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- a1cd, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17"We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further." [Richard Dawkins]
Taken from a Youtube Comment :/ - mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -5/+19Very interesting.. didn't know he was brought up religious.
I was brought up Jewish and went to temple frequently as well as Thursday school, a class I had to go to learn about Judaism in the temple every week, which I always hated, but I never took the religious explanations of life as anything but fantastical stories. I didn't even realize that it was supposed to be taken seriously.. and later on I realized, in part due to the internet actually, that it was OK to not believe in a god and to be open about it. Now I'm comfortable about considering myself as an Atheist, or preferably, a Jewish Atheist. - hehdot, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14*****. I can't disprove the existence of a pink unicorn sitting on a cloud drinking kool-aid. That doesn't mean convincing people of it's non-existence makes me an idiot.
- Scynet, on 10/10/2007, -3/+12I was also raised in a christian family, albeit not very oppressively, and one of the main reasons I stayed religious as a kid was because of my dreams. It's quite awesome to imagine you're some kind of holy knight who expels everything bad with a holy sword. My dreams haven't changed much to this day even though I no longer believe, which I personally find interesting. I have to thank my religious roots for my will to strive towards righteousness and goodness, but the same could arguably be reached through any good-vs-evil tale and not just Christianity.
Religion can be a great way to tell your child how to live an honorable life. If only religions weren't in the way of other kind of dreams people have, especially in the science area... large religions are, in my opinion, too detailed in their teachings and traditions. There are better, simpler ways to teach children (and why not adults) to live in peace and defend that which is important.
/religion as a base of morals, actual beliefs aside. - dan2, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10It depends on your definition of Atheist and Agnostic. I'm Atheist not because I think a God can't exist but because there is no evidence. An Atheist to me is merely a non-theist.
- stimpack, on 10/10/2007, -4/+12Yes because science is narrow minded and following a religion because your parents do isn't.
- Lennalf, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9I found all three parts of this interview to be very interesting. Dawkins has a marvelous way of categorizing and analyzing the various arguments often put forth by advocates of religion. Rather than dissecting each particular argument individually, or getting pulled into debating details and specifics, he has the wisdom to take a step back and simply get to the root of the matter, and also has the education to support those generalizations.
- Yazilliclick, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8I was also brought up religious which I think is still the norm in todays world for atheists. Was brought up roman catholic (mothers side) however my father is protestant. I think that had a very early influence on me to caue me to question religion in much the same way as Dawkins did in that they can't all be right meaning the majority of people in the world would have to be wrong and all based on chance.
Anyways I went through all the regular junk at church and after one of the ceremonies (last one I think that I can't remember the name of silly me) I talked to my father and his religion came up in that he said the main difference is that he doesn't believe in the pope and him being the link to god and I gave that some thought and said I don't believe it either. He promptly pointed out that I had just gone through this that bassically said I did. It's about right then that I realised that this whole religion thing is bs because there's no way for kids at that age who are bassically being brain washed by the church to make proper decisions, they don't encourage thinking.
Still wondering how to tell my parents I'm an atheist. I figure they won't have a big problem with it since they're not overly religious but my grandmother certainly is. - hehdot, on 10/10/2007, -2/+9I'm pretty sure enjoying the thought of people burning for all eternity is a sin.
- ched, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Rest of the videos in the interview, for those watching in the embedded player:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0-Nxg--5rs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq9C6HglKRY - mr.gates, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I think you would be happy those captions were there if you were deaf.
- frozenyoghurt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5You're mistaking smugness with PASSION. Richard is enthusiastic about evolution because it is true and he has devoted his life to it. If that's being smug, then fine, call him smug.
- msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Because it's the exact same argument except with FSM replacing God in all contexts. It's to show how absurd some claims are if they're pulled out of a person's cultural conditioning.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7Man I dugg you up on accident, but the truth is, as long as you don't believe it exists, it doesn't. Like god, it only exists in the collective human mind.
- frozenyoghurt, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6What if the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the real God? Then you're all screwed!
- kd1s, on 10/10/2007, -2/+7My own journey to atheism started when I was eight years old. It was in 3rd grade at Msgr. Bove School (Now St. Ann's School, I guess the old Msgr didn't have as much influence anymore.)
Anyhow 3rd grade is when we started getting into the heavy dogma. I never went to church all that much, nor did I go to confession because I couldn't see the point of it. As I got older I watched my mom die an excruciating death from cancer and asked myself what loving god could permit something so horrible.
Once it came time for my confirmation I resisted it but family pressure was brought to bear in the form of a $500 cash gift to me. But near the time of the confirmation I told the priest in charge of the program that I didn't believe any of it. But the Catholic church is all about body count and I was confirmed.
My father often accuses me of not believing in god, and he's right. I don't believe.
