Reply #81: Thank you for

[Strong Atheist]

your thoughtful response.

I am going to go to bed tonight believing, being quite confident, that we have not made contact with Aliens from outer space. However, I may wake up tomorrow morning only to find that for the past two months the CIA has been picking up signals from an alien planet. I was wrong, but all the information I had before hand lead me to the conclusion that I could have been correct.

Another example is a risk I take every time I get into a car. I am confident that I am not going to be in a car crash based on my driving abilities or the driving abilities of the person I am riding with. I do not anticipate any such thing to happen. However, it can happen - I have to acknowledge it as a possibility even though it is unlikely to happen. The same could be said for riding an airliner or going on a cruise.

I agree with these statements. We agree on much. We disagree on the use of confident and certainty, which is ok with me.

I am glad that you brought up the close-minded issue. I know that my certainty on many subjects, not just god, is close-minded, and I do not have a problem with that. Am I open minded on the possibility that the Earth is flat? Not only no, but HELL no! Is there some remote possibility infinitely close to zero that someone will prove me wrong? I guess, but I don't lose sleep at night over the possibility. The same goes for the god issue. My mind is closed on many issues; to convince me on those issues would take extraordinary measures.

I think that many people have similarly closed minds on many issues (such as the Earth being flat, whether god exists or not etc.). I think that most would not be willing to admit it for fear of being accused of being close-minded, a pejorative. I don't mind being accused of that, I know that I am and do not view that as necessarily being a bad thing. Like many other attributes, whether it is bad or good depends on the circumstances. Whether something is brave or foolhardy, stingy or prudent, generous or spendthrift(y) depends on the circumstances. Same for being close-minded; it can be good or bad.

BTW, I am NOT accusing YOU of having a closed mind on anything, I am taking your word that you are your type of confidence and existential angst in everything you believe. That's cool; I just can't live that way.

Thank you very much, BTW, for trying to tell me how to do bold and italics. :yourock: . I am going to try them both in this post! Cheers!:toast:

Edited to add: IT WORKED! THANK YOU!:yourock: