Do you wish there's a god?

[Belacqua]

Cool, so all I have to do is to develop a want for a god...and then be born in the right country, of course.

That's not what I'm saying, of course.

Do you think that people's conclusions about things like religion are unaffected by their desires? Is it possible that desire may overcome careful reasoning? 

If we want to be careful in our conclusions, we have to acknowledge that desire affects our thinking. 

Let's not forget that many atheists here were believers at one time.

Sure, that's clear. It doesn't change the fact that their change might have been affected by their desires. 

I'm not saying it was -- I can't know what's in people's minds. Just that it would be normal human behavior to have desire affect conclusions.

---

I think their only purpose is to be annoying not looking for any answer.

It's certain that a lot of people don't want (or think they need) any more information than they have. 

I think it's more about fellowship and reinforcement. And that includes insulting people whom they perceive to be outside their group.

Recently one poster repeated the old canard that the authors of the Bible were Bronze Age goat herders. I pointed out to him that this is not historically correct. He acknowledged that he was wrong, and then put me on ignore because, he said, it takes the fun out of posting here if people correct his mistakes. 

So I found that refreshingly honest. He's here for fun, not truth.