Shorties: Nice, Concise Quotations for Skeptics

[Lion IRC]

“It is assumed that the sceptic has no bias; whereas he has a very obvious bias in favour of scepticism.”
GK Chesterton

Why shouldn't we have a bias towards skepticism? Should we just believe anything without questioning it?

"You're biased towards asking questions about things!"

If methodological skeptics admit their (presuppositional atheist) bias then I'm sure GK Chesterton would be OK with that.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

“It is assumed that the sceptic has no bias; whereas he has a very obvious bias in favour of scepticism.”
GK Chesterton

Why shouldn't we have a bias towards skepticism? Should we just believe anything without questioning it?

"You're biased towards asking questions about things!"

If methodological skeptics admit their (presuppositional atheist) bias then I'm sure GK Chesterton would be OK with that.

Everyone has a bias about something. That ain't a profound realization.

 

[Worldtraveller]

The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians. -H.L. Mencken

And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence. ― Bertrand Russell

Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must also think that sitting in a garage can make you a car. ― Garrison Keillor

“Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!

But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money!”
― George Carlin

 

[Keith&Co.]

Everyone has a bias about something. That ain't a profound realization.

Such as Lion's buas that atheism must be presuppositional....

 

[Elixir]

Everyone has a bias about something. That ain't a profound realization.

Such as Lion's buas that atheism must be presuppositional....

I tend to presuppose that religious zealots are presuppositionists, and I even presuppose that they presuppose that anyone disagreeing with them is either presupposing atheism or presupposing another set of religious presuppositions. You might be skeptical of that, but I'm not!

 

[Keith&Co.]

I tend to presuppose that religious zealots are presuppositionists,

i dunno, i'm skeptical of that. I mean, i do suspect it, and expect it, and it's the first thing i look for in the evidence they offer, but i don't suppose i presuppose it. Do you suppose that counts?

 

[Elixir]

I tend to presuppose that religious zealots are presuppositionists,

i dunno, i'm skeptical of that. I mean, i do suspect it, and expect it, and it's the first thing i look for in the evidence they offer, but i don't suppose i presuppose it.

REALLY?

Do you suppose that counts?

I'm skeptical.

 

[Tinker Grey]

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
Isaac Asimov, Column in Newsweek (21 January 1980)

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

“It is assumed that the sceptic has no bias; whereas he has a very obvious bias in favour of scepticism.”
GK Chesterton

Why shouldn't we have a bias towards skepticism? Should we just believe anything without questioning it?

"You're biased towards asking questions about things!"

If methodological skeptics admit their (presuppositional atheist) bias then I'm sure GK Chesterton would be OK with that.

Methological naturalism is part of science since that works. Supernaturalism has never explained anything, lead to any scientific break throughs, achieved anything worth noting in the fields of science..When it comes to science, theology, religion, mysticism, and occultism are intellectual dead ends.

The whole super-naturalism concept came to a screeching halt when Descartes tried to put philosophy on a sound footing to work his way up to demonstrating God's existence.

 

[southernhybrid]

Why care what bullshit Lion believes? Let's get back to the quotes.


Elizabeth Cady Stanton

The happiest people I have known have been those who gave themselves no concern about their own souls, but did their uttermost to mitigate the miseries of others.

 

[Lion IRC]

Why care what bullshit Lion believes?

Yeah, it's weird how people wanna derail the topic and make it "Lion IRC"
Even you couldn't resist mentioning me.
You could have just posted an interesting quote. But no.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Let's get back to the quotes.

1.Often a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other parts of the world, about the motions and orbits of the stars and even their sizes and distances, . . . and this knowledge he holds with certainty from reason and experience. It is thus offensive and disgraceful for an unbeliever to hear a Christian talk nonsense about such things, claiming that what he is saying is based in Scripture. We should do all that we can to avoid such an embarrassing situation, lest the unbeliever see only ignorance in the Christian and laugh to scorn."
-- St. Augustine,
"De Genesi ad litteram libri duodecim"

 

[skepticalbip]

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.”

~ Seneca the Younger, Roman Philosopher 1st century A.D.

 

[southernhybrid]

For me, religion is serious business---a farrago of authoritarian nonsense, misogyny and and humble pie, the eternal enemy of human happiness, and freedom.

Katha Pollitt

 

[southernhybrid]

Eve was framed.

Annie Laurie Gaylor

 

[DBT]

"Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.... A man full of faith is simply one who has lost (or never had) the capacity for clear and realistic thought. He is not a mere ass: he is actually ill." ~ H.L. Mencken, New York Times Magazine, 11 September 1955

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

As the days go by, we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless, uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you’ve got to laugh, haven’t you?

— Red Dwarf, “Kryten“​