. . . especially when a child like yourself deliberately twists the words of, say, Carl Sagan in order to further your tiresome, predictable and conveniently concocted attacks against atheism.
Let me give you a specific and recent example of your dishonest and juvenile-delinquent tactic in that regard. You claimed that not only Einstein, but also astronomer Carl Sagan, was not an atheist. As proof, you cited the following Sagan statement:
“I am not an atheist. An atheist is someone who has compelling evidence that there is no Judeo-Christian-Islamic God. I am not that wise, but neither do I consider there to be anything approaching adequate evidence for such a god. Why are you in such a hurry to make up your mind? Why not simply wait until there is compelling evidence?” Carl Sagan in a letter to Robert Pope, of Windsor, Ontario, Oct. 2, 1996
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/achenblog/wp/2014/07/10/carl-sagan-denied-being-an-atheist-so-what-did-he-believe-part-1/What, of course, you conveniently failed to mention were other Sagan quotes (and observations made by those who knew Sagan well)--ones that CAME FROM THE SAME WEBSITE THAT YOU LInKED TO ABOVE--and which help put Sagan's thoughts on the question of God in more accurate context.
--Carl Sagan:
"I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking. The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there's little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides."
("In the Valley of the Shadow", "Parade" magazine, 10 March 1996)
--Carl Sagan:
“Do you understand how--assuming either of us ever did say, ‘The universe can be explained without postulating God’--this could be understood as dogmatic? I often talk about the ‘God hypothesis’ as something I’d be fully willing to accept if there were compelling evidence; unfortunately, there is nothing approaching compelling evidence. That attitude, it seems to me, is undogmatic.”
(Carl Sagan to Stephen Jay Gould, 18 December 1989)
--"David Grinspoon, a planetary scientist whose father was Sagan’s best friend, and who referred to Sagan as'“Uncle Carl,' tells me [Joel Achenbach, with the 'Washington Post'] by e-mail":
“In his adult life, he [Sagan] was very close to being an atheist. I personally had several conversations with him about religion, belief, god, and yes I agree he was darn close. It’s really semantics at this level of distinction. He was certainly not a theist. And I suppose I can relate because I personally don’t call myself an atheist, although if you probed what I believe, it would be indistinguishable from many who do use that term.”
(David Grinspoon, email to Achenbach)
--"I [Achenbach] e-mailed the person who would know Sagan’s views better than anyone: I specifically asked her about the quote in my 1996 story (“An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no God”). Druyan responded:
“Carl meant exactly what he said. He used words with great care. He did not know if there was a god. It is my understanding that to be an atheist is to take the position that it is known that there is no god or equivalent. Carl was comfortable with the label ‘agnostic’ but not ‘atheist.’”
(Ann Druyan, Sagan’s widow, email to Achenbach)
--Joel Achenbach, "Washington Post":
"Here’s a definition of 'agnosticism' from Merriam-Webster: 'Agnosticism may mean no more than the suspension of judgment on ultimate questions because of insufficient evidence, or it may constitute a rejection of traditional Christian tenets.' The same online dictionary says of 'atheism,' 'Unlike agnosticism, which leaves open the question of whether there is a God, atheism is a positive denial.'
"By these definitions, we should call Sagan an agnostic. And yet, to my ear, 'agnostic' doesn’t quite capture the skepticism that Sagan brought to the issue. I want a word with a little more spin on it.
"Surf around the Web and you’ll find other parsings of 'atheist' and 'agnostic,' including one at about.com that talks about the concept of an 'agnostic atheist.' You might also want to check out the commentary Penn Jillette did for the NPR 'This I Believe' series, in which he [Sagan] begins, 'I believe there is no God” (he describes that as 'beyond atheism')."
*The above excerpted from "Carl Sagan Denied Being an Atheist. So, What Did He Believe? [Part 1]," by Joel Achenbach, "Washington Post," 10 July 2014, at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/achenblog/wp/2014/07/10/carl-sagan-denied-being-an-atheist-so-what-did-he-believe-part-1/)
**********
Tsk, tsk, korisnore. You've been caught red-handedly and deceitfully cherry-picking from your stacked deck in order to promote your deity bias. If you can't defend God without clumsily manipulating evidence that doesn't suit your agenda, God obviously didn't bless you with much of a brain.
Now, go ahead and be the child that you are by calling me a "total d*ck" or an "idiot," like you have others in this thread who dare challenge you. You obviously can't handle the war of ideas with steel-jawed responses like that.
Edited 9 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2015 05:42PM by steve benson.