There's Probably No God! - Richard Dawkins, Ariane Sherine, And The Atheist Bus Ad Campaign

[ProfessorPlum]

Run time: 02:04 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSrSwRpBdHk   Posted on YouTube: January 08, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: January 26, 2009 By DU Member: ProfessorPlum Views on DU: 1426

 

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Trouble with this is that they are discussing only one God concept

and there are many God concepts out there. Take the Lakota Way--all things are sacred, all part of the Great Mystery, which cannot ever be fully known and understood. Take many of the mystical paths of various faiths, which look at God as not separate but rather intimately close. Or simply look at my sig line, which to my mind says it all.

[Taverner]

2. If God is everything or nothing, than what good is he/she?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Does It have to be good?

Or bad? Are atoms good or bad? Or do they merely exist? Isn't "goodness" and "badness" a judgment call?

Now personally, I'm glad there are atoms, because they appear to make up everything, and follow certain laws which appear to be the reason the universe works the way it does. In fact, I appreciate those atoms and those laws of science. To my mind, it is rather wonderful--and a part of It.

[Taverner]

14. well fine - then your word for "matter" is "god"

I can live with that

[Delphinus]

3. I like what you're saying.

I guess if I absolutely *HAD* to label myself, it would be as a Pantheist, as I do feel that all life is sacred.

Not to pick on just the Christian religion, but since I've had it shoved down my throat all of my life, I'd like to think that one day, REALLY, REALLY soon, the bullshit lies will be exposed so that the truth truly can set us free.

[Deep13]

4. They're using the one most of their audience will know.

The word "god" means something and while that definition may be different among religions there are some characteristics it must have to be god. Usually, gods create the universe, are not bound by its rules, but may intervene in that universe at will. They typically care about how people live their lives often to the point of responding to prayers. As the definition gets vaguer than that and less active in the real world, at somepoint we have to conceed that whatever else this supernatural being is, he is not god.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. Not my god concept

nor the god concepts of millions of people. There was, historically, a whole movement within Christianity that viewed God as "the clockmaker"--He created the world, and then left it and is not active in it now. Your statement "...supernatural being is, he is not god" seems to be saying that God can only be defined in one way--and my point is that God can be defined in a multitude of ways.

[AlbertCat]

15. God can be defined in a multitude of ways.

So can "salad".


But we all know that to be a god, it must be supernatural. That, in my book, makes it a fairy tale, no matter how else you define god.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

18. A Lakota spiritual advisor would disagree with you

There is nothing in the definition of "god" that says "god" has to be anything but VERY natural.

[Deep13]

20. That is deism and has little to do with Christianity.

Deism is a rejection of the Christian god in favor of a minimalist creator that wound the clock and did little else. It was an attempt to explain the mechanical universe as it was understood in the 18th century while still being perplexed at how it all got started. This is not a god most believers would recognize.

[IGotAName]

22. That's the one I recognize. nt

[Deep13]

24. That's your perogative, of course.

And it makes a lot more sense from an observational point of view than an interventionist god does.

I wonder what your feelings are about the suggestion that a purposeful creator only compounds the problem of existence rather than solving it. What I mean is if existence is hard to explain because it is so unlikely, then a god complex enough to cause a universe is a lot more unlikely. A god capable of creating a universe must be complex because what he is building is so. So doesn't that just raise the question of who or what made god? :shrug:

Just wondering.

[AlbertCat]

17. Not to mention...

...if you watch the video, the whole thing is a response to "Jesus died for your sins" stuff. That's the god they are reacting to, not Baal, y'know.

[IGotAName]

21. Seriously- what the fuck does Jesus have to do with God? nt

[Joe Chi Minh]

5. Oh, it's good that he's made the necessary calculations. No-one else has been

able to up to now. I bet he did it on the back of a cigarette packet. He's that smart. A Nobel Prize surely awaits.

[Why Syzygy]

8. Your sig line...

I've seen that quote attributed to Lily Tomlin:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/lilytomlin383212.html
No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.
Lily Tomlin

[ProfessorPlum]

11. Jane Wagner is Lily's life partner

and I believe she wrote the line . . . which Lily delivered on stage.

So, attribution to either of them is appropriate, and I like to give people behind the scenes credit! :)

I love Lily, too.

[Why Syzygy]

12. oooh.

Didn't know. :thumbsup:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

19. It was stated in the presence of a friend

who took a tour of India about 20 years ago. A group of Sufis had an audience with the Dalai Lama, who immediately started talking to them about how to fine tune their Sufi practices. My friend asked, "Why aren't you telling us about Buddhism?" His Holiness answered, "You are Sufis; you need to learn Sui practices." My friend then asked, "What's the difference between Sufism and Buddhism?" and His Holiness replied with the answer given in my sig line. Who knows? Maybe he got it from Lily Tomlin. :)

[Mojambo]

9. That girl at the beginning is unbelievably beautiful. n/t

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

10. I'd probably agree that there's probably no "supernatural" God.

...no magical God that somehow defies the laws of nature, anyway. Haven't ever seen any clear examples of it, but I'm still open to that possibility. I guess I'm with the Rev. Ralph Waldo Emerson on this; "The gods we worship write their names on our faces, be sure of that. And a man will worship something — have no doubt about that, either. He may think that his tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of his heart — but it will out. That which dominates will determine his life and character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming."

...Maybe Karl Rove's God was/is a pig? Who knows?

[Lerkfish]

13. reminds me of sidewalk grafitti at Washington University, circa 1977

first square
"God is dead" - Neitche
second square
"Nietsche is dead" -- God.

:)

[AlbertCat]

16. If only god were as dead as Nietsche.

[Norrin Radd]

23. Is the supernatural, the unexplainable, unknowable, impossible?

Where did the universe/multiverse come from? Nothingness? This is unknowable. Also, something from nothing would be impossible. How are atoms, or whatever they divide down to (or multiply up to) self-aware? Or is reality and existence merely a dream?