How many people believe in GOD.

[GoddessAthena85]

Lovely Athena, I can think of quite a few pagan rites I would love to perform with you…

lol Classy . Thats how I got my job, While at a festival dancing naked under the may pole. How could I ask for a better group of people to work with.?

[broncofan]

I was raised Jewish and bar mitzvahed. It was some commitment as I had to attend Hebrew school and learn to read, sing, and memorize Hebrew. Beyond the singing there was not much that I found enjoyable. I decided I did not believe in a supreme being and as a result I did not go to temple even for the high holidays. It was not easy because it is a family obligation, a social sort of communion for Jews. But I felt like a bit of a hypocrite going to services and pretending to be pious when I didn't have an ounce of belief. Nothing in particular leads me not to believe except the absence of evidence for the proposition that there is a supreme being; I'm not a scientist so I could go on a hunch, but I don't have that hunch either! I mean even if there were not good evidence I could be a believer if things really were serendipitous or worked out in a way that seemed the product of some design.

I think the more interesting question than whether one believes or not is the harm that believing and wanting others to believe does in a multi-cultural society. When you want to be governed by that which is sensible it's difficult to add religion to the equation. None of it is sensible. You would have to ask yourself why there are so many religions and all are mutually exclusive? It's easier to think all prophets are hucksters than that all except one are.

[Prospero]

Which God.....

[talldudeil]

There is documented evidence of roman emperors, kings as well as ancient scholars, there is however, no written evidence of a carpenter in any era that I have been able to find. The bible was written by people after "his" death and then translated. The universe is endless, why in the world would anyone believe in someone that can not be verifies where there are hundreds before his time that can be.

If you feel that you need a higher being go right ahead and believe, me I will fish for myself and not wait for someone to magically make fish and bread to feed the hungry masses.

[GoddessAthena85]

There is documented evidence of roman emperors, kings as well as ancient scholars, there is however, no written evidence of a carpenter in any era that I have been able to find. The bible was written by people after "his" death and then translated. The universe is endless, why in the world would anyone believe in someone that can not be verifies where there are hundreds before his time that can be.

If you feel that you need a higher being go right ahead and believe, me I will fish for myself and not wait for someone to magically make fish and bread to feed the hungry masses.

Have u been watching Zeitgeist ?

[martin48]

You wanted proof, I give you proof

[GoddessAthena85]

not that i'm an atheist.

[giovanni_hotel]

Yes lawd~!!!

Believing in GOd isn't going to hurt you. Believing you are acting or speaking on behalf of the Creator is when you start fucking up.

Atheists are always trying to get more members into the club.
Maybe you should have a bake sale.lol

My fave atheist on this board is still Trish xoxoxo, (all respect to Prospero Stavros) and and I'd gladly agree to disagree with her by keeping my God love to myself if we were to meet IRL.

When believers get past the negative thinking that all atheists are spawns of the devil and not personally at war with your faith system, at least most aren't, there's less to be fearful about.

[trish]

Thanks for the fave. I'm sure that we are intellectually quite compatible...and probably in other ways too.
Btw. I'm not the spawn of the Devil, however the Devil and me are great friends. All you got to do is let him into your heart; the scales will drop away from your eyes and paradise will be assured. Just let him in.

[Stavros]

My fave atheist on this board is still Trish xoxoxo, (all respect to Prospero Stavros) and and I'd gladly agree to disagree with her by keeping my God love to myself if we were to meet IRL.

I have never claimed to be an atheist, Giovanni. I tend to find most discussions of God revolve around arguments which are actually about people. Systems of belief, call them religions if you want, try to explain why we are alive, and how we should live. The rules, the morals, the values that religions create can often be explained in material rather than supernatural circumstances -at some point in evolution, human societies realised that procreation within the family led to a deterioration of the genes of new offspring until survival itself was threatened -families then had to mate with families on the other side of the river. It may be that many -most?- ancient, pre-literate socieites believed that the forces of nature were controlled by supernatural beings -floods, earthquakes, rain, drought, and so on- so it may be that when proposing a change in the rules, as with procreation, the authority used to impress people was said to be derived from outside the social group, but from a force that everyone recognised to be more powerful than the group. Even today people admit they are powerless in the face of nature and the gods who control it -for some what appears to be fatalism is the weakest element in Hindu beliefs, to take one example of a religion which has many gods. It was once said that if you can persuade people that there is an almighty God, and that this God will punish you if you do wrong, that is in itself a form of power, it may from this aspect of God -or rather, religious belief- that critics turn away. And yet, secular society bans murder and theft; it is considered morally wrong to hate one's parents -and if someone does, it assumes an unfortunate childhood-, people who tell lies can acheve a lot, but many who are exposed lose much more; and in more than one social environment, the attempt to replace one political party by another has been punishable by lifetime imprisonment, or death. I think this is where the argument that you can teach morals/ethics/values outside religion comes from.

And it begs the question, if all human societies have basic rules on murder, theft, deception, and authority, does that invalidate, or consolidate religious belief?

None of this has anything to do with God, but it does have a lot to do with people.