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Originally Posted by LEMONZEST
The only thing your atheism tells me is that you don't believe any gods exist. To learn more about you I would have to get to know you and find out what you believe which is the point. I should not just lump you in with all atheists and then make general negative descriptive statements about you that (I think) apply to all atheists.
You could be reasonable or unreasonable. You could be rude or hospitable. You could be peace loving or militant.... you get the picture. Telling me you are an atheist really only tells me (1) thing about you and even then there are subsets to that belief
I didn't say that knowing I'm atheist immediately tells you all that there is to know about me, but it gives you a pretty good clue as to my world view wrt to the effect that I think gods have on our lives, doesn't it. Conversely, if I know that someone is a theist, to the point that they pray for other people or wear some kind of religious symbol, then it gives me a pretty good idea how they regard the effect that gods have on our lives.
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Originally Posted by LEMONZEST
I think it is a good analogy but okay
I don't because the colour of someone's skin doesn't tell you anything about how they think, but knowing that they're a theist does, especially if they just offered to pray for you.
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Originally Posted by LEMONZEST
What if the supernatural does exist and some people have good reasons for believing this is the case?
An interesting 'what if' but that's all it is. None of those good reasons have ever turned into actual convincing proof, otherwise we'd all believe in the supernatural, except it wouldn't be supernatural anymore, it would just be natural.
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Originally Posted by LEMONZEST
I pray for myself, others, safe trips, but mostly lunch and dinner.
ok. And what effect do you think that those prayers have? When you pray for others, are you trying to effect the outcome of something? I'm struggling here to discern between a Deterministic outlook where you can't change anything, and the unlikely possibility that god could be influenced.