Reasons you believe God/don't believe God?

RoxyRollah · 04-21-2015, 04:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

It depends a bit on where you were .. In this country - back in the day, you were born into religion. Sure, there was some picking and choosing, but not to the extent that there is today simply because the rate of information exchange is like a billion times more relevant. New ideas to choose from are a click away whereas back in the day, they could be miles and miles away.

Now, there are ideas existing that are not actually religions, but they behave much like them. Belief in conspiracy theories, power bracelets, electrosensitivity, The Law of Attraction (& "The Secret") ..

These false ideas are out there, ready to infect brains. A lot of people seem to accept them unquestioningly. Do people not care that they may pollute their minds with false beliefs?

I think they should teach kids in school the benefits of believing in stuff that's real and also teach them critical thinking.

I can't find a single thing wrong with this statement. The Us is a hotbed for a new relegion born everyday,or different versions of old ones.So I suppose you are correct in saying its location location locatio . And I think alot of Americans would benifit from a critical thinking class or two,myself included.

Guybrush · 04-21-2015, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wpnfire

Tell me what's "real".

Cogito ergo sum. You know your thoughts are real. Everything else requires some faith.

Your faith is better invested in things that seem consistent in that it applies to everyone or everything (even if it wasn't ultimately real). As an example, if there's a train coming towards you, I would argue that your faith is better invested in the belief that the train is real and will hit you than in a belief that the train is not real and will leave you unharmed. You could test the consistency of a train hitting things by placing things on the track and see if they get hit by the train. If a million experiments show that things get hit by trains, it's probably consistent in that it would also hit you if you stood on these tracks. That doesn't mean that the train hitting things is proven to be real, but it means the hypothesis that trains hit things are about a million times more credible than the belief the train doesn't hit things. As far as you know from experiments, the train always hits stuff in its path, so it seems fair to assume this will continue to happen in the future.

Whether it's ultimately real or not, it seems to be the way the world currently works and so it should work as a rule until reality somehow changes.

edit :

What I call real is usually things that should be considered real for all practical purposes (until reality changes), like in the above example.

**Janszoon** · 04-21-2015, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wpnfire

Tell me what's "real".

Puppies are real.

Neapolitan · 04-21-2015, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

Cogito ergo sum. You know your thoughts are real. Everything else requires some faith.

Your faith is better invested in things that seem consistent in that it applies to everyone or everything (even if it wasn't ultimately real). As an example, if there's a train coming towards you, I would argue that your faith is better invested in the belief that the train is real and will hit you than in a belief that the train is not real and will leave you unharmed. You could test the consistency of a train hitting things by placing things on the track and see if they get hit by the train. If a million experiments show that things get hit by trains, it's probably consistent in that it would also hit you if you stood on these tracks. That doesn't mean that the train hitting things is proven to be real, but it means the hypothesis that trains hit things are about a million times more credible than the belief the train doesn't hit things. As far as you know from experiments, the train always hits stuff in its path, so it seems fair to assume this will continue to happen in the future.

Whether it's ultimately real or not, it seems to be the way the world currently works and so it should work as a rule until reality somehow changes.

edit :

What I call real is usually things that should be considered real for all practical purposes (until reality changes), like in the above example.

So if a million people believe in God is that enough empirical knowledge that faith in God exists?

DeadChannel · 04-21-2015, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Puppies are real.

No they're not, it's all a government conspiracy.

The Batlord · 04-21-2015, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neapolitan

So if a million people believe in God is that enough empirical knowledge that faith in God exists?

Everyone should give a ****, why?

~~John Wilkes Booth~~ · 04-21-2015, 11:23 PM

my mom recently came at me with some religious stuff. i guess she saw a speaker or something that inspired her and whatnot. she knows that i don't believe but i basically say it could be true or not just to ease the tension. i mean it could technically be true i just really really doubt it.

but yea, i dunno what to say to her. cause it's like i can't just pretend forever to believe whatever she needs me to believe or whatever. but i don't want to crush her faith either, because she likes it and it makes her happy or whatever. there's really nothing to be gained in trying to convince her that i'm right. but her version of reality makes it impossible for us to just respectfully disagree cause she's afraid i'll go to hell.

this is the only thing i still resent about religion. other than that i don't really care, people can believe whatever they like it makes no difference to me. i don't think the entire population needs to be 'logical' or have some accurate view of metaphysics or whatever for humanity to prosper.

Guybrush · 04-22-2015, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neapolitan

So if a million people believe in God is that enough empirical knowledge that faith in God exists?

It means we should accept that it does exist until experiments or observations tell us otherwise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Wilkes Booth

my mom recently came at me with some religious stuff. i guess she saw a speaker or something that inspired her and whatnot. she knows that i don't believe but i basically say it could be true or not just to ease the tension. i mean it could technically be true i just really really doubt it.

but yea, i dunno what to say to her. cause it's like i can't just pretend forever to believe whatever she needs me to believe or whatever. but i don't want to crush her faith either, because she likes it and it makes her happy or whatever. there's really nothing to be gained in trying to convince her that i'm right. but her version of reality makes it impossible for us to just respectfully disagree cause she's afraid i'll go to hell.

this is the only thing i still resent about religion. other than that i don't really care, people can believe whatever they like it makes no difference to me. i don't think the entire population needs to be 'logical' or have some accurate view of metaphysics or whatever for humanity to prosper.

Sad to hear about your mom.

To me, I just tire of the seeming futility of religion. People hurt themselves or others or are just plain disruptive, like those who want evolution out of the classroom. Humanity has so little to gain from incentives to behave more irrationally.

~~John Wilkes Booth~~ · 04-22-2015, 02:37 AM

but religion comforts people in a way that scientific naturalism can't, atm

imo

RoxyRollah · 04-22-2015, 05:00 AM

And it always will.^

04-21-2015, 11:23 PM	#237 (permalink)
~~John Wilkes Booth~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 2,235	my mom recently came at me with some religious stuff. i guess she saw a speaker or something that inspired her and whatnot. she knows that i don't believe but i basically say it could be true or not just to ease the tension. i mean it could technically be true i just really really doubt it. but yea, i dunno what to say to her. cause it's like i can't just pretend forever to believe whatever she needs me to believe or whatever. but i don't want to crush her faith either, because she likes it and it makes her happy or whatever. there's really nothing to be gained in trying to convince her that i'm right. but her version of reality makes it impossible for us to just respectfully disagree cause she's afraid i'll go to hell. this is the only thing i still resent about religion. other than that i don't really care, people can believe whatever they like it makes no difference to me. i don't think the entire population needs to be 'logical' or have some accurate view of metaphysics or whatever for humanity to prosper.

04-22-2015, 02:37 AM	#239 (permalink)
~~John Wilkes Booth~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 2,235	but religion comforts people in a way that scientific naturalism can't, atm imo