so lets get this straight, you are a religious agnostic (you don't know) yet you are willing to slander people who are religious. you are a scientific agnostic, yet you use scientific arguments in your posts.

So lets assume you are agnostic about everything (as you would need to be, as to not to have faith in anything is to refuse to believe anything). So how do you get to work. Lets say you drive, how do you know that the green light at the traffic lights means go. It always has before? So what it could have changed, and lets not forget you are agnostic, so you cannot know that the light being green means go. So why do you go when the light is green? I know, its because everyone else does, you are a sheep. Seeing as though agnosticism is so popular, this sheep like behavior shows why you are agnostic.

I would much prefer to be part of a protest movement than a simple sheep, a sheep who abuses others for holding beliefs and thinks one can get away with it because you have no beliefs and are just following the agnostic (or atheist) crowd.

Enjoy the pastures, lost cause.

Fide - if you want to reply to Yabby and use up your post quota be aware others have had a run in with him. They have learned their lesson.

Yabby seems immune to the rules of argument, he doesn't know when he has been shown to be wrong.

I think he believes argument is something like hammering a nail until you feel better, rather than two people who need each other to get to the truth.

I don't know - Yabby why don't you prove me wrong.

Martin, all Yabby has done is be honest - ie he doesn't know if God exists. It is not slanderous to question something to discover more about it. Stating his views is not slanderous.

I really find your attitude lacking in courtesy and, as such, revealing a narrow mind.

The whole point of this forum is the airing of different opinions. If we all agreed this website wouldn't even exist.

Do you have an opinion on the "war on terror" or not?

I believe it is about oil - terrorism has always been with us and the phrase is merely rhetoric, rather than truth.

Fide, you misunderstand science. In science all knowledge is tentative. Yup, there are also lots of things that we don't know, but we know a hell of a lot more then we used to. So when we don't know, the honest position is to wait for more data, before we make an informed decision.

Religions can show no substantiated evidence for their claims. Yet it is the religious who constantly try to impose their values on me and interfere with mine and other peoples freedoms. That makes some religions political and therefore open to criticism, no different to any other political party. Now take note of the loudest and most shrill critics on OLO. Its usually Christians abusing Muslims!

So I will continue to point out the many flaws of Chrisianity, just as the Xtians find fault with the Muslims. The problem really comes down to tolerance. I am intolerant of the intolerant.

I have absolutaly no respect for what you believe, I think its gobblygook, I think you have been hoodwinked. But I respect your right to believe it, but not to impose it on me, as the religious constantly do.

Now if you read one of Martin's heroes, Alan Keyes, religion is tied up with power and power cannot be relied on to respect wisdom. That may be true, but ultimately wisdom will win against power, sometimes it just takes a while.

Scout thanks for sticking up for me, but I have a pretty thick skin :) For I know that when people attack me personally, they are becoming emotional, so are not thinking that clearly, so have lost the argument... Thanks anyhow.

Martin, truth be told I am not really writing to Yabby, but to anyone who cares to see how ridiculous the agnostic position is. I can very well see that Yabby cares little about the conventions of dialogue etc.

scout
"Martin, all Yabby has done is be honest - ie he doesn't know if God exists. It is not slanderous to question something to discover more about it. Stating his views is not slanderous."

Yabby says "Have faith all you want, satisfy your emotional needs, your fear of death or anything else that religion gives you, but don't expect the rest of us to take you seriously or to live by the rules of that religion." here we see yabby smearing all religious people as irrational.

"hundreds of gods, many so called holy books. I am just not that gullible." implying that there is no rational basis in any religion

"religion is the biggest con that ever existed" implying that religious people are stupid for believing

"The OT is about a violent, unreasonable, irrational god." This is slandering the God of the Old Testament.

The continual implication that religious people are of necessity irrational and gullible is most definitely slanderous. In many of Yabby's other posts he contends that because some christians have acted badly all christians are evil. One wonders if Yabby is this condemning of all similar situations, such as all whites are evil because of the actions of a few in a long gone generation?

C'mon Yabby, give up on this tentative agnosticism business and embrace atheism. You've had enough time to come to terms with the absurdity of God and the vacuity of his followers. Go towards the light!