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Original poster

Honest question. Is this site a religious site?

843 replies

follderol · 26/01/2009 18:01

It seems to me there's a large amount of Christian posts. I've also noticed a fair amount of disapproval for other religions.

I am an atheist. I don't really want to be part of a christian site posing as a parenting site.

So is this actually a Christian place?

OP posts:
justaboutplaysball · 28/01/2009 21:39

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CoteDAzur · 28/01/2009 21:37

You still misunderstand. The outcome in question is not whether or not there is a die.

The outcome whose probability doesn't depend on our evidence (or lack thereof) is the '6'.

You roll the die. You don't have any evidence that says you have a 6. And lack of this evidence does not change the probability of having rolled a 6, which is still 1/6, with or without evidence.

IorekByrnison · 28/01/2009 21:34

You know, for a moment there, when I read that you prefer gingernuts to bourbons, I genuinely believed that I had gained a new insight into your theology, and mentally placed you a little further out of high church anglicanism and a little further into non-conformism.

Must...get...off...mumsnet....

pointydog · 28/01/2009 21:33

yes, I had misunderstood clightly, cote. However, knowing there is a tangible dice involved allows the probability to exist in teh first place. According to me.

Habbibu · 28/01/2009 21:30

I guess I don't feel the need to defend my atheism, Cote, so I'm happy to call myself one, while accepting that my actual knowledge of the existence of God, or evolution, is, of necessity, agnostic.

justaboutplaysball · 28/01/2009 21:28

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Habbibu · 28/01/2009 21:28

Well, I don't believe there is a God. I believe that global warming is caused, at least in part, by C02 released by human activity. I believe that evolution got us to where we are. There's more evidence for the latter two than the first, but they are all statements of faith.

The only things you can actually prove are mathematical.

IorekByrnison · 28/01/2009 21:27

justa are you willing to share your biscuit preferences with us?

CoteDAzur · 28/01/2009 21:25

pointydog - If you read that post again, you will see that "rolling a die in a dark room" was an example that illustrates that evidence of outcome (seeing if you rolled a 6 or not) does not affect probability of that outcome (which is still 1/6)

In a similar vein, lack of evidence for the existence of God does not mean the probability of God's existence is low.

It just means that we don't have any evidence either way. For now.

I started out as an atheist, btw, until I realized atheism is just as indefensible a position as belief in God, because there is no proof either way.

Yes, it is rather silly to believe in a deity without any real evidence, but they might still be right.

IorekByrnison · 28/01/2009 21:25

Yes that makes perfect sense, habbibu. In fact I can't think why it seemed so complicated before.

justaboutplaysball · 28/01/2009 21:25

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Habbibu · 28/01/2009 21:22

Isn't the atheist position "I believe there is no God", as opposed to "There is no God", and the agnostics just don't say what they believe, but only say what they know? So atheism is a position of belief, rather than knowledge.

IorekByrnison · 28/01/2009 21:21

Objectivist or subjectivist school, Mr Rusty?

IorekByrnison · 28/01/2009 21:19
RustyBear · 28/01/2009 21:18

I just asked DH (who's a statistician) whether you could come up with a probability for God, and he said you'd have to be a Bayesian.....

pointydog · 28/01/2009 21:18

dice theory, cote. Don't get it. Was it one of Pascal's wagers?

I know a dice exists. I have seen enough evidence with my own eyes to strongly suspect that if I roll it in a dark room it will act in the same way as it does in a lit room.

So I don't see how it correlates to teh existence of God

justaboutplaysball · 28/01/2009 21:16

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IorekByrnison · 28/01/2009 21:14
jesusHChrist · 28/01/2009 21:12

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justabouttohaveacuppa · 28/01/2009 21:10

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IorekByrnison · 28/01/2009 21:07

The Easter Bunny (like all of unquietdad's hilarious examples) is rather specific and easily defined though isn't it, so it's not so hard estimate the probability of its existence. "God" on the other hand could mean anything from a very abstract sense of an unseen ideal to an old man with a beard and a thunderbolt depending on who you ask. Unless we can all agree on what we mean by God (which is never going to happen), probability doesn't enter into it.

ruty · 28/01/2009 21:06

I mean Jesus Christ, not a particular MN poster [now see if Jesus had posted on MN he could have cleared so many things up...]

ruty · 28/01/2009 21:05

i think though, onebat, whilst the origins of our universe still create so many unanswered questions, and whilst science digs deeper and deeper into how we were created [think Stephen Hawking had a mathematical model for a purposeful creator or am i talking shit?] the idea of a creator, or of a purposeful creation, is a more pertinent idea than that of the Easter Bunny. Also, for me at least, JC seemed to hit the nail on the head in so many ways for humanity, and he kept rabbiting on about this God business so i have to keep an open mind...

CoteDAzur · 28/01/2009 21:03

Was that post meant to be serious?

onebatmother · 28/01/2009 20:54

cote, do you apply the same argument to the Easter Bunny?

I must say that when UQD says things like this I have a tendency to roll my eyes. This is, I think, rather unfair of me, since it is, bottom line, the obvious response to your argument.

I'd also take issue with your die in a darkened room argument, since it seems to me that the room is only dark for you. For me, it is quite brightly-lit.

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