From: martinharran@gmail.com   
      
   On Sun, 22 Feb 2026 08:06:51 -0800, Mark Isaak   
    wrote:   
      
   >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?   
      
   Can you point me to anyone who has presented rational arguments for a   
   teapot in the orbit of Saturn?  Can you even point me to a single   
   person who believes there is 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.   
      
   So do you think the ToE should be eliminated because people used it to   
   justify eugenic? Or that Einstein's ideas should be eliminated because   
   they were used to kill thousands of innocent civilians in Hiroshima   
   and Nagasaki?   
      
   Or is your mral handwaving reserved for religious belief?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)