Poll: How many HN readers are believers? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#11

Post by marczellm » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 11:28 AM UTC

azaras wrote: post #9

marczellm wrote: post #7

I'm an MSc student in IT/software engineering, and I am a practicing and believing Roman Catholic. Some of the main reasons for this is - having recognized that the teachings are consistent with my embedded worldview and ethical code - a perception that living according to these teachings is much more beautiful, much less likely to hurt others or get hurt myself, mostly free from anger and bitterness, etc. The often…

Do you believe in Mary's perputual virginity?

Based solely upon the Bible, I wouldn't. But for some reason the Church teaches it, and I guess they have very good reasons for that. Because of the issue having IMO absolutely no implication for my everyday life or prayer, I never felt the need to research what the Church has to say about it.

Just like using a software library without reading the source code.

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#12

Post by maxerickson » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 11:32 AM UTC

gliese1337 wrote: post #6

An actual poll seems to be missing here, so I'll just add my comment. I am a practicing Mormon (member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), and do in fact believe in God and the specific doctrines of my religions. I go to church every Sunday, pray and read the scriptures regularly, and plenty of other things besides. The majority of tech people I know in person are also religious, although I am very w…

There are at least branches of theology that utilize the tools of philosophy (I suppose theology in general does, but some of it uses the approach more carefully). I guess there is an endless argument available in deciding what the average Christian apologist is, but I think you might be selling their rigor a bit short.

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#13

Post by xdissent » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 11:32 AM UTC

marczellm wrote: post #7

I'm an MSc student in IT/software engineering, and I am a practicing and believing Roman Catholic. Some of the main reasons for this is - having recognized that the teachings are consistent with my embedded worldview and ethical code - a perception that living according to these teachings is much more beautiful, much less likely to hurt others or get hurt myself, mostly free from anger and bitterness, etc. The often…

Absolutely no offense intended, but doesn't your worldview (and the perceived benefits) stand alone, whether or not a God exists? I guess my question is, how do you rationalize the ritual if it has little bearing on the outcome?

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#14

Post by ofcapl_ » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 11:34 AM UTC

So here's also my answer - I believe in God, I was raised in Catholic environment but lately I stopped going to Church - I've lost faith in Church as a place & organization and started to believe that by being just the good person for other people (& world environment) will be enough to achieve redemption - and I believe God is generous enough to respect my way of 'believing'.

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#15

Post by mansr » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 11:45 AM UTC

robobro wrote: post #2

I kind of see logic or the laws of nature as being "higher forces," but I can't bring myself to believe in sky wizards, ghosts, time travel, psychic powers, and the like. As a philosophy major, I think something dissuading me from the religious persuasion is that most attempts to define/describe God are either different kinds of logical games (God = Beauty; this is what beauty is; therefore, god is // God = Perfectio…

The Old Testament god strikes me as quite evil.

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#16

Post by DanBC » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 11:53 AM UTC

marczellm wrote: post #7

I'm an MSc student in IT/software engineering, and I am a practicing and believing Roman Catholic. Some of the main reasons for this is - having recognized that the teachings are consistent with my embedded worldview and ethical code - a perception that living according to these teachings is much more beautiful, much less likely to hurt others or get hurt myself, mostly free from anger and bitterness, etc. The often…

> much less likely to hurt others

The Catholic rules on abortion are cruel and cause very great harm to women. A woman was raped in her home country. She left that country and sought asylum in Ireland. She discovered that she was pregnant and sought an abortion. Abortion is only possible in Ireland if the mother's life is at risk. She was suicidal, and the two psychiatrists needed agreed that her life was at risk. The third doctor, an obstretician, disagreed about the mental health status of the patient and so she could not get an abortion. She went on hunger strike, intending to kill herself or kill the unborn child. She was subjected to forced naso-gastric feeding to keep the fetus alive until it could be delivered. She agreed to a caesarian section at about 25 / 26 weeks.

This is 2014 in a developed European nation.

And this is under their "liberal" new law, introduced in 2014 after the death, in 2012, of Savita Halappanavar.

