What is Your Approach?

[Locke]

In our present age, we have more information at our fingertips than we can find time to process. With so many signals thrown at us, we tend to latch on to the simplistic answers we find to complex questions in life. When we want to know something, a quick google search sometimes suffices in place of a thorough investigation - after all, with so much to know there's little time to investigate every matter. We find quick results on wikipedia and turn around to spit out opinionated views on every subject. Rather than fleshing out the truth of a matter, we can decide what we think about something and then pull up the evidence that supports our claim.
If we really want to find answers to the questions we have, or find direction in our lives, can we really look it up on the Web? How do we know the person who wrote a wikipedia article has a better answer to the existence of God than we do? If God is just a projection of our psyche, then we can find every answer we need by asking google. In that case God wouldn't be worth seeking in the first place.

However, considering the possibility of whether or not God is real and existent outside of our psyche, the only way to derive the answer is through a more thorough search. Confronting the issue from an impatient angle can form a fruitless cycle. On the other hand, anyone willing to pay attention, consider and weigh all possibilities, will find answers.

But before we begin such an endeavor, we must honestly ask ourselves whether we are approaching the task with a determination to justify our opinions, negate another's stance, or discover the truth.

[Rahul]

I deconverted from religion just by critically examining those beliefs and seeing if it made sense. This happened before I was very much into the internet. And I never looked up religious things online before I became an atheist.

[Captain Colostomy]

You have a point to discuss here?

Wikipedia doesn't confer sham status on god for me. Evidence, and/or lack thereof, does.

Atheists tend to have a better grasp on religion than theists precisely because they investigate with an open mind.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

Yes. Because all atheists became atheists by typing in "does god exists?" and hitting the "I'm feeling lucky" button.

[Crossless2.0]

Wikipedia is never my go-to source for anything that I think is (or might be) important or of great interest to me. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer books and articles in reputable journals for my information.

That said, Wikipedia or a quick search online is perfectly justifiable if the subject is relatively unimportant to me or if I want a quick refresher on, for instance, why believers' claims that multiple sources outside the Bible attest to Jesus's existence are ill-founded (after all, I don't wander around with a portable atheist's library tucked under my arm).

It's just a question of using the right tool for the job.

You seem to suggest that people here have simply adopted a team (e.g., atheists) and surf the web to cherry pick material that supports their views. That may be true of some, but I think you'll find that a majority of non-believers who take the trouble to post on forums such as this have done their homework and very often understand the relevant literature much better than their counterparts.

[Whateverist]

However, considering the possibility of whether or not God is real and existent outside of our psyche, the only way to derive the answer is through a more thorough search.

...

But before we begin such an endeavor, we must honestly ask ourselves whether we are approaching the task with a determination to justify our opinions, negate another's stance, or discover the truth.

I have no problem with your belief in God. Please do carry on believing what you will, and I mean no disrespect to you for what you believe. But I think in asking the question -whether you are seeking the truth about God, looking to confirm your beliefs or looking to negate another's- you have to admit you are already prejudicing the question to the degree that you admit the bible as an authoritative source above others.

We all very naturally look to confirm what we already believe. It is wired into us and happens pre-consciously through no effort of our own. Now recognizing this I for one am not of the opinion we should butcher any beliefs which science can't vouchsafe. I think there is much more to what we are than our conscious minds and I wouldn't want to relegate that much responsibility or authority to just the part of me I can hold in my conscious attention. I have no good reason to assume that just the part of me under my narrow control is superior to the totality of myself.

Of course if you seriously want to pursue beliefs in gods and such as you would an inquiry into the natural world, then you have to discipline yourself to avoid bias to the greatest extent possible and open yourself to critique from those similarly engaged. I personally wouldn't seek to do this because I don't think that what gives rise to belief in gods is out there in the world to be studied. I think it is to be found in the architecture of how our meat brains give rise to consciousness, and science is very far from closing in on that understanding.

Since I believe all such beliefs arise in our brains I think they have only phenomenological existence there but no where else in the world. Since we have and are our brains, we are certainly entitled to honor the gods we produce at least as much as the 'self' which our brain also produces. You might say gods and selves are on a similar footing, except one is "I" and the other is, well, other. But both arise and exist in a similar way - whatever that may be.

[Nine]

Who's we?

[JesusHChrist]

To the OP, why don't you start by making what you think is a good/best argument for the existence of your god and go from there.

Many have tried and failed, but good luck nonetheless!

The believer is the one with the position to prove, not the scum-sucking, hell-bound atheist.

[pineapplebunnybounce]

Internet played no part whatsoever in my deconversion. I didn't even pay attention to the word "atheist" until last year, in fact, I didn't even know about any of the god arguments until last year, and I deconverted 3 years ago.

[downbeatplumb]

I wasn't deconverted, I never believed.