George Galloway storms out of Oxford debate after discovering his opponent is Israeli - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Stopper;39671772]What a dick. There is literally no excuse in the world for doing that.[/QUOTE] A good reason would be the fact that you're debating with someone who has beliefs. It's like, why bother debating God/No-God with a Christian? It's a belief - counter to that is not atheism, which is another belief. What's the resolution? Another believer for your belief? Effectively going no-where and changing nothing of value. All it ends up being is belief vs belief. It's like someone arguing with themselves in a mirror without realizing that their reflection is themselves.

[QUOTE=SCopE5000;39677775]A good reason would be the fact that you're debating with someone who has beliefs. It's like, why bother debating God/No-God with a Christian? It's a belief - counter to that is not atheism, which is another belief. What's the resolution? Another believer for your belief? Effectively going no-where and changing nothing of value. All it ends up being is belief vs belief. It's like someone arguing with themselves in a mirror without realizing that their reflection is themselves.[/QUOTE] Atheism is not a belief. You could not be any more wrong about that. Many belief systems are actually atheistic. Theists do not hold a monopoly on religion.

[QUOTE=Generic.Monk;39677680] that's not a real source, find a better one[/QUOTE] The source shows a scanned copy of the letter. The letter is discussed here: [url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9176195/A-runaway-victory-for-George-Galloway-and-all-praise-to-Allah.html[/url] [url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/01/nick-cohen-george-galloway-livingstone[/url]

[QUOTE=FlakAttack;39677982]Atheism is not a belief. You could not be any more wrong about that. Many belief systems are actually atheistic. Theists do not hold a monopoly on religion.[/QUOTE] So atheism is not theism. That's all you've explained. You haven't explained how it's not a belief though. [img]http://i.imgur.com/Kct7jtH.png[/img] Do atheists accept that the statement 'God doesn't exist' is true? Do atheists accept 'no god' as true? Do they have a firmly held opinion or conviction on the matter? Atheism is the 'rejection of belief in the existence of deities' - If you can't see how this is also belief then look.

[QUOTE=SCopE5000;39678307]So atheism is not theism. That's all you've explained. You haven't explained how it's not a belief though. [img]http://i.imgur.com/Kct7jtH.png[/img] Do atheists accept that the statement 'God doesn't exist' is true? Do atheists accept 'no god' as true? Do they have a firmly held opinion or conviction on the matter? Atheism is the 'rejection of belief in the existence of deities' - If you can't see how this is also belief then look.[/QUOTE] I'd say for myself (not sure how others feel) that I more think that the "There is a god" statement is false, rather than "there is no god" is true. I can't prove there is no god, but I see no evidence for once so there'd be no reason for me to believe there is one. That's very different to religious belief, or faith. I hate it when people attempt to say that atheism is a religion, it simply is not true.

[QUOTE=Matriax;39681009]I'd say for myself (not sure how others feel) that I more think that the "There is a god" statement is false, rather than "there is no god" is true. I can't prove there is no god, but I see no evidence for once so there'd be no reason for me to believe there is one. That's very different to religious belief, or faith. I hate it when people attempt to say that atheism is a religion, it simply is not true.[/QUOTE] Other common beliefs include love and happiness, which are not cosmic absolutes. They're still beliefs.

This is insane, Israel needs to be recognized! [B]And then crushed [/B]

[QUOTE=SCopE5000;39681374]Other common beliefs include love and happiness, which are not cosmic absolutes. They're still beliefs.[/QUOTE] We can observe obvious evidence for both love and happiness enough to be able to establish them as "existing" however.