RE: What The Hell Do People Believe In If They Don't Believe In God?
May 27, 2014 at 1:13 pm
(This post was last modified: May 27, 2014 at 1:19 pm by Simon Moon.)
I use the definition of 'belief' as defined by cognitive scientists, 'the psychological state in which one accepts a proposition or premise to be true'.
That being said, there are good reasons to believe, and there are bad reasons to believe.
Bad reasons;
Emotional or wishful thinking, faith, raised to believe.
Good reasons;
Demonstrable evidence, reasoned argument, valid/sound logic.
I am willing to believe something (accept a premise to be true) if it is supported to by the above criteria. Without meeting the above criteria, I have no justification to believe.
On a side note, I'm not sure why so many atheists have a problem with the word 'believe'. As stated above, it is nothing more than accepting a premise or proposition to be true. Having a belief does not mean it is faith based, by default.
That being said, there are good reasons to believe, and there are bad reasons to believe.
Bad reasons;
Emotional or wishful thinking, faith, raised to believe.
Good reasons;
Demonstrable evidence, reasoned argument, valid/sound logic.
I am willing to believe something (accept a premise to be true) if it is supported to by the above criteria. Without meeting the above criteria, I have no justification to believe.
On a side note, I'm not sure why so many atheists have a problem with the word 'believe'. As stated above, it is nothing more than accepting a premise or proposition to be true. Having a belief does not mean it is faith based, by default.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
