00:01 Does the universsssssse have a purposssssse?

Says it how it is, can't argue with it!

#(removed comment) 99.9% of de grasse´s assumptions are true,as you can easily figure out by looking into the bible. Don't be an ignorant ... i was a sunday school boy, i know the bible , i call bullshit on most of the stories there.. i agree with some of the 10 commends like: do not kill ,do not steal..etc but that's it, and even so ..thouse commends were written by others before God gave them to Moses.. arguments like: "it's true because it's written in a book by humans who say they were friends with Big Fella" are actually wrong...

does the universe have to have a purpose? Do we know enough to say there is none? I think we don't know 99.9% about the universe, so it is a bit early to ask this question. It's like if those bacterias would ask the same.

Sometimes I think, atheists are really religious people, who try to hide their believe behind helpless arguing. In this case the speaker calculates how unlikely the possibility is, that universe has a purpose. Yes, it es very unlikely from an distant point of view. Nearly as impossible, as the organization of death matter to the complexity of life, which we see each day and are far away from understanding it.
I don't have a problem with people, who don't believe in a certain god (and I have a problem with religions, who don't accept any further believe). But I am astonished about those people, who charismatically try to convince other people from the supposed sure absence of a creator. And more astonished I am about people, who regard mankind as the biggest thing in universe, being far away from understanding only a very small part of it. I only respect religious people for understanding, how relative mankind is and how great anything in nature is organized to give us life (without giving an answer about the purpose).

The purpose of the universe was to simply make ME, coz i'm bloody marvelous, thank you universe......job done.

re·li·gion [ri-lij-uh n]
the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices

a·the·ism [ey-thee-iz-uh m]
the doctrine or belief that there is no God.

If you ask me, Atheism IS a religion, just not one that believes in God.

Personally, I believe in a creator, AND Evolution. Things seldom stay as they are. Even our very own bodies, down to a cellular level, have none of the original cells beyond a certain age. They have all been replaced over time. Life is constantly Evolving, and yet, i also cannot accept that existence as we know it just spontaneously happened. Even if you believe the big bang and the primeval soup that all things sprouted from. When science can show me a bang that spontaneously occurs, without reason or cause, I will accept that there is no Creator. Now as to if this "Creator" is god or not all depends on your definition of god.

I feel that any entity beyond our comprehension and abilities, is for all intents and purposes Godly compared to us, but that does not mean hes like the deity portrayed by any one religion. Religion is simply a way to control, or guide if you will, society toward a certain moral and ethical setting. A way to bring comfort and security to the unknown, aka Heaven or Hell after death. I do not feel that any religion is 100% right or even accurate, but I believe in the value of having such religions. I most definitely do not believe everything that exists is mere random occurrences though. There is a purpose, even if we can't comprehend it. If you're one of those Bacteria, then to them, our "host" bodies are the universe. Perhaps thast all our universe is to us, a host organizm that we cant even begin to comprehend.

Thats just my personal point of view on it all, and who knows, perhaps I'm just as far off as any other person of conviction in their beliefs, but thats part of what makes us human.

Wonder, speculation, thoughts and beliefs, the fundamental ties that bind any and all religions.

I want to know: does Neil deGrasse Tyson have a porpoise?

Why are we heeeeere! ...Plastic.

Well, I'm a christian and know the bible fairly well, and I can't say yes to that question nor can I think of a religion who can. How are we supposed to know the purpose behind the universe?

Asking questions and seeking the truth about things is what has pushed the human race forward. The reason we're watching this video on a computer screen, not a painting drawn on a cave wall is a result of human inquiry and scientific advancement.

I think it's healthy to examine things in an objective and logical way. Why should this approach not be applied to religion? Is religion somehow off limits, because so many people find it uncomfortable to analyse it?

Proving conclusively that a caring creator-God exists or does not exist is difficult if not impossible. But balancing up the different sides of the argument, it is perfectly clear that religious people have a great deal more to prove than atheists. For example Christians might like to begin by explaining why, if an omnipotent, caring Creator-God exists, he allows such misery to dominate our lives here on Earth. Natural disasters and disease would be easy for an all-powerful caring God to eliminate, if he chose to do so. I therefore ask myself why he does not. Is he not able to? Does he not care? Does he exist?