Put it this way, were I a god you can be damned sure my creation would know who I was. Flaming text in the sky might be the first way of getting the point across. - AustinMeoang, on 10/10/2007, -3/+8I was brought up VERY religiously, and became an atheist at 12 or 13, I'm 14 right now, and I can say life is much better living when you face reality head on.
- stimpack, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Except I am right-wing DaTrollMan. However I should point out I am English, religion is not a factor in politics over here.
- stimpack, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Yes the odds are overwhelming that Aliens exist. The odds are so impossibly huge against us ever meeting them however, kinda depressing that.
- eximious, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5To learn about evolution through natural selection, a good place to start is Wikipedia. Some background knowledge of DNA and biology is good. The basic gist is this: random mutations in genetic information create new traits. If these traits help survival and reproduction, they get passed on more and show up more in the entire species' gene pool. Some genetic information makes its way into the entire species over many generations.
- Aticper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Because they are, for all practical extents and purposes, one and the same.
- seldon21, on 10/10/2007, -3/+7Scynet - Do you need mind control to do the right thing? Religions were created during times with people were heavily oppressed with little to look forward too. Then people started using religion to their own gain and have continued until this day. As for the children part, so you need someone else to tell your off-spring how to behave and act? Really, I don't, I want my children to move beyond this non-sense and start thinking about things that make a difference. There are so many troubling things about the teachings of one group or another and the fact is they have been changed to suite the people who were laying down the law of that time. Here is a good example to check out: "http://www.amazon.com/Cows-Pigs-Wars-Witches-Riddles/dp/0679724680" . There is so much that we do not understand and haven't been able to understand that adding faith in a mystical being. Why not take to heart what JC said and raise up your fellow man. Stop making this into a belief contest.
- AM6278, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Because the Flying Spaghetti Monster is real and you can't prove otherwise.
- skyfire1, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Oh I almost forgot, what would be a good way to learn about the theory of evolution?
- hambend, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I consider myself an atheist, even though I'll happily admit that I can't prove or disprove the existence of gods. Why? Because all this talk of proof is absurd. I can't prove that the chair I'm sitting on really exists. I can't prove that we aren't all locked into a shared hallucination, perhaps a computer simulation designed to keep us occupied while machines harvest us for energy. And if I can't prove that, I can't prove anything.
So in the absence of proof, I define the difference between atheists and agnostics in terms of certainty. Maybe there is a God, an intelligence lording over all creation. Maybe there's a Flying Spaghetti Monster who created the mountains, the trees and a midget. I give either theory roughly equal credibility. Is that atheist enough for you?
Agnosticism, as I see it, is not so much an admission of lack of proof, but an admission of uncertainty. - Scynet, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5It's not possible to live in this world without taking things we can observe and process with our logic as granted. What if hot water isn't hot?What if we only perceive it as hot through our brains, while other animals sense it cold?. What if death is acually a release from this world and anyone who knew what awaited would WANT to die? Entire laws should be reconsidered to fit that kind of vague ideology. Practically there would be only one law: we're not sure what the consequences of this even are, so the final judgement is (insert brainfart)
We have to use what we have to survive in this world. Brains, eyes, ears, emotions - things of life, and the laws of nature/science. God cannot be proven by any of these. We can't be agnostic and open-minded towards everything human imagination can come up with, which is practically unlimited amount of ideas. Not fairies, not minotaurs and not werewolves. Why God?
And yes, your reference to narrow-minded atheists was indeed part of your argument. - cranium, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4No point in being a sore loser, dude.
- msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Game theory isn't a logical reason to believe in the Christian god though. And there are what, 6 or 7 major world religions? There's a good chance you're playing the wrong game entirely by being a Christian.
- Aticper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I fixed your mistake.
- rapiddemon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4You cannot disprove unverifiable claims. The lack of any evidence in conjunction with the inherent gifts humanity considers important and unique to their species (reason, wisdom, intelligence, and free will) makes the religious claim that people should have "faith" in a higher being (the OPPOSITE of those gifts) a contradiction and at odds with logic. This is a main factor that drives some people to atheism.
- ICSU, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-intro-to-biology.html
- Yazilliclick, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Dawkins, like many atheists, is not trying to disprove god as that's impossible. What he IS doing is convincing people that their belief in godis illogical. He does this by poking holes in many of the theists ideas of god, religion and history that are unable to stand up in the world of science.
- Atacand, on 10/10/2007, -5/+8...but then you realized that it was all just a fairy tale.
- UsernameTaken, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3All this atheism vs. agnosticism debate disregards a very important fact: you can't be an atheist in the vacuum. I, for instance, am an atheist *with respect* to all gods that have their roots in traditional storytelling. In that sense, the ancient Greek and Roman gods, the Hindu gods, the Judeo-Christian god, the Muslim god, they all fall into the same category, and it's plain to see that they are nothing but man-made mythology. You can trace their origin to an ancient time when people struggled to make some sense out of the harsh reality they had to live through.
