(December 10, 2015 at 6:22 pm)excitedpenguin Wrote: I can kind of relate to the type you describe in the first paragraph, so I would have to disagree. I'm not saying I'm a nut, but I'm not that much of a pessimist either.
The second paragraph, I can get more in line with.
A pessimist about what, I guess I would ask. The present or the future? If you're talking about the present, I would ask what you think could be good about the atrocities that regularly happen on the planet. I mean I'm certainly not saying that good things never happen, they obviously do, but just that bad things do and that they are tragic and that's it. If you're talking about the future, I would agree that we have reason to be cautiously optimistic that it will at least improve. But that still doesn't change the cold indifference of nature itself.
(December 10, 2015 at 6:26 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Live and let live. If a person is a good person and isn't harming anyone, then I don't see why it should bother you whether or not they believe in God.
With all due respect, I wonder if this isn't just a myth. First, would you agree that at least one person has to be wrong? If so, then someone is walking around with the wrong (or a more wrong) map of the world in their head. And clearly if your map is wrong, you're going to make some bad decisions, and probably ones that affect more people than just you, given that we live in an interdependent society where decisions have to be made and applied to groups. Alternatively, imagine a game of basketball where each player might hold his own beliefs about what the rules are and even who is on the court. Speaking only for myself, I want to be playing with the guys who don't shoot at the wrong hoop or pass the ball off to the guy who isn't there.
People's beliefs are doing work in the world at all times. Just because someone isn't actively trying to blow me up doesn't mean their beliefs aren't affecting me (and others). That's why I personally would be bothered whether or not they believe in God.
