Comments on: Photo grid of famous atheists

By: Dan OConnell

Dan OConnell — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:26:00 +0000

As a member of an obscure Catholic rite & from strains of rebel Irish & angry French folk, may I say that I’m truly tolerant of the beliefs or non-beliefs of others. I’m still learning, though, at age 83.

I like the science of Einstein, the plain but inspired writing of Mark Twain, the acting of Brad Pitt.

An interesting “read” today, surely.

– Dan O’Connell, Albuquerque (or Alburquerque), NM.

By: mattcornell

mattcornell — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:25:00 +0000

41 atheists. All but 6 are male.
All but 1 of them white. Outreach fail.

By: SomeGuyNamedMark

SomeGuyNamedMark — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:19:00 +0000

I doubt they publish those quotes too often at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Einstein archives)

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:11:00 +0000

Sorry, I know you’re probably sick of me, but where on the poster does it say “these people are atheists”?

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:09:00 +0000

As opposed to those quiet, reserved, humble folks who think the entire universe was devised as a test of their worthiness. They’re much less annoying than atheists, amirite?

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:05:00 +0000

I do like the idea of a wizened old nun screaming, “If you don’t go to confession, missy, you’ll spend eternity fucking Brad Pitt in Hell!”

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:02:00 +0000

I think you just proved my point. Science is about reliable data from repeatable experiments, and logic. God doesn’t make any of those cuts.

By: ChicagoD

ChicagoD — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:00:00 +0000

I really don’t know what these people believe, but if they have not come out and said “I am an atheist” the whole poster is misappropriating their respective likenesses. As for Hawking, the Catholic Church (now) essentially agrees with that quote. Granted, it took them a few twists and turns to get there, but that is the current position.

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:59:00 +0000

@hypnosifl:disqus

Since we are not omniscient we can’t be sure of anything, but I think our confidence in the universality of the laws of logic has to be about as strong as our confidence in any other possible belief, since all our other beliefs are predicated on it.

I personally disagree. The laws of logic are human constructions. They seem to be based on some more absolute sort of constraint, but it’s not clear whether it’s a metaphysical constraint or a biological constraint. I lean towards the latter; there’s no reason to suspect that our brains are special “rationality machines” that automatically infer all the possible ways the universe might work. I’m skeptical of rationalism, in other words.

As far as your Einstein quotes, I’m not particularly interested in searching down the ones I’m thinking of. Sorry. But I do agree with you on everything, except that I don’t think Einstein thought that God was a person (and I think some of your quotes back me up on this).

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:58:00 +0000

Yes, I’m so sick of those atheist extremists banging on my door with their pamphlets, trying to convert me to their way of thinking.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:54:00 +0000

Don’t you mean Carlos?

By: ChicagoD

ChicagoD — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:53:00 +0000

So, it really escapes you that not believing in a supreme being based on old stories is not the same as utilizing sound logic and reasoned arguments? I mean, you can be logical and scientific about one issue (i.e. the lack of proof in god), and utterly fail in others. You know that, right?

By: Jason Shankel

Jason Shankel — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:52:00 +0000

Shatner’s atheism is a matter of low self esteem? :)

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:52:00 +0000

I’m sure all the people in that grid will be heartbroken to hear that.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:50:00 +0000

Atheism is a religion in the same sense as not collecting stamps is a hobby.

Atheism is a religion in the same sense as not collecting stamps and wandering around never shutting up about how you don’t collect stamps because collecting stamps is stupid is a hobby. FTFY.

By: Jason Shankel

Jason Shankel — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:48:00 +0000

Someone who professes an absolute belief in no deity would be an atheist, yes, but that is not the definition of atheism.

Atheism is a-theism. It is the rejection of theism. Theism is the belief that a God exists, interferes in the world, provides an afterlife and that we all owe it to him to worship him and follow his commandments.

A atheist is someone who says there is no evidence in support of this notion and it can be completely ignored until some is provided. An agnostic is uncertain as to whether theism is a reasonable philosophy.

An atheist need have no belief at all one way or another about the existence of God. An atheist simply dismisses the entire subject until evidence emerges.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:47:00 +0000

As opposed to people like Jimmy Swaggart, Oral and Richard Roberts, Pat Robertson, and good ol’ Jim and Tammy Bakker. My, my, the good they’ve done!

By: Jason Shankel

Jason Shankel — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:45:00 +0000

But you can safely dismiss the question of their existence until some evidence is presented.

Hitchens’ Razor: That which can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof .

By: Jason Shankel

Jason Shankel — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:44:00 +0000

i.know.it.was.u.albert…you.broke.my.heart…how.about.a.nice.game.of.chess?

By: Jason Shankel

Jason Shankel — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:43:00 +0000

Where does it say they’re all atheists?

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:43:00 +0000

Ya, imagine atheists pretending to be “all sciency-like”. That is obviously the exclusive domain of those who believe without any evidence. Science is all about un-data! Hooray for un-logic!

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:43:00 +0000

Is there a meme where atheists deliberately mis-spell?

That’s a question best left to Ghandi or the Bhudda.

By: Jason Shankel

Jason Shankel — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:43:00 +0000

Maybe you’ve heard of a little film called Ratatouille?

By: Jason Shankel

Jason Shankel — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:41:00 +0000

Who said anything about atheism? The chart says that if hell exists, you’ll be in good company and cites several people who would be condemned to hell if that myth was true. You don’t have to be an atheist to be condemned to hell.

By: Jason Shankel

Jason Shankel — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:39:00 +0000

Doesn’t say anywhere that everyone on that chart is an atheist. It says everyone on that chart would be a candidate for eternal damnation if the “personal God who punishes you for not believing in Him” myth is true. Einstein certainly did not believe in a personal God and said so.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:35:00 +0000

One is a world view, the other is a fantasy view; unless you’ve come up with some hard evidence…?

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:33:00 +0000

Nope.

Atheist means does not believe in god. We don’t have to prove anything, because we aren’t claiming anything. The burden of proof rests on the theists, just as it rests on the unicorn jockeys.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:31:00 +0000

If god exists, heaven is hell.

Who wants to hang out with the guy who could end pain and suffering yet chose to do nothing? Not me, coach.

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:31:00 +0000

Hawking’s an atheist I’m almost certain; he’s using “God” metaphorically just as Einstein often did. But I think you’re right about Einstein.

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:30:00 +0000

James B, what is a “hole”? I mean we have a word for it, so it must be a thing, right? Except the actual semantics of the word are unusual for a “thing.” In some ways, a “hole” is almost the opposite of a “thing.” But we use the word “hole” intelligibly as though it were actually a thing. There’s even the riddle about what you can put into a barrel that makes it lighter that revolves around this semantic weirdness.

“Atheist” is to “belief” as “hole” is to “thing”. Does that make any sense?