ChatterBank16 mins ago
The Inherent Human Need To Believe In Something...
62 Answers
some people cite the fact that, all over the planet, for thousands of years humans have believed in gods of some sort - as a kind of proof that gods must exist - if so many people believe it.
but actually i think this argument really just proves the opposite.
it proves humans inherent need to feel there is a higher purpose.
it shows its in our NATURE to search for more and to invent it if necessary.
all these gods take so many different forms and have many different ways, ways that suit the paticular society.
they also note the really remote tribes who have no outside contact who also know about god etc.
but each one totally believes that theirs is the one true god - so doesn't that show how it all MUST just be all in our minds?
if there was only one true god - wouldn't all these remote tribes all be worshiping the same one?
wouldn't the 'real' god, make sure they knew about him?
if all these other gods are false idols - why wouldn't 'god' try to correct them? why would he just let them blindly believe a fake one?
it cannot be the old chestnut of freewill - because that can only work when someone knows the 'truth' yet chooses the wrong path - so what about people who don't even know a path exists in the first place?
how can god expect people to follow him, if he does not make himself known to them...?
but actually i think this argument really just proves the opposite.
it proves humans inherent need to feel there is a higher purpose.
it shows its in our NATURE to search for more and to invent it if necessary.
all these gods take so many different forms and have many different ways, ways that suit the paticular society.
they also note the really remote tribes who have no outside contact who also know about god etc.
but each one totally believes that theirs is the one true god - so doesn't that show how it all MUST just be all in our minds?
if there was only one true god - wouldn't all these remote tribes all be worshiping the same one?
wouldn't the 'real' god, make sure they knew about him?
if all these other gods are false idols - why wouldn't 'god' try to correct them? why would he just let them blindly believe a fake one?
it cannot be the old chestnut of freewill - because that can only work when someone knows the 'truth' yet chooses the wrong path - so what about people who don't even know a path exists in the first place?
how can god expect people to follow him, if he does not make himself known to them...?
Answers
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by joko. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
If we atheists are going to convert people to our point of view, as clearly some wish to, then all I'd ask is that we debate rationally. After all, the entire criticism leveled at religion is that it's irrational, so good "stooping to their level". So yeah, throwing about such obviously false statistics and what have you doesn't help anyone.
Khandro - “... Why do you spend so much of your time and energy talking about God, when you don't believe in such an existence?...”
Really? Do you honestly not understand why I and others like me debate matters like this on AB?
By asking such a question you display a startling amount of ignorance about the nature and consequence of religious belief. Since this rather foolish question has been asked many times before and answered more times than I care to remember, I shall copy & paste a quote from LazyGun which I think more than adequately explains the non-theists' position...
“... I am happy for anyone to believe whatever they wish - provided that they do not expect reality and society to bend and deform to accommodate them. We have countries around the globe that still have blasphemy laws, and lock up and arrest atheists and other non-believers. We have people around the globe who refuse medical attention for their children, preferring instead to form a prayer circle. We have a religion that will refuse to countenance life-saving blood transfusions for their children/loved ones. Closer to home, we have B&B owners who wish to refuse service to those who do not comply with their religious world-view, we have employees wishing to contravene health and safety regulations to wear a public symbol of their faith; We have religions that view and treat women as chattel and demand that they cover up from head to toe in public; On the world stage, we have religions that will riot and kill because some books were burned. We have religiously motivated terrorists that will shoot a young Pakistani girl in the head,religiously motivated terrorists that will fly planes into buildings. All this murder and mayhem, this backward thinking, this pernicious and negative effect on humanity - all because some fanatics wish to impose their flavour of superstition on everyone else...” [08:48 Thu 21st Feb 2013]
http://
Really? Do you honestly not understand why I and others like me debate matters like this on AB?
By asking such a question you display a startling amount of ignorance about the nature and consequence of religious belief. Since this rather foolish question has been asked many times before and answered more times than I care to remember, I shall copy & paste a quote from LazyGun which I think more than adequately explains the non-theists' position...
“... I am happy for anyone to believe whatever they wish - provided that they do not expect reality and society to bend and deform to accommodate them. We have countries around the globe that still have blasphemy laws, and lock up and arrest atheists and other non-believers. We have people around the globe who refuse medical attention for their children, preferring instead to form a prayer circle. We have a religion that will refuse to countenance life-saving blood transfusions for their children/loved ones. Closer to home, we have B&B owners who wish to refuse service to those who do not comply with their religious world-view, we have employees wishing to contravene health and safety regulations to wear a public symbol of their faith; We have religions that view and treat women as chattel and demand that they cover up from head to toe in public; On the world stage, we have religions that will riot and kill because some books were burned. We have religiously motivated terrorists that will shoot a young Pakistani girl in the head,religiously motivated terrorists that will fly planes into buildings. All this murder and mayhem, this backward thinking, this pernicious and negative effect on humanity - all because some fanatics wish to impose their flavour of superstition on everyone else...” [08:48 Thu 21st Feb 2013]
http://
Birdie@ You see there are many things done in the name of religion today, even the atheist religion, that you do not think are right. Often you may hear about people who have very immoral ways of life, but who are respectable members of churches. You may even know about religious leaders who have a very bad way of life, but who are still accepted as good religious leaders in their churches. Some religious leaders have said that homosexuality and having sex relations without being married are not wrong. But you know that the Bible does not say that. In fact, God had his people of Israel punished with death because they practiced such things. For the same reason he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. (Jude 7) Soon he will do the same to all modern-day false religion. In the Bible, such religion is represented as a prostitute because of its immoral relations with the “kings of the earth.”—Revelation 17:1, 2, 16. But how bad do you want it to get.
