News Stephan Hawking Declares There is No God

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by Bengal B, Sep 26, 2014.

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  1. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    Morality is essential to human existence, I understand and agree wholeheartedly. But morality exists outside of religion, the terms are not synonymous. Morality does not require a deity. And religious moralities are sometimes very false (see Islamic State).

    I was asking for the reason you think Hawking's is very wrong.
     
    red55, Oct 27, 2014
    #351
  2. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    Are you suggesting that scientists have no right to any option outside of science? If he is asked a religious question, can he not answer it as he sees it? This is ridiculous.

    You are not a climatologist. What right have you to deny climate change? See how that works?
     
    red55, Oct 27, 2014
    #352
  3. LSUpride123

    LSUpride123 PureBlood

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    Actually, this has been your argument for every climate thread. You refute back to "scientist".
     
    LSUpride123, Oct 27, 2014
    #353
  4. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    Climate change is a scientific question, obviously. Flabengal and I have once had a 40-page argument about it. I have never challenged anyones right to an opinion. I am not a climatologist either.
     
    red55, Oct 27, 2014
    #354
  5. flabengal

    flabengal Founding Member

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    I may have been too hard on Hawking. I jumped into this thread very late. After reading some of his quotes in the earlier pages I see his position may be milder than I assumed. It seems like they asked him a question and he answered it. I got the impression it was the main point in his latest work. As I said I haven't read it.

    Sure he has a right to answer questions about God, as do we all. I am sorry for him that his profession has somehow contributed to his loss of faith. I knew a guy who worked in a prison and he lost his faith because of it. Sadly he was previously a chaplain in the military. It must be pretty rough watching what goes on in a prison.

    But to return to the point, the application of science to questions of faith is as stupid as hiring sexpots to represent the UN.
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2014
    flabengal, Oct 27, 2014
    #355
  6. flabengal

    flabengal Founding Member

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    If he wants to ignore all the evidence of the existence of immaterial beings that is his loss. Answered prayers, miraculous rescues, possessions and exorcisms, near death experiences, etc all point to a reasonable conclusion that the immaterial does exist. You can't test it in a Petri dish, that's not the way it works.
     
    flabengal, Oct 27, 2014
    #356
  7. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    No, it is as stupid as the application of faith to scientific phenomenon.
     
    red55, Oct 27, 2014
    #357
  8. flabengal

    flabengal Founding Member

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    What does that mean? Do you mean tribes running around thinking eclipses, hurricanes, etc were from angry gods?

    Then, yeah, that was stupid....you'll get no argument here.
     
    flabengal, Oct 27, 2014
    #358
  9. mancha

    mancha Alabama morghulis

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    None of that is evidence. It is personal experience and many prayers have gone unanswered and rescues failed.
     
    mancha, Oct 27, 2014
    #359
  10. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    Yet, one can legitimately and scientifically compare these "miracles" to random chance, however. One may also note correlations with scientifically documented social phenomenon such as adaptive misbeliefs, false memory, and cultish mind control.
     
    red55, Oct 27, 2014
    #360
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