Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12
Dead Sea Scrolls.
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I would be curious to hear the background on how they changed your thinking? I think deconversion stories are pretty interesting.
As an atheist I would feel pretty confident in making and defending two big assertions;
Every formal religions conceptualization of a diety has enough negative evidence for us to confidently assert they do not exist. I can't think of a concept that I would find acceptable within my current model of the universe, but I think it would look allot closer to the simulation postulate than an actively involved diety with a reward based after life or reincarnation system, and I have big misgivings with the simulation theory as I think its just a cheap way to get out of saying "I don't know"
The decline in religion is no longer only coming from the replacement of old people. Some of the most religious people I know have drastically soften in their views. And several of the most avid church goers I know are pretty much open atheists to who prefer the community. I think as the network effects of churches brake down, and their monopoly on community declines, this trend will become difficult to reverse.
I think there are Skeptics and Agnostics that would prefer not to make positive assertions, but I will. The earth is not 6000 years old, Every living species did not bottle neck to two individuals 3500 years ago, Men evolved and were not created, there are no space aliens trapped in a volcano giving us consciousness, our consciousness does not rule a distant planet after we die, we do not have an essence of being that becomes another creature, super powered humans did not live on a mountain toying with the lives of humans.........