Atheism
The belief that there was nothing, and nothing happened to nothing, and then nothing mysteriously exploded for no reason, creating everything, and then a bunch of everything mysteriously rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits, which then became dinosaurs.
I love that definition. 🙂
Here’s my example:
No. It’s called believing in science. Idiot.
Everyone believes in something. Atheists believe in the power of random chance and place all their hope in the shifting sands of scientific exploration.
Would you care to elaborate?
“As to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of atheism; a sort of religious denial of God. It professes to believe in a man rather than in God. It is a compound made up chiefly of man-ism with but little deism, and is as near to atheism as twilight is to darkness.”
“It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences ‘human inventions’; it is only the application of them that is human.”
Maybe I wasn’t making myself clear.
I was hoping that you would be able to elaborate on the subect as to your personal views and not those of Thomas Paine, or anyone else for that matter. I don’t mind refuting Thomas Paine on this subject, but he’s been dead for over 200 years and has since come to his senses.
Regarding your second quote, I notice that you stopped short. Here it is in its full context: “It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences ‘human inventions’; it is only the application of them that is human. Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make principles, he can only discover them.”
He was absolutely correct in this statement. Science is not pro God nor is it against God. Science is the process by which we discover that which God has made and investigate how deep His thoughts and how amazing His insights were when He did create it. The universe is wholly regulated by a series of laws that were created by Him at its inception when God first said “Let there be…”.
…and Jesus and all the people who wrote the bible are dead too – so I guess they also came to their senses.
The people who wrote the Bible? Yes! Jesus? Not so much.
Nice red herring.
Could you elaborate on your views or are you going to take pot-shots at Christianity?