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Poll: What is your religion?

news.ycombinator.com

41–50 of 368 posts

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#42
post #32

It seems disingenuous to mix Agnosicism with Atheism. Both are utterly different - one makes a knowledge claim (atheism) while the other is in a position of neutrality or indifference (agnosticism)

[deleted]

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#43
post #40
post #32

It seems disingenuous to mix Agnosicism with Atheism. Both are utterly different - one makes a knowledge claim (atheism) while the other is in a position of neutrality or indifference (agnosticism)

as far as everyday life goes, would it make a difference? Being part of the religions usually means various changes to your routines

Although, an agnostic who is aware of the implications of Pascal's Wager would probably still implement those changes.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#44
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe in God because I've never heard a good reason to believe in God. I find it odd that you presume a need for a good reason to not believe in something. If I did need such reasons, I'd need a good reason to not believe in invisible pink unicorns, teapots in orbit around Saturn, and many other things. (Apologies if I've misinterpreted you.)

Good answer. It means that you are ready to believe if there are a really convincing reason; which is what I'm looking for. But my question was mainly to check if you are not believing for a specific reason. A simple reason is "If God exist, why doesn't him make his existence CLEAR, without ambiguity by some kind of magical power or miracle."

Of course, with a convincing reason I'll believe, that's the definition of "convincing" :)

I don't think non-believers "not-believe" for a specific reason, just as believers don't believe for a specific reason.

It just seems highly unlikely that there's a "god". Just as it seems highly unlikely that there are aliens from another planet living among us, or that I can levitate by merely willing it to happen. Quite unlikely, but happy to be shown/proven wrong :)

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#45
post #28

Whenever I (atheist) meet religious people and start nerd raging, I remind myself of the following: The world makes equally amounts of sense for a religious person as it does to an atheist. It's easy to dismiss religion when you're an atheist, because science makes so much sense that it is a perfectly adequate explanation of the world around us (in the sense that it acknowledges that proving things are difficult). Bu…

We have very different ideas of 'adequate' then. For example, I'll take modern medicine over faith healing any day.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#46
post #11

Interesting question. I have lot of theories regarding religion and I wonder if the HN community is interested discussing them. Just one question now (for Atheists): Why don't you believe in God. Do you have a good reason? Is it because it doesn't interest you? Is it because of a scientific theory that proved to you that God don't exist?

There is no reason to believe in a god, and no evidence to support it. I'd like to know why people do believe in a god, as not believing in one is fairly easy. So, a question to your question, is there a good reason you believe in it (assuming you do)? Edit: petervandijck said it better above me.

I personally cannot imagine a creation made by pure hazard to be this beautiful. I know that beauty is subjective. But i find that nature is so wonderfully created that -- for me -- it's hard to believe that there is no artist behind it. Like, when i see a nice piece of code, i know that there is a really good programmer behind it. :-)

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#48
post #32

It seems disingenuous to mix Agnosicism with Atheism. Both are utterly different - one makes a knowledge claim (atheism) while the other is in a position of neutrality or indifference (agnosticism)

Agnostics are just sissy Atheists.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#49
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as far as everyday life goes, would it make a difference? Being part of the religions usually means various changes to your routines

Although, an agnostic who is aware of the implications of Pascal's Wager would probably still implement those changes.

Not if you're an agnostic in regards to e.g. Buddhism rather than brimstone Christianity.
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