A message to the atheists, the agnostics, and the deists

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Reason is a two way street, because it's brings us as a species to do the unnatural, which separates us from the animals that we are in many ways. We have expand on concepts such as the nest, and the pack/herd, and create cities and civilization. Yet with such reason we have made natural struggle and refined it to the point were we can destroy ourselves, granted i'm far from a dove myself. Then again even if we didn't evolve some other species might have done so in our place.

Aristotle tells us that Man is the Rational Animal, which we are sometimes.

ruveyn

I don't agree with that because regardless of faith in any type of religion or philosophical ideology, reason, when used properly is brilliant and all living concious organisms, whether it is an insect, bird or whatever, even if not as intelligent as ourselves, still makes concious decisions based upon the information it senses. That is still reason, regardless of how much it can comprehend its own future.

M-Bare-assed by religion topic

In ''young'' youth when I was in the last throes of religiousity my doubts were all too obvious both to myself and others. I had visions of a god who had a lot of explaining to do, then I realized the nonsense inherit in this getting angry at something that was never really a belief of mine. Looking back, religion was more of a political act, of trying to force religion as a humanistic behaviour. I was already an existentialist, and found this more plausible than exploring the religious dimension. Belonging to a unitarian congregation that emphasized humanism and soical action was for me a key to atheism. I have no regrets about the paths that led me to enlightenment, and so there was no embarassment as I evolved into what I am now, and it all fits.

I like the way you think, Sartresue. Good way of looking at it.

Ryan, that site is f*****g awesome. Thanks for pointing me to it.

Science isn't faith, at least not to the degree wildly guessing the nature of God, and flipping a coin to pick a sacred text is. The only real problem Science suffers from is the non A Priori nature of Perception, but that is equally as big a problem for theists.[/quote]

I never "faith" meant in the religious content, but in the context of having too much faith in something, like to believe science and logic to be unfailing.[/quote]

Only an idiot isn't aware of the possibility of fallibility in their filed of study. I don't believe Science is necessarily infallible, due to the problems of human error, potential epistemic fallibility of the senses, and the problem of induction. However, Theists have to assume the first two are insignificant too, and I think a sound method is more likely to get us decent answers. Logic is assumed by all to be unfailing, because language breaks down when we assume A stops being equal to A.





I disagree with the use of the word "conscious". E. Coli doesn't think, but it does perceive and process information.

I disagree with the use of the word "conscious". E. Coli doesn't think, but it does perceive and process information.[/quote]

I meant only the concious ones.

If I meant bacteria and virus as well, I would have left out the word concious.

I meant only the concious ones.

If I meant bacteria and virus as well, I would have left out the word concious.

What is was implying was that most animals only have limited consciousness, even though they are rational.

Well the more developed a conciousness is the greater equipped a species is to make rational decisions, and vice versa.

i hope that answers your question.