Or is the language "accident" intended to slander the actual view point that Atheism holds regarding the origin of the Universe?
2007-02-26 01:59:06 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
No more than a photon hitting an atom and exciting an electron which then releases a photon as it returns to its ground state is an 'accident'.
All things happen according to mathematical principles.
2007-02-26 02:07:05 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Actually, most people have no idea what they're talking about when they use the word "accident." Typically, "accidents" are events which while uncommon, nevertheless obey the laws of physics etc., as we know them. When a drunk slams into the back of another car we are not mystified in the least as to the probable "causes" - but we still classify it as an "accident."
Many of us assume the present state of the universe also corresponds to interrelated, lawful, events and forces. In this sense you can say there is a "design" - we can make out a little bit of the pattern and we're still working on the rest - but there is no intelligence. The "intelligence" requirement is a non-sequitor and a thinly disguised anthropomorphic element.
So "accident" is fine, as long as you don't mean total, unpredictable, randomness. That is a chimerical concept whose only reason for existence is religious polemics. Creationists have no correlative in reality for it.
2007-02-26 10:32:55 · answer #2 · answered by JAT 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't like the word accident.
I would say that if time is infinitely long and the creation of the universe is not impossible then the probability of the universe being created due to the proper startup conditions eventually being met is has a probability of 100%.
In other word no matter how improbable the creation of the universe was given enough time it was certain to be created.
2007-02-26 10:07:24 · answer #3 · answered by aiguyaiguy 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
First there is no "atheist" view on anything other than "the evidence for gods is insufficient to support a belief in them".
Personally I believe the universe exists by logical necessity. I believe time is an aspect of the universe not something it is embedded within. So my world view is definitely NOT that the universe started by accident.
I don't believe in gods or accidents. I believe in a plentitudnal reality where all events occur out of logical necessity.
2007-02-26 10:09:41 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
I don't think of it as an "accident" because there was no one their to cause the accident. It just happened and from there it just snowballed into what happened today. Accidents require humans and animals to cause them. Prior to the creation of the universe the was nothing. The universe is just a result of a chemical reaction.
2007-02-26 10:43:34 · answer #5 · answered by xXxkaylynxXx 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. An accident means that something happened despite or outside of the instructions of a manager.
I would say, we don't know. The universe could be an accordion universe. It could be part of a parallel multiverse. "By accident" isn't really a good description though.
2007-02-26 10:03:44 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No! There are many atheists with differing opinions, just as there are many sects of any religion. "Accident' is not the correct word for natural processes. A nail does not rust by accident. It oxidizes as scientists can predict.
2007-02-26 10:19:29 · answer #7 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, its completely inaccurate.
The word "atheist" refers to someone who does not believe in the existence of a god or gods. It does not include any reference to a person's beliefs regarding the origin of the universe.
In other words, "atheism" is not a position regarding the origin of the Universe.
2007-02-26 10:04:47 · answer #8 · answered by bonshui 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
I think the atheist or non-creationist view is that the Big Bang is a natural variation in the space-time continuum. Accident has connotations that non-creationist physicists would reject.
By the way there are creationist physicists!
2007-02-26 10:03:38 · answer #9 · answered by Velouria 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Of course. If it happened without specific purpose, then by default, it happened "by accident".
All the rest is just semantics BS.
2007-02-26 10:09:01 · answer #10 · answered by Open Heart Searchery 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