Hmmm... I might have to "acquire" this movie to watch it.

Please watch. (I think it's old enough and public enough for me to have on my channel, but it could disappear)

Yes. It does appear less significant as you expand on it and generalize it. However, it doesn't make it any less correct. Nothing that has existed has ever been like you (or me, or anyone) and we all have within us an incredible creative energy that only exists because of what has existed before us and caused us into being.

However, I have started on my third beer with a friend, so I will discontinue my input

Edit: debate ended, at least for me.

The wink was obviously your way of saying he was only blind in one eye.

It's assuming mutual exclusion after all the previous discussion too. Pretty sure it's just more sarcasm (big shock).

I liked the part where Eli killed people and then ate them for supper.

It does, just like Pythagoras' theorem does. The core idea is still valid, but the context has been amended to account for new insights. The Pythagorean theorem has been amended in at least two ways ever since Pythagoras conceived it:

• it is only valid on perfectly flat surfaces

• it can be generalized from 2-space to N-space, so that:

(where d_i is the distance between the ends of the hypotenuse in dimension i)

Likewise, newer insights have amended the theory of Evolution, even though the basic idea (diverse lifeforms through mutation and selection) is still observably valid.

Yes?

That was a great movie, though I'm not religious. I don't remember it well, but I do seem to recall him being blind.

I actually do, quite often. In fact, that's one of the things that makes it so enjoyable to debate it. Whenever the subject comes up I'm told how wrong I am by Christians (and other religious people). The problem is that the mocking is usually silly. Equivalent to childs play or relying on the assumption that the science is wrong (i.e., inside jokes based on fallacies). In general, it's pretty hard to really make fun of atheists.

For starters, we don't care. I couldn't really care less if I'm right or wrong. If there is a God, and he is good and peaceful and loves me, then I have to assume that he can accept my choice not to believe in him based on what little "evidence" he left behind. If it's not true that he's a loving, peaceful God then the Bible is wrong and the whole concept of a Christian God (the only one I'm familiar with) is moot anyway. Contrary to the "believe because I have nothing to lose" argument, I'm actually being honest with myself (and with a God, if one exists); whereas somebody claiming to believe just to cover their ass is clearly lying about their belief and would be considered a fraud by any competent God.

Besides, my "beliefs" are based on scientific evidence, logic, and reason. It's pretty difficult to challenge that without opening one's own beliefs up to scrutiny, and since religious beliefs are always based on faith that makes it pretty damn difficult to defend in a logical argument/discussion/debate. By definition, there is no logical defense. You either forfeit or lose.

bam: Science does not answer all the "big questions", and it never will. IMO, most of these questions are flawed themselves (I'm kind of Zen that way), but everyone's entitled to their own interpretations.

He didn't, because non-Euclidean geometry hadn't been invented yet.

Fixed. The gist is that given two points in N-space, you can calculate their straight-line distance by taking the square root of the sum of the squares of the distances along each axis (provided the axes are aligned orthogonally and don't wrap).

Nah, there is a separation in accordance to their religion. That's the way that these things work.

They believe that only some can be saved, and hence only some of them can be saved. It's all about whether or not they can become aware of that. Those are the ones that are saved -- the ones whom abandon the ideals of their authorities and adopt the fractal realities of themselves.

Not all religious people have it completely upside down. Mr. Barry has a grasp of how to deal with religion with a more realistic perspective. I have significantly more tolerance for non-denominational Christians, as I do hold the belief that Jesus of Nazareth told some rather provocative truths.

Not trying to get into the conversation here and I'm not reading through the whole thread... These conversations last too long and go too quickly.

These days when someone asks me if I believe in God or not I flip a coin. Doesn't matter if they call it or if you call it, just flip it and let them decide what it means...

No, it's falsifiability. If it can't be proven wrong, it's not science.

(BTW, I found this post absolutely hilarious. It's like all the misconceptions about evolution in one. )

Yeah, I used to believe the "if you don't believe in a higher power, then what's the point of living" methodology as well. Evert helped enlighten me there.

I know you said don't bother to answer, but I have some input. It's been on my mind before and I have wished death upon myself (even going as far as approaching how I would do it). Ultimately, I decided a long time ago that my existence has some purpose and I will be defying the god that I believe in by committing suicide and thus I must continue to live and attempt to discover what it is I'm supposed to be doing down here.

Anywho, just a random thought: I imagine the answer is "yes" to the question "does going to sleep make being awake more valuable"?

On another note, going way back to the pink unicorn (or the flying spaghetti monster), I haven't seen either so I suppose they could exist. Afterall, I don't think it's impossible that aliens exist. To me, just because it is unknown doesn't mean that is impossible, just more likely improbable. Then it just becomes a matter of saying if that probability is so low that it becomes neglectable. I'm of the faith that it is not in terms of a higher power. The question then becomes what is this higher power, what religion is right and then constantly spending my life meditating on that and trying to make a connection. I don't go around (anymore) cursing God when things go wrong or thanking God when things go right.