>Yup. As far as I'm aware (and I am by no means an expert in such >matters) there is not only no way to show the existence of an >omnipotent creator through evidentiary means, but any such logical >attempt necessitates the postulation of such a being as an axiom.
This is basically what the field of Christian apologetics does (or any religious apologetics), to look at the historical, philosophical, scientific and/or logical reasons for a belief in God. Certainly many people may look at the same information and come to different conclusions, but that's nothing new in the world of logic. But again, there's a difference between proof and evidence. Atheists would say that there's no definitive proof there is a God, and that's true. But to make the leap that therefore there must not be a God, because he cannot be measured by scientific means (and because science can explain much that was indeed once considered solely the purview of religion) is as much a leap of faith in science as it is a leap of faith to believe in God. That's why I would say agnosticism is a far more rational view than atheism. >And please do remember that the original context for the remark was >MaryJo's surprise about Dawkins going off on a belief in God as being >irrational. Actually, the irrational statement came up later on the list. I objected to him calling atheism the only "intelligent" view to have. Same thing perhaps, but somewhat more objectionable. >Given that he is a scientist, I stated that in the context >of a discussion with a scientist, a belief in God was really probably >irrational. Well no, actually context was never mentioned. And there are certainly many scientists that believe in God and find such a belief perfectly reasonable and rational. Dawkins totally believes that science and religion *cannot* co-exist. He's downright militant against those that disagree with him (not just on religion but in regards to his scientific theories as well). I have no problem with people that disagree with me, or have a different position on something that there's no definitive proof for one way or the other. But I do take issue with someone that has no room or respect for other people's views. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:308513 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
