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  1. Matthew78

    Leaving liberal religion

    Well that and whatever rational inferences I can make about the world around me. I don't see anything wrong with this. Sure. What do you have in mind? I infer some abstract ideas based on perception that I am convinced do exist. For instance, atoms and molecules. I can't directly observe...
  2. Matthew78

    Leaving liberal religion

    Friends, A couple of years ago I announced that I was no longer an atheist. I became a Unitarian Universalist and I started to gravitate very strongly towards "panendeism". I just couldn't let go of the idea that there were objective moral values and that they couldn't originate in human...
  3. Matthew78

    Copyrighting one's blog

    Thanks! So if anything I put on my blog is automatically copyrighted, can I sue someone for plagiarism as long as I can document it or do I need to register a copyright for my blog to file a lawsuit?
  4. Matthew78

    Copyrighting one's blog

    I didn't know where else to put this post. I am going to be opening up a new blog on www.blogger.com However, if I put posts on this blog, I want to find out how to copyright my blog if blogger.com doesn't do it automatically. I read, from someone who doesn't run or own blogger.com, that...
  5. Matthew78

    Prayer serves no purpose.

    At best, you have a point against petitionary prayer but not all believers that I know of, Christian or not, consider prayer just for petitionary purposes. Some do it because they want to voice a concern to God. Some want to confess their wrong-doings to God and ask God for forgiveness. Other...
  6. Matthew78

    Free Will Skepticism

    The word "libertarian" with respect to the free will debate is probably different from "Libertarian" used to describe the political philosophy. It's my impression that they're different. Anyways, I was describing "libertarian free will" as the belief that a person P, committing action X, at time...
  7. Matthew78

    Free Will Skepticism

    How so? There is a problem to consider before using QM to help rescue any concept of "free will". The problem is that there are differing interpretations of quantum mechanics. One interpretation is the "Copenhagen Interpretation" and another is the "Many Worlds Interpretation". I happen to...
  8. Matthew78

    Free Will Skepticism

    I am becoming more and more skeptical of "libertarian free will". I have read some articles about experiments that have been done, such as one by Benjamin Libet and others. I am convinced that our will, our personalities, and our thoughts are probably completely caused by our brains. Free will...
  9. Matthew78

    why so many rude people in church?

    This is my experience. Probably the one church that I have gone to that has had the nicest people I have ever met was at a Unitarian Universalist church. This church is the one that I currently go to.
  10. Matthew78

    why so many rude people in church?

    This happened to my family once. When we moved from San Francisco to a large town in California's central valley, we attended a First Christian Church. My parents complained that they were the most stuck-up, rudest, and unfriendly people they have ever encountered. Even the minister was far from...
  11. Matthew78

    Mistaken about atheism

    So the human mind is not a "soul" or a "spirit" yet gives rise to libertarian free-will? I am not sure how this is the case.
  12. Matthew78

    Atheists on free will

    If you are an atheist, do you believe that "libertarian/contra-causal" free-will exists or do you consider yourself a skeptic of free-will? If you believe that free-will exists, what is the source of free-will? Do you believe that this universe is all that exists, all that has ever existed...
  13. Matthew78

    Mistaken about atheism

    That's interesting. I have read that many Buddhists are atheists and yet believe in some kind of reincarnation. I haven't really studied Buddhism in great enough detail but I would be really interested in understanding what they believe and why.
  14. Matthew78

    Mistaken about atheism

    I don't know if it should. Maybe it shouldn't. Not that I can see. If something is important to you, then it shouldn't matter if the rest of the universe doesn't care. I am beginning to suspect that there really is no such thing as "objective morality". I am beginning to strongly suspect...
  15. Matthew78

    Mistaken about atheism

    Okay, I can accept that I am still mistaken. As for these atheists who believe in free will, are they naturalists/physicalists? If so, how does free will square with the belief that this universe is all that exists, all that has ever existed, and all that will ever exist? Or, maybe I should be...
  16. Matthew78

    Mistaken about atheism

    I thought that all atheists were metaphysical naturalists/physicalists. This is how I thought in the years that I was an atheist. I realize that there is much debate over morality by different atheists. I have read different ideas from Murray Bookchin, Ayn Rand, Michael Martin, Richard Carrier...
  17. Matthew78

    Mistaken about atheism

    More than a year ago, I started a thread of two on morality and atheism. I kept asking, perhaps to the annoyance of atheists here, questions like "Why be moral?" and "What does it matter?" I have been studying the topic of free-will and I have slowly began realizing over this past year that I am...
  18. Matthew78

    The Source of Worth and Dignity

    It's been a while since I was last here. I want to ask my fellow UUs a question. One of our Principles is "The inherent worth and inherent dignity of all human beings". However what is the source of this worth and dignity? Where do we derive our worth and dignity? I have been thinking, for...
  19. Matthew78

    Divine inspiration and the Torah

    I am curious about Jewish theology with regards to the Torah. Have Jews traditionally believed that the Torah is divinely inspired, both written and oral? For example, the New Testament refers to the Hebrew Bible as being "God-breathed" (Greek word is theopneustos). Is this accurate? If so, does...
  20. Matthew78

    The name of Yahweh

    There are some people who interpret Exodus 6: 2-3 as being a question. In other words, God is not denying that the three patriarchs knew him as Yahweh but rather he is asking Moses a rhetorical question. They suggest that what God was saying to Moses was "I am the LORD; and I appeared to...
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