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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Clark<br><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, August 5, 2018 9:05 AM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] extropy-chat Digest, Vol 179, Issue 2<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>On Sun, Aug 5, 2018 at 11:02 AM, Ben Zaiboc <<a href="mailto:ben@zaiboc.net" target="_blank">ben@zaiboc.net</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal>> <i>Nobody has to prove that gods don't exist, which is a thing that many religious apologists find annoying.</i><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>>…<span style='font-size:13.5pt'>There is no proof God doesn't exist and there is no proof a teapot is not in orbit around Uranus, nevertheless I think it would be silly to call myself a teapot agnostic, I am not ashamed to call myself a teapot atheist.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>John K Clark<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Shouldn’t that be spelled ateaist?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>When dealing with religious people, there is a line of reasoning I find very common: life without religion is pointless, meaningless, etc, because it has no significant long term… anything. So, they choose to believe because it gives life meaning.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A related line of reasoning hold that only religion offers a basis for morality, and a life without morality would harm others, so… they choose to believe in order to avoid harm to innocents.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hmmmm…<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK then, I am one who has discovered joy, meaning and morality in this short life, apart from religion.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>