Nate

I mean this seriously, if you're against it I want to know why ideally with a bit of detail so I can at least understand - even if not necessarily agree with - your reasoning

A few days ago an answer caught my eye talking about how empirical evidence for a deity pales in comparison to philosophical evidence for one, so it made me wonder what some favored forms of philosophical arguments people might favor?

I'd be looking more specifically for less commonly used ones (IE not cosmological, pascal's wager, or arguing from morality) that you might not see as much.

In your opinion (sources if available for any hard claims would be great), I would like to know what the potential downsides of using more efficient and renewable technology would be under the assumption that climate change is a hoax.

When speaking on creationism vs the theory of evolution, what do you believe the other side believes? It honestly seems to make little sense to argue against something if you don' even understand what your opponent believes.

In other words, if you are a creationist what do you believe a person who says they accept the theory of evolution believes evolution states?

The other way around of course, what would you say a creationist believes creationism means?

I've seen it many times in this section specifically, specifically people talking about how a given holy book doesn't change and therefore is "more reliable" than something that changes as the situation or level of knowledge does.

Wouldn't a person who's always late or just plain forgets to show up, although consistent, be considered unreliable?

It seems what I see here over and over again are questions that seems to center around a blatent disregard for the difference between rejecting an idea and questioning it, searching for information about it.

I guess the best question would be, what is the difference to you, R & S?

I see a few questions on here regarding having "objective" meaning/morals/etc on here, and it seems apparent that the people asking these questions feel that having such a thing is important to them.

My question is simply: Why does it matter to some people?

There's plenty more I could say in regards to why I don't feel this is important to me, but I'm aiming more to get the other side, not argue

I see lots of questions talking about how I should believe, but do people not realize I can't simply decide to honestly believe?

I cannot wake up tomorrow and decide I genuinely believe the sky is green, for example. I really don't believe in god due to the lack of evidence/reasoning that I've found to be substantial.

If you do believe in god you either have different standards of evidence then me or have seen evidence I have not. Its as silly telling me I should decide to repent to your deity as it is to tell you to decide to repent to the Council of Unicorns, you don't believe in it, you can't simply decide that you genuinely believe in them and can therefore repent, you'd need reasoning/evidence in favor of it.

This isn't meant to be insulting, and I apologies if it is, its an effort to try to reach a shared understanding on why this line of argument/questioning does not work and will not work. Comments? Thoughts? Is this understood?

That if you feel like the vast majority of people that are on 'your side' (I don't care if its in religion, politics, your favorite sports team) aren't dedicated enough/aren't really fans/aren't really of this group that you are probably a overzealous nutter?

That if you feel like the vast majority of people that are on 'your side' (I don't care if its in religion, politics, your favorite sports team) aren't dedicated enough/aren't really fans/aren't really of this group that you are probably a overzealous nutter?

Disproving something that is accepted to explain something would leave us with "We don't know and need more information to form an accurate picture of what does actually happen"

It doesn't automatically given ANY credibility to any other "competing" idea.

What causes people to think otherwise?

If so, please post it.

Keep in mind the following arguments have been thoroughly debunked, or are at least well known and not accepted by atheists (such as myself)

-Cosmological/First cause argument

-"Fine tuning" argument

-Your holy book (Note: Things in the holy book CAN count as evidence if there is evidence outside the holy book collaborating its supernatural elements. This means evidence, not 'witnesses')

-'Faith'/'You just know' arguments

-'There is objective moral law' arguments

-'God of the gaps' (Anything that says "well science can't explain anything, therefore god is the most reasonable explanation")

-I MAY be forgetting some.

So do you have any better/newer arguments/evidence that hasn't been presented yet and might actually suffice as sound? Do you have new facts supporting any of the arguments above that I might not have taken into consideration?

If not, then you're probably wasting your time trying to convert most atheists, however if you do, please, provide it. I'm always looking for new information to form a more complete picture of the universe around me.

Here's the short of it:

I called and changed my account from a home phone and internet to just internet through Verizon home services about five months ago. At the time I was VERY behind (Ashamed to admit but hey, it happens) and I was trying to catch up. So I paid the past due amount and was rather surprised to see a credit on my next bills, so I called and confirmed that that was indeed correct, and was assured that I did not owe them any more money and have not since received any bills or notification stating I owe them any amount.

Now that I've gone and cancelled them they informed me over the phone that I will have to pay an early termination fee for a contract I never knew I agreed to and was never informed of AND I got a letter five days after that from a bill collector on their behalf stating I owe them the money I was previously assured had been paid off.

Of course I stupidly did not keep receipts from this or ask for any sort of email or written confirmation that I was squared away, does anyone know of ANY sort of action I can take to alleviate either problem (The early termination fee for the contract I was not notified of or the sudden charge I was assured was cleared) even partially?

This has been by far the worst customer service experience I've ever had the displeasure of taking part in.

I'm hoping R&S has the one I'm thinking of, I've been searching for it to show it to a friend. The way the guy says "peanut butter" was infinitely amusing to me and I wished to share the joy with a friend.

Spiritually speaking of course

So more or less I live in a duplex with a landlord. We both have dogs and I trained mine not to bark unless she needs something, but theirs they let do as it desires and if it starts to bark they just leave it outside until it stops, this is pretty much at all hours and it wakes me up and keeps me awake frequently.

I know its not the dog's fault they pretty much ignore it, my question is, is there anything that can be done about it in a legal sense as talking to them proved hopeless.

...why does it cost the government more per citizen to in health care than for many countries with government health care?

source: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hea_car_fun_...

http://ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blog...

So..does the knowledge that, legally speaking, news shows can tell you anything is a fact disturb you as well? What should we do about this?

http://ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blog...

So..does the knowledge that, legally speaking, news shows can tell you anything is a fact disturb you as well? What should we do about this?