you’re unable to at least outline the circumstances where killing is not immoral?

It was never bad. It’s unfortunate that you feel defeated rather than feeling like you’ve gain something from the exchange, if only mild amusement.

Do you have the ability to know things without having a concept of them?

To reiterate, they're not falling in love with reality, they're falling in love with God, or rather, their religion ('re-ligare', to tie or to bind).

Is this supposed to resolve the contradiction?

So either killing other human beings is not against an innate moral sense or it's not immoral under particular circumstances. Can you at least outline...

I'll start simple. Killing other human beings is wrong according to your belief in an innate moral sense. Adherents of theistic religions kill other h...

??? It is the exact issue.

Yes, persuasive to me. I don't know, in any case this is a different issue and I have no interest in persuading you of that.

Can you present a persuasive argument against the thought that theism or religious beliefs in general are not a corruption of this innate moral base t...

Seeking understanding, truth, wisdom or whatever, rather than merely trying to win an argument.

Unless I've misread him, Jake appears to be basically claiming that what he refers to as "thought" leads to a "loss of psychic connection with reality...

I haven't made a scientific or factual claim. I've merely pointed out a contradiction in your reasoning. A theistic narrative is a step removed from r...

This is a rather meaningless claim. A religion cannot comprise of the simple notion that 'God exists'. An entire meaning system makes up a religion. C...

Go ahead and say it the way you want to, Jake: Religion is about our RELATIONSHIP with God.

Atheists are human and according to your beliefs humans have an innate moral base. Problem solved. :smile:

Sounds like a bad after school special to me.

This is self-contradictory. Making reality relatable via a theistic narrative is a step removed from reality. But at least you seem to have moved from...

Apparently Trump missed his cues from Fox News and claimed that he meant it as a joke. Imagine telling the same joke for years at rallies and it only ...