Lacewing wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 5:50 pm
Skepdick wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 5:24 pm
Most people take to thinking like most cats take to swimming.
Hmm... well, that must be your experience/interpretation. It's not mine.
Skepdick wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 5:24 pmRegurgitating other people's narratives/arguments is not independent thought - it's just fitting in/belonging.
Of course.
Here's a fun experiment then - walk into a community where atheists are the majority/norm and challenge atheism on its epistemic shortcomings.
See how quickly you get lynched.
Lacewing wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 5:50 pm
I was responding to your statement: "
Most people are atheists as an act of rebelliousness against the status quo, not because they can think for themselves." Regardless of other statements you might make, this statement suggests a characterization of "most atheists", and I think it's skewed and untrue. If it's not a comparison to theists, then why point such a statement at atheists?
Lacewing wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 5:50 pm
Furthermore, it's seems absurd to me to claim that atheism is an act of rebelliousness.
So unpack it then.
How many atheists do you know that were born/raised as atheists from birth, vs how many do you know that were born/raised into some other doctrine but now self-identify as atheists.
The former group probably doesn't even have the word "atheists" in their vocabulary. Being an atheist and self-identifying with it is just not a thing.
The ones that make a big hoo-ha about their "atheism" are usually the latter camp, no? It's a fashion statement; virtue-singling about their superior intellect.
Have you ever watched The Atheist Experience on youtube? It's a circle-jerk!
Lacewing wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 5:50 pm
And since when did some supposed "status quo" become truth?
I have no idea what "truth" is and probably neither do you.
It's just as easy to adopt a philosophical position where one rejects the idea of Truth, as it is trivial to reject the idea of God.