Do you control what you believe?

[CapnAwesome]

I was reading another thread in this forum and someone was basically talking about a moment where they decided they were an atheist. It struck me as rather odd, I can't remember ever deciding that I didn't believe in God. I don't think it's something I can decide. It's the same with the frequent theist argument of pascal's wager. I can pretend to believe in God, I can go to church and do all that stuff, but I have no control over what I believe or do not believe. I simply do.

[Napoléon]

IMO you can't, but you can most definitely choose to be ignorant.

[Nine]

You can't choose what you believe but you can certainly challenge what you believe.

[Kayenneh]

It struck me as rather odd, I can't remember ever deciding that I didn't believe in God. I don't think it's something I can decide.

For me it wasn't as much deciding as it was coming to a conclusion. The process took many years, slowly stripping away all the absurdness that belief entitles. Once the process was over I was still the same, sans faith.

[Darkstar]

You can't directly, but you can often will yourelf to believe if you find the idea of god not existing to be too uncomfortable. You can't really choose your opinions, per se, as in your favorite color for instance, but you can 'choose' atheism by applying critical thinking to religion. Theists say we 'chose' to become atheists simply because we came to the conclusion that god doesn't exist. You can interfere with this discovery to a good extent by going .

[festive1]

I think we can change what we believe. It's not easy, for sure, one has to be motivated to change their beliefs, but it can be done.

[Brian37]

I didn't "decide" to be an atheist. I simply couldn't deny that the position of a god existing made no sense to me anymore.

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I think we can change what we believe. It's not easy, for sure, one has to be motivated to change their beliefs, but it can be done.

People switch positions on a variety of issues all the time. I switched having favorite NFL teams as a kid. I switched high schools. POliticians can and do swithch political parties.

But as far as god beliefI went from Catholic to "i dont know but deist" to " i dont know doubtfull" to "I dont know and I dont hold the position that a god exists"

That transition took me a decade.

[Something completely different]

Belief to me means creating a assumption on the bases of observation one took of his or her surroundings, without attempting to further analyse and questioning those assumtions by reviewing the factors with influenced the assumptions creation aswell as the factors wich created the circumstance\s or object\s one makes a assumption of. I do have a bunch of assumtions in my head. I do believe that the conservative catholic\greek orthodox influence in southern europe plays a importent role in the recent financial decline in those countries. But I dont take those for facts, aswell as I always underline my assumptions\beliefs to be assumtions\beliefs and generaly try to get from assuming something to knowing something through getting facts to eigther proove or disproove that assumption.
When one thinks magic underware will protect him from fire, without testing that by burning those clothes, that`s not a assumption nor belief to me, it`s just ignorance and stupidity and a hopless case of a individual, sunk in selfdenialism, wich holds his worldviews upright.
To but it like in the youtube vid "Atheist bitchslap". "Belief means thinking something is true without evidence, and I dont do that, because it is stupid."

So can I control my beliefs? Well I can certainly attempt to proove or disprove them in a honest way. And if your ready to do that, and if no; why, are the more importent questions.

[Reforged]

As far as I know I don't control anything. I'm a slave to my genetics and my experiences. My thoughts are merely the result of that combination and the acts that emerge from them emerge solely because of those factors. I have no more choice than any amoeba.
My core purposes are to consume, survive and reproduce. What I consume is besides the point but even if it weren't it is obviously dictated by the aforementioned factors.
What I believe is also besides the point. I will die. My beliefs or lack thereof are irrelevant as they influence nothing when compared to this simple fact. I will die, we all will die. My death may have some small meaning. I might jump in the path of the bullet to save a little girl. That meaning will likely be lost as all meaning is when it falls victim to the treachery of time and human memory. The only thing that will remain is my being dead.
Choice is an illusion. Eventually belief will cease to be a factor if humanity happens to survive much longer. Belief holds us back, it is conflicting with our interests. Tolerance for this burden is beginning to dwindle and this is especially evident in the new generation who would appear equally perplexed and frustrated by this nonsense. Their children will likely inherit this magnified and shed it altogether and if not their children then their children's children. Then it will be forgotten as is the way with all false, useless or redundant information.
Religion will eventually be a thing of the past, as will we. It is inevitable.

[shiver23]

I don't see my thought pattern regarding the existence of a God/gods as a decision, rather a concession. However, it is still a concious choice to leave behind any religious teachings/personal bias to accept the reality of science. Whether we be a science experiment or dust of the cosmos, we still make the decision to follow a set of rules. Whether they be beliefs or scientific facts. Humans need a structure. Some would argue we were created to be ruled.