From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Date: Fri Nov 29 1996 - 13:02:25 MST
QueeneMUSE@aol.com wrote:
>
> HAL DUNN:
>
> >>An agnostic, therefore, is one who maintains that there might be some
> >supernatural being that is closed to human knowledge. Religious "belief" is
> >based on whatever it is you believe -- and usually "faith." One can't say:
> well I WANT to believe, so I will. Nor can one say: I don't >WANT to
> believe, so I won't. You either believe or you don't believe. (Of course
> >you can always change your mind.) };-}
>
> IMHO, most atheists are convinced that "god" is an impossiblity, and it is
> not subject to their "faith or
> belief" but usually to evidence (or lack of, explicitly).
>
WHich in my opinion is just as much of a dogma without support as faith
in a theism.
> The thing you talk about is what I heard the Secular
> Humanists refer to as an _Uncertain Deists_.
>
> (Believes there probably is some kind of god, but not
> sure what it is.)
>
If anything, this is probably where I wind up. You might also call us
_Faithless Deists_. The requirement to have "faith" is IMHO anathema to
anyone who considers themselves to have a scientific mind. Whether this
faith is in the existence or nonexistence of a U-Prime, it does not
matter, as nothing can be proven, NOW. Others like John Clark would say
that to a scientist, if it can't be proven NOW then it doesn't exist,
which is wrong. There is much in our observable universe which we have
no idea how it works, and there are plenty of loopholes in scientific
theories that describe phenomena which we have no way of proving or
observing NOW. Tomorrow we may be able to, and that is called progress,
which is the scientists "holy" mission to bring about. A scientist
cannot do so if he or she has a closed mind.
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey --------------------------------------------------- President retroman@tpk.net Northstar Technologies Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com Inventor of the Lorrey Drive Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com --------------------------------------------------- Anything I say can and should be used against me.
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