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Poll: What is your religion?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#161

Post by sliverstorm »

revolvingcur wrote: post #54
sliverstorm wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Pascal's Wager is ridiculous. It is rooted in a false dichotomy and attempts to salve the conscience by the acceptance of a contradiction.

Ok, if you feel it is not a dichotomy, you are right.

I only ever interpreted the dichotomoy as 'there are zero deities' or 'there are one or more deities'.

Perhaps I like Pascal's Wager more than it deserves because it reminds me of: http://xkcd.com/525/

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#162

Post by mkramlich »

josefresco wrote: post #156
mkramlich wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's a precise number to bet thanks now I'm picturing a stealthed YC startup with exactly 14 employees, and their business is making and selling light-sabres

His Jedi-sense told him it was 14.

upvote you I will! for the Karma is my ally, and a strong ally it is

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#163

Post by adamzap »

YuriNiyazov wrote: post #127
adamzap wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is your disbelief in God solely based upon Occam's Razor? If so, could you elaborate on it a bit?

Not solely, but mainly. The following is by no means a iron-clad tight argument, but here goes. When the concept of God is invoked, it is usually not precisely defined. In various interpretations, it is a life force permeating the universe itself, or a being that is benevolent, omnipotent and omniscient, or a being that has a "personal guiding light" relationship to every individual human, or a force that was "the pr…

Interesting. Thanks for the response.

If one obtains answers to a number of questions (meaning, morality, afterlife, etc) by postulating the existence of God, is the nonbeliever exempt from having to answer those questions?

In pursuit of the answers, the nonbeliever must make new assumptions outside of simple nonbelief because simple nonbelief doesn't provide answers. Doesn't Occam's Razor then side with belief in God? I am not referring to simple belief in some higher power, but Biblical Christianity.

I believe that those questions (meaning, morality, afterlife, etc) are essential to a coherent worldview and are human questions rather than religious questions.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#165

Post by philwelch »

jswinghammer wrote: post #87
dannytatom wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Well there is evidence but it's not evidence that you're presently accepting. The Bible is a sort of evidence and people's testimony is as well. For my part I believe in God because he speaks to me regularly and I'm the last person you'd expect that to happen to. I was minding my own business when I started hearing from God. Everyone I knew at the time was totally shocked and it took me over two years to accept what…

You have presented the only religious argument I can't actually argue with. I can only humbly say I haven't had the same experience as you, and if I did, I would freak out.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#166

Post by chc »

jacoblyles wrote: post #72
chc wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps so, but neither atheism nor agnosticism is equivalent to scientific materialism.

No, but I'd be willing to bet that a large portion of the atheists here are atheists because of such a viewpoint.

I agree that's probably true, but I don't understand your point. I was just observing that Buddhists are likely to also be atheists, since the OP seemed to consider overlap unlikely.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#167

Post by tensor »

PostOnce wrote: post #149

I am not an adherent of any organized religion, but this question is puzzling: Where did stuff come from? There are two possibilities, either 1] it was put there, or 2] it was just there to begin with. God is an easy solution, but then where did he come from? Same problem. Maybe there are other possibilities that our brains just aren't able to process at this stage in our evolution. Anyway, before anyone says "the bi…

That is a classic philosophical question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primum_movens

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#168

Post by mortenjorck »

petervandijck wrote: post #66
SandB0x wrote: post #37

Hmm, mostly agnostic eh? Looks like a startup could shake things up here. Let's bootstrap a new religion! http://god.ly has a nice ring to it.

ok I clicked that link. http://god.ly

Aha, here's why it hasn't been squatted:

Strings shorter than four symbols long are to be registered directly under .ly ONLY through Libya Telecom and Technology in the upcoming period to guarantee that registrants have Local presence.

http://www.nic.ly/lyregistrars.php

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#169

Post by aik »

rubinelli wrote: post #157
revolvingcur wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From someone raised in the Christian church: I was taught from a very young age certain things about God and man: that God was all-knowing and all-powerful; that God was the creator of everything; that man was irrevocably prone to sin and therefore needed a savior; that God chose certain people to save; that heaven was the ultimate destination for those who were saved; etc... As I grew older, I began to realize that…

Faith is the belief in what you can't prove. From a strictly rational point of view, it's a kind of madness, and the gospels explicitly point it out. To use a source I'm sure you know, in I Corinthians 13 there is an apparent contradiction: even if you act piously, you act in vain if if you don't feel love. The religious experience is emotional and visceral, not logical. It comes before codes and rules. From this per…

I'm not familiar with this contradiction. Could you explain further? Where does it mention it's important to "feel" love? I've always thought it says "have love" - as in your pious nature is pointless unless you are capable of loving; as in it serves no purpose because it will not be acted upon. Similar to the idea that knowledge is pointless unless used. Or ideas are pointless unless executed...

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#170

Post by sjwright »

nwomack wrote: post #116
chc wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't agree with this assessment. Atheism is not a knowledge claim; it's just disbelief in God. Similarly, I don't believe in intelligent life on other worlds, but that isn't a knowledge claim — there's just no good reason to believe in it. Agnosticism, however, is a knowledge claim: It's the claim that God is is unknowable.

I have to respectfully disagree. I think you have your definitions mixed up. Agnosticism is 'There may be a god, but I don't care enough to claim one way or the other', I think the 'fence sitting' argument is good. Atheism is: 'There is no god' ie, Richard Dawkins Atheism is a stronger claim than Agnosticism.

> Atheism is: 'There is no god' ie, Richard Dawkins

You have just misquoted Richard Dawkins.

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