Dad links son's suicide to 'The God Delusion'

[Daystar]

Well first I would say to you that love is an abstract concept, and if very easily explained (in evolutionary theory) in that that it makes perfect sense to form very strong bonds with your social group. When humans were still hunter gatherers in dangerous environments, groups which had reciprocal altruism would do better than a group whose members couldn't care less about each other. This also ties in to parental/offspring relationships- in a species where the birthed young are few, it makes more sense for the parents to invest a significant amount of time in their few offpring (compared to a species with 100 eggs, for example).

You see, this is the type of evolutionary thinking that drives me to maddness. You explain something you can't understand or . . . well, actually explain . . . by assuming it works an observable way when in fact you are just randomly organizing peices of a puzzle which fits in your mind and yet doesn't necessarily give the accurate picture.

You see this sort of propaganda on nature shows on the tele. The picture is of a fish waiting beneath a nut or fruit tree for the fruit to drop and then the fish eats it. The narrator says, most confident, that these fish evolved teeth to eat the fruit.

How do you test something like that? A time machine? If a creationist made the show he would say the fish was created with teeth and so could eat the fruit.

Evolutionist must have at least a better idea of how it went down because God is a myth.

But in actual fact, i'm not disagreeing with you- I'm saying that you've hit the nail on the head. I don't think you can prove or disprove god, what is frustrating to me about Psalm's posts is his absolute certainty ("I've proven God exists. The creation of human life is enough evidence an intelligent creator existed prior to the creation of life.") that he's right, and only his way is true way. It's silly to me to think we can be so certain about anything. Of course, if you press me, I'll say I don't believe in God, and I'll mean it in exactly the same way I'll tell you I don't believe in ghosts or wizards. But am I certain? No, I could be wrong and I admit it.

Yeah, but what frustrates me, and probably Psalm, is that you demonstrate the same absolute certainty even though you admit you could be wrong. How is Psalm's certainty any less valid than your own? Because Psalm won't admit to his uncertainty? There is almost a sense that you wont admit your certainty the way we won't admit our uncertainty.

Now, the conundrum then, is possibly that faith is as explainable as love to science. I have heard similar explanations regarding the invention of gods by men. But like the sharp toothed fish, they don't necessarily add up.

One of my big concernes in trying to educate skeptics on the importance of the Bible is the removal of the influence of myth in religion's misrepresentation of the Bible.

I agree that science - at least at this point in time - should not be mixed with or confused with the Bible. They are not the same, but when contemplating the fish, and love etc. are possible alternatives considered and do you see any such observations in the future as being in some way scientifically speculated upon?

Can we test the possible reality of God?

Also, how in the world did this conversation spring from a thread on a young man's suicide being linked to Dawkin's stupid book?

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Psalm I hate to burst your bubble but,God does not exist.God is the product of the imagination of man that has gone too far and his myth has been blown out of proportion.I agree with Dawkins and Einstein in stating that the belief in God is a delusion,since it is a product of the mind and only exists in the mind.Nature and all the wonders of the world do not prove that he exists,all it proves is that there are things we do not yet understand.

Things we do not yet understand. And yet know? The more you think you know the less you think. Think about that, Chatpilot.

Encartas online dictionary defines a delusion as:
a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence, especially as a symptom of a psychiatric condition.

In my mind the strongest evidence against the belief in God is that it is simply yet another one of mans creations.Faith as I have stated on this web site on several forums is nothing more than voluntary ignorance.All religion is myth based on oral traditions and folktales that to this day continue to grow and propagate due to the lack of research on the part of those that choose to believe in them.There is a term ironically that I have heard other evangelists use regarding a christians non commital to his belief system.Because his parents brought him/her up in a certain religion or belief he feels obligated to continue in that belief although he does not fully accept it.Evangelists like to call this Ma and Pa's religion.

Interesting. I have observed this in my personal experience as an atheist with the few religious kids I grew up with. I didn't realize they had a name for it.

What you describe directly above, though, is the myth of religion. You earlier had some comments upon a post I wrote on the myth of the phallic pagan cross. Have you ever studied any of the other pagan influenced myths of Christendom? The immortal soul, trinity, hell, rapture, Easter and Christmas?

That last part about belief due to a psychiatric condition does have some merit in some instances.Religion for many of the so called faithful serves as a coping system.It is comforting to know that no matter how bad things may seem there is some invisible force in heaven that is by your side for comfort and guidance.Many fundamentalist Pentecostals such as myself in the past came to rely on that force almost completely.God gives his servants a sense of pupose in life that if they were to be stripped of their God those people would be a shell of their former selves.

But alas, that turned out not to be the case with you? I have noticed that often former believers use God in a negative but more dramatic and eventually dogmatic way of coping than they did in a positive way as believers. You seem like one of those, if I may be so bold, sir.