birdie; In the 20th century the total number of deaths brought about by secular acts unmotivated by any religious ideology whatsoever, number around 200,000,000;
World war 1, 37,000,000
Mao Ze-Dong (China, 1958-61 and 1966-69, Tibet 1949-50) 49-78,000,000
Adolf Hitler (Germany, 1939-1945) 12,000,000 (concentration camps and civilians deliberately killed in WWII plus 3 million Russian POWs left to die)
Leopold II of Belgium (Congo, 1886-1908) 8,000,000
Jozef Stalin (USSR, 1932-39) 6,000,000 (the gulags plus the purges plus Ukraine's famine)
Hideki Tojo (Japan, 1941-44) 5,000,000 (civilians in WWII)
Pol Pot (Cambodia, 1975-79) 1,700,000
Kim Il Sung (North Korea, 1948-94) 1.6 million (purges and concentration camps)
Leonid Brezhnev (Afghanistan, 1979-1982) 900,000
Tito (Yugoslavia, 1945-1987) 570,000
Suharto (Communists 1965-66) 500,000
- and there are many, many more. Compared to these figures the amount of deaths brought about purely by religious activities (though regrettable) are by comparison very small indeed.
World war 1, 37,000,000
Mao Ze-Dong (China, 1958-61 and 1966-69, Tibet 1949-50) 49-78,000,000
Adolf Hitler (Germany, 1939-1945) 12,000,000 (concentration camps and civilians deliberately killed in WWII plus 3 million Russian POWs left to die)
Leopold II of Belgium (Congo, 1886-1908) 8,000,000
Jozef Stalin (USSR, 1932-39) 6,000,000 (the gulags plus the purges plus Ukraine's famine)
Hideki Tojo (Japan, 1941-44) 5,000,000 (civilians in WWII)
Pol Pot (Cambodia, 1975-79) 1,700,000
Kim Il Sung (North Korea, 1948-94) 1.6 million (purges and concentration camps)
Leonid Brezhnev (Afghanistan, 1979-1982) 900,000
Tito (Yugoslavia, 1945-1987) 570,000
Suharto (Communists 1965-66) 500,000
- and there are many, many more. Compared to these figures the amount of deaths brought about purely by religious activities (though regrettable) are by comparison very small indeed.
How can it prove a God or Gods either exist or doesn't ? Even as evidence it is open to interpretation.
Different descriptions of God merely indicate there is no clear picture yet. It shows nothing regarding the truth or otherwise of deities.
God doesn't claim to expect people to follow it. If you know where it does then you have proof of God's existence and should share.
Different descriptions of God merely indicate there is no clear picture yet. It shows nothing regarding the truth or otherwise of deities.
God doesn't claim to expect people to follow it. If you know where it does then you have proof of God's existence and should share.
“Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history” = people who do not believe in God (however defined by you, Khandro) will have a strong compulsion to murder = belief in a God (HDBYK) is necessary to restrain these murderous instincts. Gold star, Khandro!
When I’m at home tomorrow I’ll dig out an excerpt from the very entertaining monograph “Greater than You Think” (recommended by someone on AB) by Thomas Williams LC ThD. It’s an answer to Hitchens’ “God is not Great”, Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” and other such. The way he proceeds from his equally dodgy premises to his nonsensical conclusions is a true delight.
When I’m at home tomorrow I’ll dig out an excerpt from the very entertaining monograph “Greater than You Think” (recommended by someone on AB) by Thomas Williams LC ThD. It’s an answer to Hitchens’ “God is not Great”, Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” and other such. The way he proceeds from his equally dodgy premises to his nonsensical conclusions is a true delight.
Jim, it was just another way of saying 'majority'
it was not presented as a genuine factual statistic, got from the result of a worldwide survey - since that would be an absurd thing for me to claim to have done - i figured that would be obvious, since its an impossible figure to ever find ... but hey ho...
it was not presented as a genuine factual statistic, got from the result of a worldwide survey - since that would be an absurd thing for me to claim to have done - i figured that would be obvious, since its an impossible figure to ever find ... but hey ho...
Related Questions
Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.