Alan Watts - Why a belief in God Reflects a Lack of FaithSpot on!
I have yet to be presented with enough evidence of any particular god's existence to think that belief is more likely to be right than wrong, and therefore none of them are worth taking into account while making my life decisions. On the other hand, I do not see how atheists can scrape together enough evidence to convince themselves that there can be no god of any sort. It seems to come up against that fallacy of thinking you can prove a negative. Admitting that there is a possibility (however slim) that some god might exist seems like the only rational position to take.
Atheism is a faith just like any other really and you can tell by it's followers.
Curious why you say atheist is an extreme position? There are no gods, there is zero evidence of any gods. What's the issue?I'm Agnostic. I used to say I was atheist but then realized it's also a bit of an extreme position, how does one know for sure there are no powerful spiritual beings out there? You don't. Anyways, man-made religions pretty much suck and are responsible for so much evil in this world. But sometimes there is so much beauty in this world and odd moments of chance and inspiration that do make one wonder if indeed maybe there is some spirituality out there.
But how does believing in something with zero evidence equate to having meaning in your life?I heard this saying: All people need to have meaning in their life, but not all people need there to be a meaning with life, to have meaning in their life.
Curious why you say atheist is an extreme position? There are no gods, there is zero evidence of any gods. What's the issue?
There are many atheists here I am sure. I'd hazard a guess and say they meet or exceed the number of christians, easily. For me I think it depends on which possible god you are referring to. The god of christians, muslims and jewish people? Yes, I am most certainly an atheist. I prefer secular humanist.
This country was created as a haven from religious and monarchical persecution/subjugation. Being a skeptic of organized religion is a patriotic exercise, always has been.
If you believe, then it gives you meaning in life. It wouldn't for me, but that is the difference between being religious and an atheist. You can't argue with logic, when trying to understand believing in God, but if you really believe in God, then it's ultimately what gives you meaning in life as well. This is what I find fascinating about religious people, because I can never truly understand that conviction.But how does believing in something with zero evidence equate to having meaning in your life?
Curious why you say atheist is an extreme position? There are no gods, there is zero evidence of any gods. What's the issue?
Hate to break it to you, but they were leaving Europe cuz it was too liberal.
There are many atheists here I am sure. I'd hazard a guess and say they meet or exceed the number of christians, easily. For me I think it depends on which possible god you are referring to. The god of christians, muslims and jewish people? Yes, I am most certainly an atheist. I prefer secular humanist.
This country was created as a haven from religious and monarchical persecution/subjugation. Being a skeptic of organized religion is a patriotic exercise, always has been.
Hate to break it to you, but they were leaving Europe cuz it was too liberal.
some of the first folks that came here like the Puritans were kinda nuts. They were not tolerant of any other religion. The probably killed some Quakers even.
Non sequitur alert. The Founding Fathers and the Puritan pilgrims are not the same group, and since when is persecution the sole domain of conservatives? The Puritans final push to the New World was not being able make the money they wanted in Holland wasn't it? The people I am referring to wanted to conduct business without the interference of religious dogma or the yoke of monarchy. The zeal that the Puritans had for their flavor of christianity doesn't really enter into it. Sure it was here; so? Compare the Bill of Rights to the 10 commandments, the difference is what I'm talking about. It speaks for itself and seems a bit contrary to the pilgrims and their almost immediate efforts to tell native Americans what to worship (while killing them). YMMV.
Non sequitur alert. The Founding Fathers and the Puritan pilgrims are not the same group, and since when is persecution the sole domain of conservatives? The Puritans final push to the New World was not being able make the money they wanted in Holland wasn't it? The people I am referring to wanted to conduct business without the interference of religious dogma or the yoke of monarchy. The zeal that the Puritans had for their flavor of christianity doesn't really enter into it. Sure it was here; so? Compare the Bill of Rights to the 10 commandments, the difference is what I'm talking about. It speaks for itself and seems a bit contrary to the pilgrims and their almost immediate efforts to tell native Americans what to worship (while killing them). YMMV.
Non sequitur alert. The Founding Fathers and the Puritan pilgrims are not the same group, and since when is persecution the sole domain of conservatives? The Puritans final push to the New World was not being able make the money they wanted in Holland wasn't it? The people I am referring to wanted to conduct business without the interference of religious dogma or the yoke of monarchy. The zeal that the Puritans had for their flavor of christianity doesn't really enter into it. Sure it was here; so? Compare the Bill of Rights to the 10 commandments, the difference is what I'm talking about. It speaks for itself and seems a bit contrary to the pilgrims and their almost immediate efforts to tell native Americans what to worship (while killing them). YMMV.
For fun, can you please provide a citation that Einstein ever actually made that quote?I recommend the videos of Alan Watts, they will help you immensely in dealing with this whole afterlife thing you speak of. Many many, seemingly endless videos on Youtube:
Regarding your practicing Buddhism, I must say, so do I, and I offer one of my favorite quotations by one of the most quotable people ever:
"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity." - Albert Einstein
If there are supernatural beings then pretty much every thing we know about physics is rubbish.The origins of the universe are simply not known with conflicting theories and new information being discovered such as dark energy. There is literally so much we don't know about our own existence nevermind the machinations of stuff light years away and 13+ billion years ago. Perhaps out of nothing there was a singularity. Or it's part of the latest way we have convinced ourselves we know it all. And that is it. Or perhaps not. I have seen no evidence of a God or Gods per se, and despise pretty much all organized religion, but I have also not seen enough evidence that we truly understand everything going on in the universe around us either. While I lean towards their being no god or gods, I can't pretend to know that either. We are a tiny speck in a galaxy among many galaxies. Therefore we can't proclaim we know there are no supernatural beings in the universe.