Innumerable debates have been organized between champions of atheists and people believing in God. Watching them, one almost feels sorry for the people representing God because invariably the organizers bring some religious leader to represent people believing in God.
Is religion the only way to represent God?
Atheists have a field day making fun of religion and some of the ideas/stories that form their foundations. Rightfully so. The foundations are so shaky and ridiculous - virgin birth, denial of evolution, sexist and violent books - that they are simply indefensible in any debate.
The real debate, which I am yet to come across, should be between Atheists and Agnostics. It may also be a difficult one since they would agree on so many things except on one question - is their a higher power guiding this universe?
The scientific quest for the origin of universe continues. It is simply awe inspiring to hear people like Lawrence Krauss talk about what we know about the origins of universe, could universe have started from NOTHING, what happened during the Big Bang etc. The question that no one has answered yet is what was their before the Big Bang, or what was beyond the boundary of the object that exploded (Big Bang), where is universe expanding to. There is so much that is unknown today. Atheists like Richard Dawkins have admitted repeatedly that they dont have the answers and that they are working on them. It is here where Agnostics can state that while even they don't have the answers, a belief in a higher power devoid of any religious baggage is perfectly rational. God in this case would be a hypothesis which cannot be proved or disproved. Your final position/inference will be exactly the same as your initial hypothesis.
Now a belief in Agnosticism, one can argue, can lead down a slippery slope. If you believe in a higher power, what does it do, how does that power affect your lives, why was this universe "created", what's the purpose etc. There are obviously no answers yet but perhaps more importantly, there is no good reason to believe that the higher power is even bothered with our Milky Way, much less about our solar system, or about Earth or about humans as a species (of the millions that exist). It is simply conceited to think ourselves as the center of anyone's attention, higher power or not.
I am very open to hearing arguments that disprove the existence of a higher power beyond a reasonable doubt. Until them, I must say it is a coin toss.
Is religion the only way to represent God?
Atheists have a field day making fun of religion and some of the ideas/stories that form their foundations. Rightfully so. The foundations are so shaky and ridiculous - virgin birth, denial of evolution, sexist and violent books - that they are simply indefensible in any debate.
The real debate, which I am yet to come across, should be between Atheists and Agnostics. It may also be a difficult one since they would agree on so many things except on one question - is their a higher power guiding this universe?
The scientific quest for the origin of universe continues. It is simply awe inspiring to hear people like Lawrence Krauss talk about what we know about the origins of universe, could universe have started from NOTHING, what happened during the Big Bang etc. The question that no one has answered yet is what was their before the Big Bang, or what was beyond the boundary of the object that exploded (Big Bang), where is universe expanding to. There is so much that is unknown today. Atheists like Richard Dawkins have admitted repeatedly that they dont have the answers and that they are working on them. It is here where Agnostics can state that while even they don't have the answers, a belief in a higher power devoid of any religious baggage is perfectly rational. God in this case would be a hypothesis which cannot be proved or disproved. Your final position/inference will be exactly the same as your initial hypothesis.
Now a belief in Agnosticism, one can argue, can lead down a slippery slope. If you believe in a higher power, what does it do, how does that power affect your lives, why was this universe "created", what's the purpose etc. There are obviously no answers yet but perhaps more importantly, there is no good reason to believe that the higher power is even bothered with our Milky Way, much less about our solar system, or about Earth or about humans as a species (of the millions that exist). It is simply conceited to think ourselves as the center of anyone's attention, higher power or not.
I am very open to hearing arguments that disprove the existence of a higher power beyond a reasonable doubt. Until them, I must say it is a coin toss.
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