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Poll: What is your religion?

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Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#71

Post by tkahn6 »

marcamillion wrote: post #60
michael_nielsen wrote: post #23

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.)

Let's assume that neither of us know if God REALLY exists...don't you think it might be safer to hedge your bet and believe in a god - for the afterlife? What will it cost you to believe in God while you are alive? Nothing. What will it cost you if there really is a god and you chose not to believe? Could cost you eternity. So why not believe? The upside is (in the worst case) the same as not believing, but the downs…

This is known as Pascal's Wager.

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

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#72

Post by jacoblyles »

chc wrote: post #39
jacoblyles wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Statements about the nature of reality arrived at through a mystical methodology conflict with scientific materialism even if no god is involved.

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.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#73

Post by kylemathews »

anthonyb wrote: post #45
augustl wrote: 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.

That's a false dichotomy for the vast majority of religious people. There are very few people that believe exclusively in faith healing and don't accept modern medicine.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#74

Post by prawn »

marcamillion wrote: post #60
michael_nielsen wrote: post #23

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.)

Let's assume that neither of us know if God REALLY exists...don't you think it might be safer to hedge your bet and believe in a god - for the afterlife? What will it cost you to believe in God while you are alive? Nothing. What will it cost you if there really is a god and you chose not to believe? Could cost you eternity. So why not believe? The upside is (in the worst case) the same as not believing, but the downs…

"So why not believe?"

How is it that easy? We're not picking a team to support in the Finals series. The idea of believing in a "god" to me is as foreign as believing in a tooth fairy. When an employee of mine is openly religious, it is to me akin to him espousing a belief in something purely fantastical - tooth fairy, Santa Claus, etc. His choice and I don't deride it, but to me it is all entirely bizarre.

When I look at mysteries of our existence, of the creation of our universe, at no point does any fibre of my being whatsoever think to consider that a god-like higher power might be behind it all.

And even if you could force yourself to believe, without doubt, which god are you going to believe in to guarantee yourself some sort of 'eternity'?

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#76

Post by jswinghammer »

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.

I'm not sure there is a false dichotomy present there. You're either going to burn in hell or you're not. The downside of trying something to get out of that sentence is small and upside is big. It's terrible theology but it's decent logic.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#77

Post by caf »

csomar wrote: 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?

Well, from a purely philosophical standpoint, I tend to agree that I can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God. As such, I used to describe myself as an agnostic.

However, more recently I have recognised that underneath that, deep down I just don't believe that there is a God - while simultaneously acknowledging the unprovability of this belief. So I now self-describe as atheist, and the reason why seems to be a deep-seated feeling that the theory of the existence of God just doesn't sit right. A non-God Universe is just somehow more... elegant.

It's also worth pointing out that I don't see a good practical reason to believe in a God, either. Since the God-theory makes no testable predictions, it is of little value in explaining the world around us. Explaining the past in terms of miracles perpetrated by an ineffable being gives us no guide for what to expect in the future, and is thus not worthwhile, even if it is correct.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#78

Post by jsz0 »

csomar wrote: 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?

Religion interests me a lot I just don't feel any need to elevate it to a super natural level. Lots of stories have moral messages but we don't worship Obi Wan as a real person who existed a long time ago in a galaxy far away do we? I guess science probably replaces the super natural element for me completely. As a non-religious person I follow most or all of the ten commandments in my everyday life. (most of us probably do) I don't do it based on the fear/promise of the super natural.

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#79

Post by c3o »

marcamillion wrote: post #60
michael_nielsen wrote: post #23

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.)

Let's assume that neither of us know if God REALLY exists...don't you think it might be safer to hedge your bet and believe in a god - for the afterlife? What will it cost you to believe in God while you are alive? Nothing. What will it cost you if there really is a god and you chose not to believe? Could cost you eternity. So why not believe? The upside is (in the worst case) the same as not believing, but the downs…

By that logic you'd need to believe in every single religion at once to hedge your bet, since most only promise the afterlife to adherents of their specific belief system.

That aside, how can you say it'd "cost nothing"? It would cost me my integrity.

Another debunking of this argument: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZpJ7yUPwdU

Re: Poll: What is your religion?

#80

Post by tharris7 »

marcamillion wrote: post #60
michael_nielsen wrote: post #23

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.)

Let's assume that neither of us know if God REALLY exists...don't you think it might be safer to hedge your bet and believe in a god - for the afterlife? What will it cost you to believe in God while you are alive? Nothing. What will it cost you if there really is a god and you chose not to believe? Could cost you eternity. So why not believe? The upside is (in the worst case) the same as not believing, but the downs…

This is basically Pascal's Wager. The main criticism, I think, is that you could be "hedging your bet" on the Christian God, when the actual God could be from a different "religion". Some religions place a lot of emphasis on their god being the one and only.
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