Sure, it would be nice if we were all part of a great master plan and a wonderful heavenly kingdom awaited us all when we die. But that's nothing more than wishful thinking, and wishing something, doesn't necessarily make it so. I am reminded of this every week when I examine my lottery ticket.

So I'll remain an atheist. I won't try to convert people to my way of thinking. I won't knock doors or push leaflets into people's hands or build tall buildings to gather together more people around me to bolster my own beliefs and make me feel more comfortable believing what I do.

I'll leave that kind of action to religious people.

#11 "... why does caring Creator-God allow such misery..."

I'm not a religious person or an atheist, but I can tell you that your way of looking at things is a pretty one sided set of mind. According to all religions there is life after death and the physical life is not the full reality. So it is conceivable that an all caring god would use suffering as a way to not spoil you or make you grow for the next life much the same way as a parent spanks a kid to teach him humility and respect.

Weather we are the result of an omnipotent god, alien dna experimentation or a random mutation, I choose not to close any possibility.

simple, alcohol and music

#11 There's a story told by the Sufis. A man was praying to God when he noticed sick, and crippled, and poor people. He prayed "O God, how can a loving creator see such things and do nothing about them?". The answer came back "I did do something. I made you."

#12, #14. I've heard similar arguments of course. Yours #12 comes under the simplistic heading that declare it all to be part of God's plan for us. I think your analogy of a child being spanked is rather weak. Think instead of the child being spanked, to the child being burned to death, butchered to death, dismembered and mutilated for hours until finally being allowed to die. These miseries and many more happen every day. Do you have any children? Would you be happy to see that happen to yours? I don't believe a caring god, if he exists, would allow that to happen, and for me this is one of the strongest arguments against his existence.

And #14, I guess you think the sufi story is profound. But you missed the end of the story:

A man was praying to God when he noticed sick, and crippled, and poor people. He prayed "O God, how can a loving creator see such things and do nothing about them?". The answer came back "I did do something. I made you."
Then God turned to a small child standing nearby, and with a wave of his hand, the child was smitten with AIDS. God chuckled and said: "See? I could have saved that kid, but now he'll die a miserable death in agony. I think I'll give his brother leprosy and his sister's gonna get run down by a truck. LOL"

Declaring that there is a god that made everything is a pretty Big Deal I reckon. In my book, a Big Claim such as that requires Big and Substantial evidence to back it up. The onus is on the Christian/Muslim etc. etc. to provide proof for their claims. I've yet to see any. Have you?

Atheism a religion... give it a break guys. There are people out there who do not need to worship or believe there is something out there. Creatures live and they die. The circle will go on until it breaks.

#15 There are two types of knowledge, only one of which is considered valid by science. Empirical knowledge can be shared but experience cannot. Some "religious" people fail to understand this latter point and try to prove God's existence when in fact no proof is capable of being transmitted.

Speaking as an ex-atheist, who rejected religion for probably many of the same reasons as you, my understanding was changed by Aldous Huxley's book "The Perennial Philosophy". He compared the sayings of the mystics of the great world religions and showed that they were talking about the same reality, common to all paths. The terminology, rituals etc of the different religions are means to the same end, which is direct knowledge of Reality. The different manifestations of religion relate to the needs of the time, people and place that they were revealed.

"All religions, as theologians - and their opponents - understand the word, is something other than what it is assumed to be.

Religion is a vehicle. Its expression, rituals, moral and other teachings are designed to cause certain elevating effects, at a certain time, upon certain communities.

Because of the difficulty of maintaining the science of man, religion was instituted as a means of approaching truth. The means always became, for the shallow, the end, and the vehicle became the idol.

Only the man of wisdom, not the man of faith or intellect, can cause the vehicle to move again."

- Shaykh Ala'uddin al-Bukhari al-Attar

What a waste of time! It's so easy to answer that question: "Yes, the universe has a purpose: To exist!" No way to deny that. Anything else is debatable and...a waste of time (which does not exist, or does it? Hmmm, let me see...).

who cares there is beer

#17. Thanks for your input. Having an open mind and always ready to acquire new knowledge and insight, I have downloaded Huxley's book you mentioned, from here if anyone else is interested: http://knowledgefiles.com/categories/religions/the-perennial-philosophy/

The answer is 42, of course!

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