ApostateAbe writes:
quote:
I would prefer not to dispute the point with Rrhain
Then you're going to have to make your comments where I can't see them and reply to them. If you don't like your claims being subjected to scrutiny, then perhaps you shouldn't post them in a place that invites such examination.
quote:
Atheists did exist before Darwin, but they were not nearly as many, not nearly as well known, and not nearly as influential as until after Darwin.
Which, of course, is completely unsubstantiated.
Or have you forgotten about a rather famous man called "Socrates." He got himself killed for his atheism.
The problem, of course, is knowing exactly what it would take to convince you that your attitude is incorrect. Do you simply need a list of famous atheists? For crying out loud, the "problem of evil" goes all the way back to the Ancient Greeks, at least, as Epicurus is listed as coming up with the phrasing we have heard: Whence cometh evil? If god wants to prevent it but cannot, then he is impotent. If he can but chooses not to, then he is malevolent. But if he can prevent it and wants to, then where on earth does evil come from?
Have you forgotten about William of Ockham, from whom we get the infamous razor? Machiavelli, Rabelais, da Vinci?
While the French Revolution was about a lot of things, one of them was an overthrow of religious influence.
Have you forgotten about Schopenhauer?
How many atheists do you need to be reminded about before it occurs to you that perhaps your claim is not based upon any evidence?
quote:
With the theory of evolution, there was no scientific reason left to believe in God, and biology was formerly a very big scientific reason.
Incorrect.
First, you ignore the reality behind the development of evolutionary theory. Darwin didn't discover evolution. What he did was come up with a mechanism for how it happens. Evolution had been discussed and debated for many years before Darwin published. And let's not forget, he waited more than a decade to publish his
Origin of Species and that only because Wallace was going to beat him to it.
Second, you ignore all the other reasons people had for not believing in god. Simply from a philosophical viewpoint, the idea of theism has had problems. Again, the "problem of evil" goes back more than two millennia. There's a reason that Jefferson rewrote the New Testament: It wasn't because of evolution.
The Neo-Classic period was filled with deists and others who denied the divinity of god or at the very least the active involvement of such in life on this planet. There's a reason that the clockwork universe was the dominant paradigm of the 18th Century.
quote:
When Darwin's theory became established at the end of the 19th century as the only theory besides God to explain life, 100 years after Lyell had already explained the planet Earth without God, that is when we see a big historical shift toward atheism
And thus showing you haven't actually studied this topic at all if you think they're the only ones who had anything of any significance to say about atheism.
Again, do you simply need a list of names? What is it going to take to convince you?
quote:
If you underestimate the influence of Darwin's theory on religion and philosophy, then I suggest that you find another way to explain the rise of atheism.
What about simple philosophy? It's been good enough for all the other atheists. What's so special about any one piece of scientific inquiry?
OFF TOPIC - Please Do Not Respond to this message by continuing in this vein.
AdminPD
Edited by AdminPD, : Warning
Rrhain
Thank you for your submission to
Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.
Minds are like parachutes. Just because you've lost yours doesn't mean you can use mine.
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