No but militant atheists are equally annoying as militant religious types.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 9:57, 2 replies)

Agreed.
I'm afraid Richard Dawkins does come off as an arrogant dick. Unfortunate, but there you are. Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry were far better public figures for this, should atheism ever require such.
(The Luggage is haunted..., Tue 4 Sep 2012, 10:11, closed)

It's the pontification and disparagement of others that annoys me.
I find the same with politicians - "Vote for this party, because that party's rubbish!" piss off I'm perfectly capable of making up my own mind, thank you.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 10:13, closed)

Do you know where the word "pontification" comes from?
Hint: pontiff.
(ubergeekian, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 13:54, closed)

Yes.
My employing it was deliberate.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 13:59, closed)

What about Alain de Botton?
I think I remember reading that he was going to build a temple for you lot.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 10:33, closed)

The only use for Alain de Botton's temple
is to provide a steeple from which he can be thrown.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 10:54, closed)

"If a tree falls in the forest and there is no-one around to hear it, does Alain de Botton write a book about it anyway?"

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 21:18, closed)

I don't believe he exists
There's as much evidence for the existence of Richard Dawkins as there is for the existence of God.

Lots of people claim to have seen both, but I've never seen either. Therefore, neither of them exist.
(gordonjcp, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 11:55, closed)

Bollocks!
Richard Dawkins is a human, you've seen lots of humans, and are aware that many more of them than you've met exist. God is a supernatural being, you've never met one, and have no reason to believe they exist other than hearsay.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 12:12, closed)

I've met god
but then I'm from vanuatu, and I'm one of those people that worship prince philip
(cs1ca, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 12:32, closed)

As a figment of his imagination,
who are you to tell him what is or isn't real?
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 12:43, closed)

I've only got your word for it.
You say he's real and he's a human, but you are a believer. I could pop down to the church down the road and find someone who reckons that God is real and right there in the room with us. It doesn't prove anything.
(gordonjcp, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 13:08, closed)

Try as I might to understand this
I'm afraid I'm going to have to file this under "Bloody daft". The closest concept I can think of for this is the "My universe is my eyes and my ears. Anything else is hearsay" concept from H2G2, or the self-aware universe bollocks courtesy of Alan Wilson Watts. Sorry, that's just daft.
(The Luggage is haunted..., Tue 4 Sep 2012, 13:45, closed)

Once you accept that you cannot be 100% certain of anything,
you can pretty much deny everything. Quite likely to end you up in an institution, though.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 14:13, closed)

It's very simple
If you believe that God does not exist because you have no objective experience of him, then logically you must believe that Richard Dawkins doesn't exist if you have no objective experience of him.

Lots of people claim to have seen Richard Dawkins, and even spoken to him - but lots of people claim that about God, too. Some claim that they both exist, based on their objective experience of them.

Can you prove that God exists? Can you prove that Richard Dawkins exists?
(gordonjcp, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 16:04, closed)

Really?
Who claims actually to have seen god? What does he look like? Did they take pictures?
(ubergeekian, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 13:55, closed)

I assume he probably looks like W. G. Grace.

(The Luggage is haunted..., Tue 4 Sep 2012, 14:04, closed)

From the department store?
Does He have a sexy nurse looking after him?
(ubergeekian, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 15:33, closed)

You should be grateful for militant atheists like Dawkins
For millennia religions have kept people from questioning the status quo, very often with the threat of ghastly punishments for unbelievers. Bad enough to tell small children they will go to hell and suffer for eternity if they don't toe the line - even worse to actually e.g. pour molten lead down the throat of a blashpheming youth in Renaissance Italy. Religion has only ever unwillingly given up its power over society when opposed by determinted - militant to you - opposition. Militant religious types want you to think like them. Militant atheists want you to think for yourself.
( electric_goat, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 16:08, closed)

Militant atheists get rather cross when you disagree with them on theological matters,
so their desire for you to think for yourself only goes so far, before they start sounding exactly like those they're in opposition to.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Tue 4 Sep 2012, 16:15, closed)

I get it, really, I do.
However, they are bloody annoying, even when you do agree with them.
(The Luggage is haunted..., Tue 4 Sep 2012, 16:34, closed)