Is belief really a choice?

[Neo-Scholastic]

For example, if I write a book about 30 problems in Quran, a person can chose to ignore it, thus he has choice in his beliefs.

You can also chose not to accept any apologetic the believer offers in return. What I find praiseworthy is the the result of a person's thinking but the means by which they attain knowledge.

[Mystic]

For example, if I write a book about 30 problems in Quran, a person can chose to ignore it, thus he has choice in his beliefs.

You can also chose not to accept any apologetic the believer offers in return. What I find praiseworthy is the the result of a person's thinking but the means by which they attain knowledge.

True. I won't ignore responses to the problems. In fact, I posted the 28 Issues on Shiachat.com and wanted responses. Two of them I solved myself on there.

I then posted some of the issues on various forums. I didn't flood them with all 28 Issues.

Now I have about 30-40 issues (even though 2 of them I solved from the 28).

At the end, people can make an informed decision. We can't chose to become 100% objective, but when something is proven, it will hit us, and it will haunt us, till we accept it or we can chose to ignore our conscience.

It took me over a year after finding the "why miracles weren't sent" issue, to finally accept there was no solution.

I didn't disbelieve when I found problems right away and was very hopeful they would be solved.

[The Grand Nudger]

You can also chose not to accept any apologetic the believer offers in return. What I find praiseworthy is the the result of a person's thinking but the means by which they attain knowledge.

Which brings up an interesting semi-aside. When I hear or see apologetics, I try to believe based upon them - when that fails...I explain all of the reasons I couldn't muster up belief - based on what they offered.

[Silver]

I was skimming through some atheist articles on this topic, and it appears to me that there is no logical argument put forth in relation to the choice of belief. The writers all claim that belief does not appear to be a matter of will or choice, and basically compares it to actions as the source for the argument. (from what I can logically perceive, there is no difference between choosing theism or atheism and choosing vanilla or chocolate ice cream). Also, the writers make mention of no more choosing to disbelieve in god than choosing to disbelieve in elves. Simply put, I am reading these articles and not understanding the arguments put forth at all. It seems to me that the writers are merely attempting to convince themselves, for some reason, that choice is not involved.

My reasoning is this, even though I have already stated it: the fact that there is theism and atheism, two very distinct notions, means that there is a choice available between the two. Does everyone make the choice? No. That is the distinction where I believe we are becoming confused. Just because some people do not choose, does not mean there is never a choice available for others. The only way I can logically see someone not choosing between theism and atheism is if the individual was never exposed to theism while growing up and by default he remained an atheist. Others, like myself, who were raised with theism, eventually come to a crossroads, and we have to choose whether we will continue to be theists for the sake of the comfort it provides or to choose to become an atheist where reason lies.

[The Grand Nudger]

My reasoning is this, even though I have already stated it: the fact that there is theism and atheism, two very distinct notions, means that there is a choice available between the two.

Streams often diverge into two brooks. Just because water goes one way or the other does not mean that water made a choice.

Does everyone make the choice? No. That is the distinction where I believe we are becoming confused. Just because some people do not choose, does not mean there is never a choice available for others. The only way I can logically see someone not choosing between theism and atheism is if the individual was never exposed to theism while growing up and by default he remained an atheist.

I wasn't raised with any religion in particular - more like all of them.

Others, like myself, who were raised with theism, eventually come to a crossroads, and we have to choose whether we will continue to be theists for the sake of the comfort it provides or to choose to become an atheist where reason lies.

If it's just for the sake of comfort are you choosing to believe, or have you already abandoned belief and are choosing whether or not to maintain the charade?

[Silver]

Streams often diverge into two brooks. Just because water goes one way or the other does not mean that water made a choice.

Water does not have a brain, and thus lacks reasoning capabilities.

If it's just for the sake of comfort are you choosing to believe, or have you already abandoned belief and are choosing whether or not to maintain the charade?

It means I, personally, have abandoned theism by choosing atheism.

[The Grand Nudger]

Water does not have a brain, and thus lacks reasoning capabilities.

Having a brain does not mean that you have made a choice. I think water makes a good analogy, since we seem to have this idea that there can be influencing factors surrounding you, gently nudging you one way or another. Water seeks it's own level, follows the path of least resistance and if we understood those "influences" we're leveraging to excuse our inability to demonstrate a choice as resistance, our beliefs, and our beliefs about our choices about our beliefs (lulz) could very easily be described as a a drop of water following the path of least resistance. If that's enough to call something a choice..well, choices just became that much less impressive.

It means I, personally, have abandoned theism by choosing atheism.

Which, to me, is about as close to a superpower as anything could get and still remain in the realm of what I would consider plausible. I mean, look, maybe you can do this- I haven't seen you do it, I haven't seen it explained very well, and I certainly haven't seen it argued very well.....but if you say you can do it so be it. I still can't.

[Silver]

If I had a superpower, I think I would know about it.

[The Grand Nudger]

................

[OneOfAKind]

It is NOT a choice. It's called thinking for yourself and opening your eyes. Once you realize the truth, and take your blinding goggles off, there's no way to turn back to theistic religions. Trust me, I've tried. It just didn't work, and I wasn't being true to myself.