Dearest atheists, do your powers of comprehension leave one in a state . . .?

Question

of utter disbelief? Working from the understanding that there are those on here that aren't the "sharpest knife in the drawer".

Did our "common ancestors" have an immortal soul?

If you say they didn't, I'm sure that even the "usual suspects" here will be smart enough to realize that no matter how you phrase it, (usually full of sophistry) it is contra-Christianity because we believe that we possess an immortal soul. By espousing evolution, you are, conciously, or by default, seeking to overturn Christianity in favor of a your no-God belief. This is what Christians need to understand.

Tawaen,

Is that the best you can do when your agenda is clearly exposed. The Christians on here will understand this argument before I finish.Prepare for more disappointment my strawman friend!

It's a matter of "education". And your agenda is becoming clearer as a result of your posts. The tactic of attacking the notion of God is clearly seen as the fruit of your desperation. The evidence of this is as plain as the noses on your faces --- you make educating people a pleasure. lolz xD

tawaen,

Nice try baby! But tawaen, there's a problem. LOOK carefully at the other posts. lolz ;)

Answer 1

I'm not convinced that WE have souls...

Answer 2

I don't know enough about the nature of the human soul to know when it first evolved. But I believe that it did evolve.

You do, however, raise a significant point. It is hard to imagine how one could be a fundamentalist Christian and also believe in evolution. More moderate Christians seem to have no trouble, however, so you might ask them. Since I am an atheist, I won't pretend to speak for them.

I suppose it surprises you that I believe in the existence of the human soul when I do not believe in God. But the fact is, they are two very different concepts, and my belief is consistent. While I do not believe in anything you would call God, I do indeed believe that there is more to life than the material. I suppose I'm rather like a Buddhist in that regard.

Answer 3

The soul and spiritual world have no proof.

In a sense "espousing evolution" is seeking to overturn Christianity, but mostly it is a point of contention between the two views. I don't care if Christianity is overturned or not, but I do care that people are ignorantly equating faith with fact, legislating laws, and trying to get lies taught as an alternative to science.

You are welcome to believe what you wish, but you need to step up and realize that society is not about your narrow moral system or ignorance.

Edit
Atheist agenda??? Be real! Seriously, read about 20 or so questions with atheist answers, any simple mind should easily see that we don't act as a group or even have the same goals. But if you really want to see the agenda, find the "Gay" agenda in your library and the Atheist one should be near it --- oh, you'll need to look in the non-existent section.

Answer 4

How does evolution address the human soul? You are making a leap of faith here in assuming that the soul, as an immortal part of us, cannot have been present in humans below a certain evolutionary level. We cannot know in a scientific sense whether or not WE have eternal souls, so how could we address such a thing in lower humans or pre-humans on the evolutionary ladder? Some cultures believe that young infants are born without souls and that they become instilled in them by the first year of life. This isn't proof, but it does speak to the separate nature of the understanding of the soul from the body and Man's physical systems, which, as far as I know, are they only things addressed by the theory of evolution. The signs of mental evolution are evidenced by the level of toolmaking and organization in earlier Man, but this, too, says nothing of the "soul." If we have an eternal soul, it has nothing to do with evolution. But evolution would not address this issue, so I don't understand why you think it does. The soul is the province of spiritual thought, which hasn't, as far as I can tell, been linked scientifically with the Theory of Evolution.

Answer 5

So it is an "us against them" mentality you are looking for. Fine, I don't believe in a soul. The entire idea is a wild one.. It is quite evident that we need a brain to think and experience life. For some reason people seem to forget that, or completely ignore it. It goes against your beliefs, sorry but I am not going to lie about the truth to spare Christians from facing reality.

Answer 6

You make several disparate points here.

Souls don't exist. That's superstition.

Yes, I am seeking to overturn Christianity and all other religions. Unlike the Christians and others, though, I'm trying to do so by getting people to think about their own beliefs. I'm against trying to get government to leverage support for atheism. That said, I am also in favor of schools presenting the evidence that science has found, no matter who's religious tenets they contradict. Observation is observation.

Evolution flies in the face of some of the religious creation myths. Of course, there are a lot of things that fly in the face of various myths. That's because they are myths.

Some religious people, of all faiths, realize that their "holy" books have myths in them. They choose to believe that those stories are just symbolic. They probably also think that our "common ancestors" have an immortal soul. That question is one for the believers of that superstition and not me.

So, evolution presents some facts and theories to pull those facts together. How you interpret them in light of your superstition is up to you. However, evolution says nothing about the existence or non-existence of any gods. It only addresses the evidence we have of how plants and animals evolved.

It might be the case that evolution finally convinces people that their religion is just superstition. That's a nice side effect, and an issue for those people. However, does not mean that the promotion of evolution is the promotion of atheism. It is just the promotion of observation and reason.

Answer 7

No our common ancestors didn't have immortal souls.

Neither do we. Who cares if its contra-christianity?

Catholics have some ideas about 'ensoulment' but as an atheist I'm not terribly interested in how theists try to reconcile their silly beliefs with the facts.

There's no such thing as a 'no-god belief'. I'd explain why but I don't think you're amenable to rational conversation.

Answer 8

> Did our "common ancestors" have an immortal soul?

Evidence, such as is available so far, would seem to suggest not.

This says nothing about evolution though. You are drawing a parallel between evolution and a lack of a belief in a soul, when such a parallel simply does not exist. Evolution says nothing about souls or the lack of them.

Answer 9

I am a creationist and a Christian but I do not believe people possess immortal souls. This teaching is unbiblical. Only God is immortal.

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."(1 Tim. 1:17).

"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."(1 Cor. 15:53).

Answer 10

Our powers of comprehension are no different from christians. We are all human and all have human minds. It is the christians' power of thinking logically and rationally that is defective. When you start out with something you WANT to believe is true and proceed to seek out and promote arguments for those beliefs, you have gone astray logically. Christians need to learn to think clearly - thats all.

Answer 11

LOL.

You would ask people who understand science about souls in connection with evolution? You've sunk to new lows, my friend.

And we never claimed we would support Christianity in face of the lack of evidence. That's not our job. Reality is more important to me than your superstitions.

Edit: You are truly paranoid, honey. There is no agenda. Just evidence. Or would you also be interested in knowing that evolution throws every other religion's creation story into the realm of metaphor? We aren't anti-Christianity. We're pro-truth. The truth has nothing to fear from honest inquiry and objectivity.