I agree with Roger. I think that Carl is an atheist, but he doesn't want to use
the term either because he thinks that it means that he is asserting that
there's no God, rather than that he doesn't believe in God or, because there
are some public Atheists who write about the subject and whose writing tends to
be very unpleasant, often including a good deal of bigotry along with their
thoughts about the non existence of God. Christopher Hitchens is one who comes
to mind.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2018 8:29 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: responding to Mostafa
You spend a lot of time here expressing an atheist position to be shying away
from the word atheist. Maybe you should just break down and admit to being one.
I told the story once here about how I came to break down and admit it. It was
when I was in a college class and someone told me that I kept taking atheist
positions so why didn't I just call myself an atheist. I said that, okay, I'm
an atheist, and I haven't stopped calling myself that since. And I had been an
atheist, not the agnostic kind, for about two years at the time. But when I was
an agnostic form of atheist for about four years, from the age of twelve to the
age of sixteen, I had been making the mistake of equating the probability of
there being a god and the probability of there not being a god. In retrospect I
realize that I just had not thought it through. I did not even realize that I
was equating the two propositions. I just thought that I couldn't prove it one
way or another. So I didn't know whether there was a god or not.
_________________________________________________________________
J.K. Rowling
“ I mean, you could claim that anything's real if the only basis for believing
in it is that nobody's proved it doesn't exist! ”
― J.K. Rowling
On 12/8/2018 5:50 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Roger,
I think that earlier I mentioned that I like the quote by Isaac
Asimov. I used to read his Science Article in Galaxy Magazine.
Later, when the Asimov Science Fiction magazine was published in
Braille, I subscribed in order to improve my Braille skills. I was
very disappointed when they cancelled the Braille edition. I still
get the recorded magazine from the Talking Book and Braille Library,
but only glance at it from time to time.
In fact, I do not consider that there is any chance that God
exists...or not. No 50/50 chance.
When I walked away from Christianity, it was because I tired of people
so certain regarding the existence of something they only had second
hand stories as proof. But I don't care what they believe. And
working with so many elderly people who express deep Faith, I say
nothing. Seldom do we discuss religion with our clients, but once in
a while we are pressed into a corner. Of course we could say, "we are
not allowed to discuss religion", but I refuse to be bound by
bureaucratic mumbling, either. So this woman said, "I'm so glad good
Christians have come to see me". I said, "Thank you, but we're not
Christian". She sat silent for a minute, and then said, "But my dogs
love you. If you were not Believers they would not let you enter."
She continued along these lines for some while, not wanting to accept
my word that I was not a Christian. Finally, after going around and
around, I asked her, "Do you believe that God created Adam and Eve,
and put them in the Garden of Eden? Do you believe that Noah built a
boat big enough to put two of every animal on board?"
"Yes", she confirmed. "Yes! God did exactly that." I said, "Then we
have nothing to discuss."
I often think about so many people I've known who feel driven to force
me to accept their beliefs. When I'm in the mood, I try to get them
to accept that there is really a Tooth Fairy". "I know there is a
Tooth Fairy," I assure them, "Because whenever I lost a tooth, a dime
appeared under my pillow in place of the tooth. And my mother told me
that it was the Tooth Fairy. She said she saw it sneak in while I was
sleeping." They act as if I'd lost my mind. How could I honestly
believe such silliness? "well," I tell them, "you expect me to
believe in an invisible God and His buddy the Holy Spirit, and if you
are Catholic, you also tell me that Mother Mary is there to intercede.
And all of this is simply on the second hand word of long dead men who
wrote a book. By the way, did you know that Tinker Bell is real? I
saw her in a movie."
I'm told that I am being silly! I'm assured that Faith is very
complex and sophisticated. I tell them that if God's Word is so
complicated that it takes someone really smart, like them, then I have
to question just how truly wise God is. Don't you think He would make
His Word simple enough that the dumbest of us would understand?
