That's a pretty interesting article. Did you read the whole thing, or just the title?

Wonderful piece. "Arguing for atheism feels like trying to convince someone that men really went to the moon, or that cigarettes really cause cancer."

In other words, I disbelieve in God, gods, ghosts, spirits, souls (immortal or otherwise), heaven, hell, reincarnation, angels, monsters, witches, shamans, karma, charms, wishes, pyramid power, prayer, cosmic justice, and intelligent design.

It’s just that certain stimuli lead to hormonal surges and changes in respiratory, cardiovascular, and synaptic activity. Results: sensations of serenity and awe. No divinity required. And yet, almost everyone else experiences these same circumstances on a religious level. Even in Canada, a relatively secular country, only 16 percent of the population say they have no religion. And most of these “nones,” are not atheists. They merely reject organized religion in favour of some sort of personal god or spirituality.

History and facts denial akin to Holocaust denial, homeopathy, astrology, alchemy, fortune and card and palm reading, water dowsing, mediums talking to dead and pastors predicting future on Sundays make all Non Objective Reality thinking an interesting "evolutionary" advantage.

Luckily, the societal pressures leave the irrational meme not needed anymore. Good for Objective Reality.

I count Three False Analogies and Four Strawmen in that post alone.

I always get a kick out of Moral Relativists pretending that they have the inside track on "Objective" Reality.

As long as our brains are arranged the way they are, as long as our minds are capable of sensing this deeper reality, spirituality will continue to shape the human experience, and God, however we define that majestic, mysterious concept, will not go away.”

I have an issue with "sensing deeper reality". If the blood flow can be shut down to a portion of brain during meditation, all it means that "some people" found a way through meditation to get oxygen deprivation. The fact is that the 99.99999999% of others who don't are going to claim their god without oxygen deprivation and of course, it's going to be a Judeo-Christian-Muslim god. So, we are back to square one of arguing on facts.

It seems it's better to argue on "what kind of god we can reject" - e.g. creationists god. Or better yet, just let them argue about it amongst themselves and ignore the public outbursts of irrationality completely just like you ignore bird chirping or cows mooing.

This seems to be the universal language, the common denominator of all the religious people. To transcend this "illusion" of deities/spirituality requires a higher level and more complex language - secularism and enlightenment.

“The Bible becomes like a lingua franca when I travel,” he writes. “Everyone I talk to instantly bonds with me when I bring out the Bible, because it means we have something vital in common.”
That bond goes beyond the Judeo-Christian-Islamic biblical tradition. Imagine a meeting between a Hindu, a Christian, an Inuit shaman, and an atheist. Three out of four don’t believe in heaven. Three out of four don’t believe people can turn into animals. Two don’t believe in reincarnation. They all have radically different ideas about how the universe formed. But despite the fact that all their beliefs are mutually contradictory, the atheist is still the odd one out.

Jack

I agree it is very interesting and I read it all. Once again its amazing just how accurate the bible is. Here we have another tad of conformation for a creator and the atheist rejects anything scientific for his own personal faith. Hanging on to his own fallible understandings and eluding to his unidentified deeper knowledge he backs away.

What fascinates to me is the biblical explanation for such foolishness. "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient" (Romans 1:28) It can be said that entire molecule to man saga has been produced to facilitate the reprobate mind. The ongoing battle to attack anything which might insinuate dirt didn't make itself has got to be inconvenient.

There are many facets to the deception but the goal is the same. Be it evolution's imaginary creatures of DagnyWener's self righteous new age beliefs they have the single purpose of rejecting the knowledge of God .

The common defense of the reprobate mind crowd is to babble incoherent, insulting or irrelevant ramblings for self justification, as MikeH pointed out in DagnyWener's post. Not much of a defense, but it's all he has.

What is a reprobate mind?
http://www.biblestudy.org/question/what ... -mind.html

ABO,

You need to get together with some Muslims and straighten them out. You can have a verse reciting battle. Should be interesting. While at it, don't forget to look up some local Zeus and Poseidon worshippers.

Like I said,"The common defense of the reprobate mind crowd is to babble incoherent, insulting or irrelevant ramblings for self justification"

So, we are clear ABO, you have no interest to debate other faith adherents and bring the word of Jesus to them? - (Muslims, Jews, Poseidon, Thor, Rha worshipers and Scientologists) who will be going to hell (according to your mythology) with me and other atheists? You are only interested to debate atheists?

Just trying to figure you out.

I'll debate anyone if you set it up!