Does God Suffer From Vanity?

Quote from Thunderdog:



By way of background, I was raised as a Roman Catholic who believed in God and prayed as a young child until I reached early adolescence. From that point onward, I became an atheist (or agnostic for those with delicate sensibilities).
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What would you say was the primary reason you stopped believing ? It was not due to an experience with one of the friendly catholic priest was it ? :p


If religion is defined as a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith. Is atheism not a religion then ?
 
Quote from james_bond_3rd:

IOtherwise, I believe in a Unicorn-in-a-flowerpot. Do you have any evidence that a Unicorn-in-a-flowerpot doesn't exist?
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You can believe in whatever the hell you want, but the moment you start trying to push your beliefs on me is when we are going to have a problem.
 
Quote from vhehn:

just remember there was a time in history where religion was in total control. it was a time of mass killings and crimes against humanity. it was called the dark ages:
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Yeah, that's all common knowledge.

I almost want to say, "duh."

The point is, all this silly and inane "it's religion, stupid!" looks pathetic when you have enough examples in history to show that even without religion's involvement, humans are/were still kicking each other around. So obviously it's not religion that's the problem.

It's something inherent humankind. Perhaps one day humans will evolve away from this nasty trait to want to dominate one another and be territorial and "clique-ish." But it hasn't happened yet and doesn't appear as if it will in the near term.

It's just like with another ideology, politics. You have repubs blaming and denigrating democrats as if their party has no bones in its closet. And then you have dems blaming repubs in like manner all the while having bone in their closet. It's hypocrisy all around.

Well, same for atheists who foolishly attempt to point to religion as "today's" or "mankind's" problem when you have/had atheist societies doing the same or in some cases, worse.

It's laughable.

Now, I don't know what the solution for humankind's problem is. But I'd like to hope it can be found or acheived before long.

Edit: one more thing; please don't offer that poorly done study by Gregory Paul as support of your contentions. It only fools people who don't know anything about statistics and proper correlations.
 
Quote from volente_00:

What would you say was the primary reason you stopped believing ? It was not due to an experience with one of the friendly catholic priest was it ? :p


If religion is defined as a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith. Is atheism not a religion then ?
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I would hardly call atheism a religion. One definition of faith is the firm belief in something for which there is no proof. This definition seems to fit religion fairly well. It is also the antithesis of atheism. When incontrovertible evidence of a deity is presented to me, I assure you that I will take notice. But not before then.

I do agree with some of the other posters who suggest that people have the right to believe what they wish provided that they do not impose their beliefs on others. While I think it would be better all around if they held beliefs that were better founded in fact, there is no denying that how people choose to live privately is indeed their own business.

And to answer your first question, I stopped believing when I started thinking.
 
Quote from ddunbar:

Yeah, that's all common knowledge.

I almost want to say, "duh."

The point is, all this silly and inane "it's religion, stupid!" looks pathetic when you have enough examples in history to show that even without religion's involvement, humans are/were still kicking each other around. So obviously it's not religion that's the problem.

It's something inherent humankind. Perhaps one day humans will evolve away from this nasty trait to want to dominate one another and be territorial and "clique-ish." But it hasn't happened yet and doesn't appear as if it will in the near term.

It's just like with another ideology, politics. You have repubs blaming and denigrating democrats as if their party has no bones in its closet. And then you have dems blaming repubs in like manner all the while having bone in their closet. It's hypocrisy all around.

Well, same for atheists who foolishly attempt to point to religion as "today's" or "mankind's" problem when you have/had atheist societies doing the same or in some cases, worse.

It's laughable.

Now, I don't know what the solution for humankind's problem is. But I'd like to hope it can be found or acheived before long.
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i agree but does not the theist claim that religion is the answer to these problems? the evidence seems to show it is not.
 
Atheism is the antithesis to theism.

Yet, atheism's doctrine is the use of reason to arrive at a conclusion that there is no proof of a God or gods. Therefore their existence is suspect.

To call atheism a religion, is to call any process that ardently adheres to the use of reason to arrive at conclusions a religion.

But here's the catch-22. An atheist who goes a step beyond reason and emphatically states that there is no God, as opposed to merely not having proof of a god or gods, does indeed have a religion of sorts. They are placing a faith in something that has neither been proven or disproven. Reason dictates that the question regarding the existence of a god or gods must always remain unaswered until all reasonable means have been exhausted in either proving or disproving its existence. And since our technology, capabilities, an understanding of the universe is incomplete and ever-evolving, we haven't yet exhausted all reasonable means for answering the question.

That's why the reasonable, intelligent, and responsible atheist says, "there's yet no proof of God." And that should be respected.
 
Quote from vhehn:

i agree but does not the theist claim that religion is the answer to these problems? the evidence seems to show it is not.
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I agree, religion certainly isn't the answer. So no argument there. It might be a "personal" answer. But it's not a one size fits all.
 
Quote from Thunderdog:

I would hardly call atheism a religion. One definition of faith is the firm belief in something for which there is no proof. This definition seems to fit religion fairly well. It is also the antithesis of atheism. When incontrovertible evidence of a deity is presented to me, I assure you that I will take notice. But not before then.

I
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We are defining religion, not faith. But since you bring it up, faith is defined as a set of principles or beliefs. If your beliefs are that there is no GOD, then atheism is faith too. Even if GOD appeared before you, you would still question the existence and play it off as a hoax, etc. What would it take for you as far as proof ? Few believed jesus was the son of GOD, If you were alive back then and helped place him in the tomb, and then he came back and you actually talked to him, would you believe ? Or would you just say it was a conspiracy theory and he never really died ?
 
Quote from volente_00:

We are defining religion, not faith. But since you bring it up, faith is defined as a set of principles or beliefs. If your beliefs are that there is no GOD, then atheism is faith too. Even if GOD appeared before you, you would still question the existence and play it off as a hoax, etc. What would it take for you as far as proof ? Few believed jesus was the son of GOD, If you were alive back then and helped place him in the tomb, and then he came back and you actually talked to him, would you believe ? Or would you just say it was a conspiracy theory and he never really died ?
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atheists believe there is no god based on the evidence. that is not faith. if a theist believes in an god that there is no evidence for that is faith. if a theist believes in a god that provides evidence that he exists it is no longer faith but fact backed by evidence.
 
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