Religion is simply a tool of those in control. It may also be a
shield from the knowledge that we humans understand, our mortality,
something much of animal life does not deal with. But in truth,
believing in God answers nothing, including the proof it would take to
demonstrate God's presence. Hmm, I do believe I'm going around in
circles. That is scary. If I keep it up I might find myself creating
God.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/8/18, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I still think you are falsely assuming an even chance between the
existence or nonexistence of a deity. As for the J. K. Rowling quote,
you might remember that I used to have a quote in my signature line
that I changed every month. I originally started that because there
were so many religious signatures on these blind lists and I wanted
to counter them a bit. But it was getting harder to find a quote that
I had not used and so when I upgraded to Windows 7 and started using
Thunderbird with it I just went back to no signature just because it
was easier that way. But I use the Goodreads site. I have still not
quite fully explored it, though, even though I have now been using it
for years. But it turns out that Goodreads has a feature for looking up
genres of literature.
There are a lot of genres and I think Goodreads recognizes more than
the publishers do. Once you open up a page dedicated to a particular
genre you find lists of books in that genre including new books, most
popular books, lists related to the genre and so forth. One of the
features is a couple of quotations related to the genre. So back in
mid October I was looking at the genre page for skepticism and under
skepticism quotations was one by Isaac Asimov that I really liked. So
I decided to start putting a signature line on my emails again and I
pasted that Asimov quote. It so happens that at the bottom of the
quotations on that page was a link to more skepticism quotations.
That was one of the features on Goodreads that I had never explored.
This time I clicked it and got a very long list of quotations. For
the most part I liked all of them. So I kept the Asimov quote through
the second half of October and all of the month of November. Then
came December and I thought it was about time to change my signature.
I went back to the skepticism page and looked at the quotes again. This time
the two quotations were different.
I think Goodreads automatically rotates which quotations appear on
the genre pages. I did not bother to shop through the long list of
quotations that I would get if I had clicked the more skepticism
quotations link. After all, I like most of them. I just took the
first one and pasted it into my signature line. It makes a point that
I have to keep making over and over myself. Someone will be beating
me over the head with some matter of superstition and I will ask how
they know what they are telling me is true. I get back, how do you
know it isn't? As usual it is because the probability of it being true is
one in infinity.
So Rowling makes my point. There are an infinity of things you could
believe if you believed only because no one has ever proven it to be false.
_________________________________________________________________
J.K. Rowling
“ I mean, you could claim that anything's real if the only basis for
believing in it is that nobody's proved it doesn't exist! ”
― J.K. Rowling
On 12/8/2018 11:32 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Roger,
I enjoyed your quote: J.K. Rowling
“ I mean, you could claim that anything's real if the only basis for
believing in it is that nobody's proved it doesn't exist! ”
Nonetheless, I am an Agnostic, subset or not.
I neither care, nor believe, nor disbelieve in God or the Hereafter.
I know for certain that this life will end one day. While I believe
that will end my awareness, I'll not know for certain until I either
realize that I still exist in some form or another, or that I do not.
I am doing all I can do in order to enjoy what years I will continue
in this life.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/7/18, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl, an atheist is simply a person who does not believe that there
is a deity. That makes agnosticism a subset of atheism. You are an atheist.
_________________________________________________________________
J.K. Rowling
“ I mean, you could claim that anything's real if the only basis
for believing in it is that nobody's proved it doesn't exist! ”
― J.K. Rowling
On 12/7/2018 11:13 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Greetings Mostafa and all Believers and Non Believers First, I am
not an Atheist, but I do consider myself to be Agnostic.
To my associates that means I'm a Lazy Atheist. I prefer to say,
an uncaring Believer in not much of anything at all.
Second, you are going off again, grouping people under a heading,
even though they are as different as Human Beings can be. I
certainly think of you as being an individual, different from my
Muslim friends, who are also different from one another.
You suggest that we exist in a "perfect universe". Where did you
get that notion? Look about you. This is not a perfect universe.
But we do have to live here, imperfect as it is. Comets zoom past
our little Earth, sometimes slamming into it causing great damage.
And just look out there and notice all the wasted space that could
be turned into farm land, with streams and lakes and little towns
where we might all live in peace. And we are dashing out into the
unknown at speeds we cannot conceive, headed where? Frankly, I
would question my Faith if I believed that this universe was the
best that God could do.
And just one last thought. Do you truly believe that this Earth
is Perfect? It is part of the "perfect" universe. And yet, we
were created with the need to kill and devour other life in order to
survive. If this is Perfection, I tremble to think of what Heaven
looks like.
Carl Jarvis