(February 15, 2021 at 6:20 pm)Astreja Wrote: In my case, belief in gods -- any gods -- has been a non-starter my whole life. It just doesn't feel real to me, so much so that I can't even pretend to believe. This is what honesty looks like in my life, and this is a facet of belief versus non-belief that you should seriously consider.
(February 16, 2021 at 1:02 pm)Klorophyll Wrote: Since when we're supposed to accept beliefs based on feelings ?
Why not? In the absence of empirical evidence, a belief essentially is based on feelings.
(February 16, 2021 at 1:02 pm)Klorophyll Wrote: I don't think any sane person spent their entire life without considering the possibility of a higher power, at least once. Even denying an assertion already entails thinking about this assertion, that is, atheists(most of them?) forcibly thought a lot about the god question.
I've considered the possibility on more than one occasion. I've dismissed it every time. The assertions of religion are not adequately supported by real-world data, so it's a waste of my time to consider the issue again. I'm prepared to reopen the issue if and only if better data is found - testable data, not scriptures or believers' personal experiences or philosophical thought experiments.
Again, please consider that whatever convinced you may simply not be enough for someone like me.