From: specimenNOSPAM@curioustaxon.omy.net   
      
   On 2/16/26 5:43 AM, Martin Harran wrote:   
   > On Sun, 8 Feb 2026 18:51:44 -0600, sticks    
   >>   
   >> Christian Anfinsen (1916–1995), Professor of Chemistry at Harvard and   
   >> winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry:   
   >> “I think only an idiot can be an atheist. We must admit that there   
   >> exists an incomprehensible power or force with limitless foresight and   
   >> knowledge that started the whole universe going in the first place.”   
   >   
   >   
   > I struggle to understand the rationale behind atheism; I mean atheism   
   > in the strict sense of completely rejecting the existence of any kind   
   > of God.[1]   
   > [...]   
   > [1] I'm using "atheist" in the   
   > generally understood sense of rejecting the very possibility of God   
   > and "agnostic" in the generally understood sense of thinking we simply   
   > haven't enough evidence to come to a rational decision (and might not   
   > ever able to get enough evidence).   
      
   What about Bertrand Russell's analogy to believing that there is a   
   teapot in the orbit of Saturn?  Would you classify Russell as an atheist   
   because he cannot rule out a god, but considers the evidence too low to   
   be worth mentioning?   
      
   And there's another, emotional, rationale for atheism. Someone looks at   
   all the evil done in the name of God and reasons that anyone eliminating   
   belief in God would be a better person.   
      
   --   
   Mark Isaak   
   "Wisdom begins when you discover the difference between 'That   
   doesn't make sense' and 'I don't understand.'" - Mary Doria Russell   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)