carl sagan...not an atheist??

[NotWithoutMyOntic]

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan

i thought this was hella interesting...there isn't enough conversation about the scientists out there who do not consider themselves atheists.  or what exactly atheism is anyway...

some choice quotes from this page:

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Those who raise questions about the God hypothesis and the soul hypothesis are by no means all atheists. An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidenceagainst the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed.

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An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions atheism is very stupid.

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I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. 

 

[Gord Barentsen]

I find these quotes wonderfully ambivalent.  CS is rightly ambivalent about dismissing the idea of God outright, but then seems to rely on his own knowledge to suggest there's no such thing as an afterlife.

[Graham Barnett]

well i think there are some atheists who just think the world is larger than any science or ideology can explain...any real scientist will tell you that.

[NotWithoutMyOntic]

On 6/15/2018 at 1:41 PM, Graham Barnett said:

well i think there are some atheists who just think the world is larger than any science or ideology can explain...any real scientist will tell you that.

I always thought that atheists were simply defined by the lack of belief in a personified God.

[Graham Barnett]

On 6/26/2018 at 4:21 PM, NotWithoutMyOntic said:

I always thought that atheists were simply defined by the lack of belief in a personified God.

yeah thats part of it but despite what atheists say there are different kinds with different beliefs...just like any religion 😄

[Gord Barentsen]

In my opinion, there's a qualitative difference between saying "I don't believe in God" and "God doesn't exist"/"people who believe in God are delusional."  For me, the first is a perfectly credible statement; the second involves indefensible ontological and epistemological assumptions. 

[Graham Barnett]

On 7/4/2018 at 10:23 AM, Gord Barentsen said:

indefensible ontological and epistemological assumptions

ok, i'll bite....what are those assumptions?