Now, if you're referring to some completely foreign entity, impossible to know and to describe, that might have some sort of god-like influence in our reality, that's something you have to be agnostic about by default. Since it can't be grasped by our "limited" senses, therefore it can't communicate in a meaningful way with us and should be considered practically irrelevant. No need for worshipping and other "religious" activities is the natural consequence of a "god" we cannot know. - dan2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Well his/her point still stands unless you think there is a distinction between non-believers.
- skyfire1, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5As of tonight I'm a atheist. I've finally decided that these past 16 years I've been brainwashed with *****. It didn't take a atheist to knock on my door either. I'm still going into the military in 2 years because I want to badly. Does that make me a weird person? Damn I'm confused as hell right now. Maybe digg wouldn't be a good place to post this.
- Aticper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Great video.
On an interesting side note, did anyone else notice that either Mr. Dawkins, or the new comment system was having a dramatic effect on Youtube comments? These ones are several hundred percent smarter than I've come to expect. - msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Dugg you down because you told me too. Also because you're trolling; what do you expect, to get dugg up in a Dawkins thread?
- hehdot, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5If no one had ever told you the idea that there is a divine creator that shaped the universe and created us, you would have no reason to say what you just said. People somehow feel that you need to disprove god because the idea is "out there". You don't.
There is no need to disprove god because it's an idea that belongs in a time when humans were basically too stupid to apply logic, math, science and reason to explain the world around them. The idea of a divine creator persisted throughout the centuries because it's an easy way for institutions, kingdoms, empires to control the people.
If you had been told from birth that there is a flying spaghetti monster that shaped the universe and created you and if you didn't believe in it you would burn for all eternity in horrible pain, would you say it's foolish to try to disprove the flying spaghetti monster that shaped the universe? Of course you would. The same thing applies to "God". Just because someone tells you something is true doesn't mean you have to disprove it. It suffices to ***** think for yourself every once in a while. - ICSU, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Scriptures are not a base for morals. You can easily illustrate this by the fact how people cherry pick what's written in them obviously using morals learned (gained) somewhere else.
- Lennalf, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3A theory that is untestable is not a valid theory at all. By its own virtue, it will never be proven true or false... its truth value is null.
I'm sure in the future this will be no different than it is today... unless our minds break into a whole new dimension of perception that somehow allows us to see ghosts walking the earth or some crap... but somehow I find that highly, highly unlikely.
By the way, please do not group aliens into the same category of ghosts, astrology, and faeries. Aliens are a definite possibility (arguably a likely one) within our current understanding of the natural world, whereas the latter three are patently supernatural concepts. - Aticper, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4claiming to be something 'always' is a serious mistake. It doesn't allow you to repair your own mistakes.
- Yazilliclick, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Agnosticism and Atheism both describe different things. Atheism is whether you believe in god or not and Agnosticism is whether you refers to whether you believe there is evidence of god or that it is possible to believe in god. Most people when they say they are Atheist tend to mean they are athiest agnostic (ie. They don't believe in god/religion AND they don't believe there is evidence or any way to prove the existence of god).
- thewindfish, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3your name is ironic considering how much i've seen you completely fail at trolling
- Waterrat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2 Agreed...And you know what...I don't have a very high opinion of any god who would do that to his/her own creations...Just because they don't worship him/her?
Why should a god give a flip whether a human worships him/her?
It just makes no sense. - Waterrat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Scriptures are indeed, not a base for morals. But churches want you to believe they are.
In fact,humans are hard wired to be moral.
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/05.03/15-hauser.html
I was also raised as a Christian, but I just could not believe all that stuff...Original sin made the least sense of it all....And then there is the astounding fable about what happens when god ends the world,such as Jesus pitting all non believers in a wine press...So all none believers(All on planet Earth) just get transported to his wine press and get squashed...making "rivers of blood." and everyone just goes along with this plan?
By the time I hit 13, I stood up to my mother and said I was going to church no longer. - andy3109, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4No, I was referring to narrow minded atheists as Diggers who digg people down for not having an atheist point of view.
But anyhow, yes, I am asking people to ignore their senses and realize that on a topic like this, they cannot find fact with them. - 0260, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3make an educated guess, i dare you :)
- knugen, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Bah, for many people it is a lot easier to read English than hear it.
- Lennalf, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4If you were to tell me something and I took you at your word, investing 100% faith in what you had to say, without any degree of skepticism... wouldn't that make me an idiot?
In my mind, any person who goes directly against reason and logic is an idiot. Believing in something that can't be proven is highly illogical, and is therefore idiotic. Refusing to believe in something of which there is no evidence, on the other hand, is completely logical, and therefore not idiotic.
By the way, typing words in all caps to add emphasis makes you look like a complete jackass. -
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