Atheists who believe in moral truth must be nihilists.

[_beastie]

We're not getting it? His entire argument is an argument against the existence of God. I'm a bit confused as to why someone who is most likely a theist of some sort would be rushing to embrace such an argument.


And, again, why are you even interested in this argument? Do you imagine somehow that it is an argument against atheism?

We all know that theists really, really, dislike the idea of nihilism. Are you making some argument other than that one?

[_truth dancer]

Hi Beastie...

Your comments speak to my post way back on page 3...

If a human being lives a good life, what difference does it make in terms of actual meaning if one does or does not believe one's life has meaning outside this earthly life?

In other words, belief is not the determining factor as to ultimate meaning, (life is either meaningful or it is not meaningful) so who cares what one believes regarding how meaningful is her/his life? What difference does the belief in one's ultimate meaning, make?

(Quote slightly altered to make more sense in this context).

The universe is what it is.... our guesses/beliefs/ideas/stories/theories are not the determining factor on what is or is not outside our human experience.

Thanks, Analytics for you response!

I always learn a lot from you! :-)

~dancer~

[_Analytics]

Besides, while the universe may be infinite, there's certainly no evidence that the existence of this planet, nor the human beings on it, is infinite.

I don't think peope here are getting what Smith means by increasing value and why the finiteness of the universe matters. Take classic utilitarianism. In order for an action to be morally good, it must increase the total happiness in the universe. If the universe is infinite in a spatiotemporal sense, this is not possible. Ergo, there are no morally good actions.

I disagree; it depends upon the relaitonship between space, time, and happiness. For example, if "happiness" is something that only exists among Earthlings, then as long as the earth is finite, then the total amount of happiness to be maximized is finite.

Can you begin to see why I said a key assumption to this is that every unit of time has at least one unit of value?

[_A Light in the Darkness]

We're not getting it? His entire argument is an argument against the existence of God.

No, he feels this is an incidental conclusion of his argument. I disagree due to the nature of God But again, that's not a subject I'm interested in getting into at the moment.

[_Mister Scratch]

Oh, I know who this poster reminds ME of. Charles Dowis. Charles has such a knack for adopting a condescending tone, even when that condescending tone is not only unjustified but quite disconnected with the reality of the conversation. As long as you don't actually take him seriously enough to try and meaningful communicate on whatever point he is expounding, he can be quite entertaining for that reason.

I don't recall Charles being particularly interested in atheism, however, but ALID certainly has the same tone.

cdowis, eh? I think that's an excellent guess. (There are definitely some correlations in style.) What's so unfortunate is the plain and obvious fact that ALitD obviously has something to hide, and is, in fact, being dishonest. He doesn't want us to connect the dots with his identity on MAD, and is thus putting up a ruse. Not very nice!

[_A Light in the Darkness]

What's so unfortunate is the plain and obvious fact that ALitD obviously has something to hide, and is, in fact, being dishonest. He doesn't want us to connect the dots with his identity on MAD, and is thus putting up a ruse. Not very nice!

The fact that I won't respond to your demands to say what MAD poster I am, if I am a MAD poster at all, means I'm being dishonest? Well shucks. Shouldn't you at least make an effort to mask your bigotry?

[_Dr. Shades]

Dear "A Light in the Darkness:"

Let me respond to your original inquiry:

Yes, a truly atheistic philosophy ultimately does result in nihilism.

My counterquestions to you are twofold:

• What's wrong with nihilisim?
• How is a theistic worldview any less nihilistic in the "it matters" department?

[_silentkid]

Dear "A Light in the Darkness:"

Let me respond to your original inquiry:

Yes, a truly atheistic philosophy ultimately does result in nihilism.

My counterquestions to you are twofold:

• What's wrong with nihilisim?
• How is a theistic worldview any less nihilistic in the "it matters" department?

I'd rather be called a nihilist, secularist, intellectual, agnostic, atheist, etc., then to claim belief in a god who punishes people for not believing in him and not playing by his obscure rules.

[_A Light in the Darkness]

Yes, a truly atheistic philosophy ultimately does result in nihilism.

Thank you for your honesty.

My counterquestions to you are twofold:

• What's wrong with nihilisim?
• How is a theistic worldview any less nihilistic in the "it matters" department?

Start a separate thread where I may or may not reply to those questions, depending on my interest level and time available. Right now, I'm interested in establishing what both you and the Dude plainly admit.

[_Jersey Girl]

Peanut gallery reporting in...

Is there some actual reason that people feel the need to speculate on a person's identity on these boards? (These boards: MAD/MDB) Didn't we just have a visit from Ray A. who all but demanded that people reveal "who they are" in page after page after page after page? And now the posters here are doing the same thing.

SSDD

Jersey Girl