Quote:
Originally Posted by DWB
Not if you're an atheist.
|
It doesn't matter what you are. Something is either demonstrably untrue, say by giving a
provable alternative, or you simply
believe it is untrue, based on available evidence.
Atheists pretending that it's an established fact that God does not exist is just as delusional and arrogant as religious people pretending that it's an established fact that God does exist.
Quote:
I'm defining God in the human religious sense, whatever name they give him based on their religion. That being does not exist, therefor there is nothing to not believe in, just as you don't form an option on Spider Man as he doesn't exist either, yet you can't prove it.
Believing in "god" in other ways could be a belief, such as you believe you are your own god, or god was the big bang, or however you want to define it. But in the biblical sense, it is a story, nothing to not believe it. Believing the biblical story is what borders on a serious mental disorder.
|
Well that's another issue, 'what is God'. I think it's probably different for everyone, but I think for most people it's not a literal thing, in fact for most people the Bible is not taken absolutely literally.
It's actually quite a good work of fiction, and I don't mean that sarcastically. I think the stories and messages are interesting and instructive, and I think that's what most people take from it.
Of course some people take it literally, and they are the crazies and fundamentalists. Though personally I find atheist fundamentalists just as tiresome. At one time being an atheist was no big deal, you just quietly didn't believe in something. Easy. These days it seems to be an atheist you have to talk about it at every opportunity, as if you're blowing minds. I'm not referring to you, BTW, but people on Youtube or other social media, who worship their own Gods, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.
Quote:
|
As helterskelter808 said, you don't sound like an atheist, as they do not believe at all. By simply saying god may exist because you can't prove it, says you are not an atheist. Agnostic is what you are. Then there is nothing to debate, as agnostics view it all as unknown.
|
Agnostic is I guess what I am, though I personally wouldn't even bother putting a label on it. I also do quite like the idea that God exists, but he is a humongous cunt, which explains all the bad things that happen in the world.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DWB
People believe in fairies, ghosts, evil and good spirits, spirits in the trees, spirits in the mountain, spirits in the water, animals with spirits, angels, demons, black magic, voodoo, and some even believe in the matrix. Indians believe in 1000s of deities. Some people actually do believe in leprechauns. The list of crazy shit people believe in is too long to list. All are as absurd as the next, and all are 100% based on superstition or faith, that was passed down to them through generations.
So no, it is not fucking stupid to compare one absurd thing to another. They are all as equally silly as Godzilla. And I may add that some cultures used to worship lizards, and some American hillbillies still worship snakes.
There is no end to the lunacy that humans will go to when it comes to the land of make believe. And the only reason you think the concept of god is superior is because that is how it was taught to you by people who it was taught to them.
The better debate to have is WHY humans feel they must believe in something supernatural.
|
I agree about the 'brainwashing', but that's the same for everything. I think most people believe, for example, that we landed men on the moon not because they have examined the evidence or arguments for and against, but because that's what they've been told. It's natural to assume that if you're being told something is true, and most other people seem to believe it, then it probably is true.
Personally I'm quite lenient towards believers in God. If the concept of God is personal, and not someone 'interpreting' God's message and passing it on to them (religion), then I don't see a problem.
And while you don't need a God to behave in a 'good' way, and treat people as you like to be treated, if God helps someone to do it, or it helps them in other ways, if they're in distress or lose hope or whatever, then why not?
I think it's natural for humans to believe in something 'higher' than us. That there's something more than what we know. Doesn't that explain everything we do as humans? Striving for something more? Voyages of discovery or technological advances or exploring space? Finding some answer to life, the universe and everything?
And since the universe is infinite I think there's a pretty good chance that not only other life forms exist, some of them could be entities that are superior to us.
The idea that aliens 'made us', though, is unimaginative and uninteresting to me.