The Catholic church spent considerable effort to prevent contraception being made available in Ireland. This delayed the availability of contraception for years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contraception_in_the_Republic_...

This cruelty is a direct result of Catholic teachings.

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#17

Post by marczellm » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 11:58 AM UTC

xdissent wrote: post #13

marczellm wrote: post #7

I'm an MSc student in IT/software engineering, and I am a practicing and believing Roman Catholic. Some of the main reasons for this is - having recognized that the teachings are consistent with my embedded worldview and ethical code - a perception that living according to these teachings is much more beautiful, much less likely to hurt others or get hurt myself, mostly free from anger and bitterness, etc. The often…

Absolutely no offense intended, but doesn't your worldview (and the perceived benefits) stand alone, whether or not a God exists? I guess my question is, how do you rationalize the ritual if it has little bearing on the outcome?

I simply figured that the Church might know more than I do, given that my personality is still forming.

I should maybe mention that by embedded worldview, I meant more like little seeds. By no means do I have a complete ethical, philosophical, moral system which explains EVERYTHING in the universe. I think philosophy is the job of philosophers, theology the job of theologists, etc. But Catholic teachings were a very logical next step from the way I feel about certain things.

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#18

Post by marczellm » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 12:19 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #16

marczellm wrote: post #7

I'm an MSc student in IT/software engineering, and I am a practicing and believing Roman Catholic. Some of the main reasons for this is - having recognized that the teachings are consistent with my embedded worldview and ethical code - a perception that living according to these teachings is much more beautiful, much less likely to hurt others or get hurt myself, mostly free from anger and bitterness, etc. The often…

> much less likely to hurt others The Catholic rules on abortion are cruel and cause very great harm to women. A woman was raped in her home country. She left that country and sought asylum in Ireland. She discovered that she was pregnant and sought an abortion. Abortion is only possible in Ireland if the mother's life is at risk. She was suicidal, and the two psychiatrists needed agreed that her life was at risk. Th…

Do you have a link to the story in your first paragraph? I would like to read it in detail.

Sexual orientation and contraception are two very serious issues which I feel greatly underqualified to form global opinions about. The situation in Ireland seems to me like a misunderstanding of the Catholic teachings, given that AFAIK the teachings are meant to be followed in one's personal life because of one's personal faith, and not by forcing them on others by means such as state laws.

The only comment I can make is by following the teachings in my own life and not having sex outside marriage, I don't conceive children* with women whom I abandon later, therefore

- I don't hurt women by making them take contraceptive pills with unknown side effects,

- I don't hurt women by forcing them to carry out a child they do not want,

- I don't hurt children by causing them to grow up without a loving family,

- I don't hurt women by forcing them to go to abortion,

- I don't hurt children by conceiving them and then killing them in abortion before they are born.

Most of the above happened in my family, and I want to avoid the hurt caused by or to my family members in these situations.

* AFAIK no contraception is 100% effective.

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#19

Post by DanBC » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 12:28 PM UTC

> I noticed that most (around 99%) tech people I know in-person do not believe in God

Do they talk about it? Some religious people are not particularly evangelical, especially in the workplace, so maybe some of them are observant religious and you just don't know about it.

(Btw: I'm atheist if it helps.)

Re: Poll: How many HN readers are believers?

#20

Post by kiliancs » Sun, Jan 25, 2015, 12:33 PM UTC

I do believe in God. I'm a Bahá'í, so I believe that all major world religions come from the same God and have been sent to humanity at different times and in different places according to their needs with the purpose of educating mankind, promoting its wellbeing and advancing civilization. Most of the activities I participate in are initiated by friends at their homes and have the purpose of contributing something to the community (the neighborhood or the town), like devotional gatherings, study circles to raise the capacity to serve, spiritual classes for children, groups for the junior youth, etc. There are some other events for the Bahá'í community but I wouldn't call them ceremonies because we don't have clergy and they are extremely flexible. These events are usually backed by our institutions, such as a Feast every 19 days where we pray and consult together, a quarterly meeting to reflect on the advancements of our endeavors in the betterment of the world and plan ahead, or a yearly convention to elect these institutions.