(May 9, 2016 at 11:11 am)Emjay Wrote:(May 9, 2016 at 9:50 am)Whateverist the White Wrote: I spend much more time trying to imagine how anyone could believe in God/gods than in looking for reasons not to. I think god belief must have served a purpose but the bible just couldn't be any less useful. The origins of religious experience interest me but I have zero temptation to join a society of bible worshipers. If you think the bible is your ticket into the mysteries you're basically just screwed.
It's not like this for me all the time, just occasionally. Most of the time I operate from a much more positive position like you of asking what possible reasons there are to believe - and there aren't any that come to mind, but since I have this Christian baggage occasionally I have doubts. But it's only because I have knowledge of the religion that I haven't 'unlearned' (not sure if you can unlearn anything per se)... I don't have similar doubts about any of the countless other religions I have no knowledge of. So it's just the doubts that come from the fact that once something is posited it exists in a sense to be disproved.
I'm afraid atheism (or, more accurately I should say "a secular worldview") isn't going to ever free you from doubt because 1) social programming you received in religious ideology is deeply entrenched in your thought-processes, and must be actively recognized (not always possible) in order to be overridden by your rational brain, and 2) there's no such thing as freedom from doubt when you're a rationalist, since doubt is the inherent basis of all skepticism.
It's the people who claim to know, 100%, without universally-demonstrable evidence that supports that degree of certainty, whom you should fear most in this world. Freedom from doubt is the mark of a zealot.
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
