I find it rather amusing that even in this day and age of freethinkers, people scoff or give me the frozen-in-time paganist treatment when i announce my being an atheist. It's either that or the you've-caught-the-i-don't-believe-fad bug. For YOUR Pete's sake, give me a break. If i can be accommodating and at worst tolerant to all Gods and their believers, i can't see why there can't be a place for us agnostics.
I've always managed to conveniently steer myself to places more than an earshot's distance away from talk about God, divinity, religion and people who question my reasons. I'll also admit that i'm not confrontational when the use of arms, fists, jabs and punches are disallowed. But then there was this girl i met recently who seemed to have a different question for me, and on a hunch, i let her go ahead with it...
'What?', I said with narrowed eyes.
'How do you explain miracles?', she questioned.
'What?', I repeated my word.
'Miracles. Doctors, scientists, engineers, philosophers have all entrusted God for the same reason', she surmised.
'Well that makes me the outlaw then', I smirked. 'Those are people who are willing to look beyond reason, logic and science. I ain't one of them.'
'Well... so how does your understanding of math or science for that matter explain miracles?', she persisted...
After little thought, 'Miracles are zero probability events. Just because they have a probability of zero doesn't mean they can't happen.'
I've always managed to conveniently steer myself to places more than an earshot's distance away from talk about God, divinity, religion and people who question my reasons. I'll also admit that i'm not confrontational when the use of arms, fists, jabs and punches are disallowed. But then there was this girl i met recently who seemed to have a different question for me, and on a hunch, i let her go ahead with it...
'What?', I said with narrowed eyes.
'How do you explain miracles?', she questioned.
'What?', I repeated my word.
'Miracles. Doctors, scientists, engineers, philosophers have all entrusted God for the same reason', she surmised.
'Well that makes me the outlaw then', I smirked. 'Those are people who are willing to look beyond reason, logic and science. I ain't one of them.'
'Well... so how does your understanding of math or science for that matter explain miracles?', she persisted...
After little thought, 'Miracles are zero probability events. Just because they have a probability of zero doesn't mean they can't happen.'
14 comments:
ah ha smart answer...oyye dinner suggestions evi?
If you don't believe in God and die and find out there is indeed God.. it is a lose-lose situation.
And if you believe in God and die.. Science won't punish you..after death.. you just seize to exist.
Just something i heard in a serial called Boston Legal. thoughts of Denny Crane
atheist or agnostic?
Just curiosity...But aren't zero probability events as good as impossible events??
@ anon
dinner suggestions ??? why ?? who?? what ???
@ siraj
I believe that ashes and dust are the end to life and that there is nothing beyond.
@ i7
atheist and agnostic.
@ paddu
They are next to impossible, NOT IMPOSSIBLE. Just like mission impossible ;).
I didn't quite understand your answer. To me, there are two minds of miracles.
1. That actually happen and there is not enough data to scientifically explain it.
2. That are illusions, you know, like Ganesha drinking milk which several million people swore they saw, which was later diagnosed as mass hysteria
I don't agree with what "siraj" quoted either. That is the kind of fear that is driving people towards faith and all all the bad things that come with it. Faith induced by fear is not good faith.
@ twisted dna
What i meant to convey is that miracles do happen but the probability of them happening is just about the same as the probability of you and me picking the same number greater than 0 and less than 1. Makes sense now ?
PS: Delusions are not miracles. Neither is mass hysteria. :)
Erm you are an atheist AND an agnostic?
Wait I get it.. you sure are confused! [:P]
Also, I'm a very happy pagan.
@ crouching tigress
Usually agnostic. Turn atheist in the company of preachers. :)
I too am lost in the marshlands between agnostic and atheist. I only worry whether I need to push myself to believe - the worry comes from raising a faithless child. At it's very bare minimum, religion, God and the parables that come along with them are a easy, readymade way to impart values to kids... without these, I worry that it would be really tough to build a sense of right and wrong...
Funny...
I still remember the incident when I was chastised for telling my teacher that I did not believe in the existence of God...
I just quoted what my dad had told me and both me and my dad were made to listen to total BS from my teacher who wouldn't shut up...
I was in sixth then...
@ rohini
IMHO, I turned out alright without having to learn my values from parables. Also, i'm pretty sure that i'm not the exception that proves the rule.
@ anu russell
In 5th grade, armed with a divider, i went to kill a ghost. :D
Post a Comment