Reply to If you are religious, how do you feel about anti-vaxxers and QAnon?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

No no.  I am not saying that all beliefs are supernatural.  I am saying that the idea that you have a free will to act in one way or another and aren’t simply a complex biological machine is a belief in the supernatural.

And of course humanism, totalitarianism, and democracy are imagined ideas.  They are not scientifically proven, observable, reproducible facts.  There other kinds of knowledge in the world besides the scientific.  [/quote]

You say, "the idea that you have a free will to act in one way or another and aren’t simply a complex biological machine is a belief in the supernatural."  No - you are simply wrong about that.  Please ask your priest.  I doubt that he will agree with you about that.  It seems you are talking about personality, which differs from person to person.  God and angels and fairies and saints and goblins are supernatural --  beyond and above the natural world. Personality is not.

Yes, there are "other kinds of knowledge in the world besides the scientific"  and they are not all supernatural.[/quote]

1)  When I say "complex biological machine," I am not talking about personality.  You wouldn't talk to a priest about this...you would talk to a neurologist, a psychologist, or a psychiatrist.   When I say that you are a "complex biological machine," I am talking about how your physical brain works.  Neurotransmitters are released in response to hormones and external stimuli.  That's it.  It's complicated, but there is no outside mechanism that gives you the freedom to make a decision.  You have no more free will than an ant or an amoeba.  Every action you make and every thought you have is a response to a stimulus.

If you believe that there is something else, something besides external stimuli acting on your current brain state, then that is a belief in the supernatural.  Either you are a complex machine acting the way your particular biology and current brain state will always act with a given stimulus, or ... you are something else.  
Either there is no free will to be "ethical" or "unethical" because we are all simply acting out our biology or there is something supernatural that gives us the ability to have free will.

2)  Yes, there are other kinds of knowledge in the world besides the scientific.  Thank you for finally agreeing to that.  I think my initial example was that rainbows are beautiful.  And no, that isn't supernatural.  
My point there was not that believing that rainbows are beautiful or believing in humanism is the same as believing in God.  It was just that you said that you don't believe in God because there is not scientific evidence.  However, you believe in all sorts of things that don't have scientific evidence.

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It seems like you have limited knowledge of what it means to not believe in god.  I have not disagreed that there are other kinds of knowledge in the world besides scientific and did not say the lack of God belief comes from lack of scientific evidence.  You seem bent on demonstrating supernatural beliefs among people who do not hold them, to the point of redefining supernatural.

You seem happy in your Catholic faith.  I was too, many years ago and still enjoy some of the ritualistic aspects of it and love some of the beautiful music composed for it.  I suggest that you just enjoy your religion and not try to tell those of us who do not share it what or how we think.
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We haven’t been talking about my faith.  We have been talking about yours.  I am not the one who linked an article sharing my beliefs, and this discussion took a turn when you did though.  I mentioned that

I am not redefining supernatural.  The belief in free will requires a belief in the soul or a belief in the supernatural.  Most atheists are moral relativists and do not believe in good, bad, right, or wrong.  
If you don’t believe me, then you should consider reading this scientific book about human behavior written by an atheist and a psychologist.  It is not a religious book, and is part of popular culture and was all over mainstream media for a minute a few years ago.

https://www.amazon.com/Behave-Biology-Humans-Best-Worst/dp/0143110918/ref=asc_df_0143110918/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312064598816&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2246847218328750960&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9024584&hvtargid=pla-469024892366&psc=1

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