'Bad reasons' to believe in God

[Edwardo Piet]

So-called bad reasons lol. I don't think there's ANY good reasons. They're all bad. Sorry theists. That's what I think.
Basically I am going to think of reasons to believe in God here. Because I don't think there are really any good reasons. I'll try and list particularly repugnant ones because of the problems they cause. And because of how amusing they are. And how pathetic.
Lets see just how many we can all get through. I'll start with 3, any of us can give any.
1. "Because it says in my holy book that God exists. God says it himself. You gotta believe God about his own existence."
2. "Because you cannot disprove God. And I wouldn't want to live in a universe without God anyway."
3. Pascals Wager.

And yes any believers are more than welcome to give what they think are their own good reasons. Or even defend any ones that I give. Anyone's welcome to give what they think are good reasons. Because I think they are all bad. Because I have never ever ever heard a - or heard OF a - good one.

[bozo]

So-called bad reasons lol. I don't think there's ANY good reasons. They're all bad. Sorry theists. That's what I think.
Basically I am going to think of reasons to believe in God here. Because I don't think there are really any good reasons. I'll try and list particularly repugnant ones because of the problems they cause. And because of how amusing they are. And how pathetic.
Lets see just how many we can all get through. I'll start with 3, any of us can give any.
1. "Because it says in my holy book that God exists. God says it himself. You gotta believe God about his own existence."
2. "Because you cannot disprove God. And I wouldn't want to live in a universe without God anyway."
3. Pascals Wager.

And yes any believers are more than welcome to give what they think are their own good reasons. Or even defend any ones that I give. Anyone's welcome to give what they think are good reasons. Because I think they are all bad. Because I have never ever ever heard a - or heard OF a - good one.

Humming along to Rod Stewart as I type, here goes:
1. I'm lazy, bone idle, haven't got an original idea in me. Pretty vacant.
Questions? can't be bothered. God's everywhere, school, churches, courts. Royals and politicians are big fans. The military loves god, especially when the grim reaper's around. Stupid not to believe really.
2. Hymns! How could anybody not be inspired? And all that fancy dress when you go to church! Marvellous. How could we cope without all that bowing and scraping and worship? I pity those heathens!
3. Insurance, swear by it!

[Edwardo Piet]

(Someone actually gave me this 1st one once). 1. SATAN is proof of God. There MUST be an opposite. Just as good cannot exist without evil. Evil cannot exist without good. So if there is infinite evil there must be infinite good. So the sick and twisted evil Satan proves the existence of a divine and just, GOOD God.
2. Just look at the world its so BEAUTIFUL God must exist.
3. Just look at the world. Its so RANCID. So much pain and suffering goes on. Its horrific. This proves the existence of SATAN and then that proves the existence of the one true divine and good God. Because if there's infinite evil there must be infinite good.

Oh and btw, you better not even doubt Satan's existence! Lol.

[Jason Jarred]

1. OPRAH is proof of God. There MUST be an opposite. Just as good cannot exist without evil. Evil cannot exist without good. So if there is infinite evil there must be infinite good. So the sick and twisted evil Oprah proves the existence of a divine and just, GOOD God.
2. Just look at the world its so BEAUTIFUL God must exist.
3. Just look at the world. Its so RANCID. So much pain and suffering goes on. Its horrific. This proves the existence of OPRAH and then that proves the existence of the one true divine and good God. Because if there's infinite evil there must be infinite good.

Actually I like Pascal's Wager, always tickles my pleasure.

[Edwardo Piet]

1. OPRAH is proof of God. There MUST be an opposite. Just as good cannot exist without evil. Evil cannot exist without good. So if there is infinite evil there must be infinite good. So the sick and twisted evil Oprah proves the existence of a divine and just, GOOD God.
2. Just look at the world its so BEAUTIFUL God must exist.
3. Just look at the world. Its so RANCID. So much pain and suffering goes on. Its horrific. This proves the existence of OPRAH and then that proves the existence of the one true divine and good God. Because if there's infinite evil there must be infinite good.

Actually I like Pascal's Wager, always tickles my pleasure.

Its funny yes. Its pathetic yes. Its amusing yes. Its stupid...yes.
But its still a 'bad reason to believe in God'. its extremely pathetic. Because wagering, betting. Isn't actually belief. LMFAO! Faking belief is not belief. Pretending to believe in God. Is NOT believing in God. Belief is not a matter of policy

[Kyuuketsuki]

Its funny yes. Its pathetic yes. Its amusing yes. Its stupid...yes.
But its still a 'bad reason to believe in God'. its extremely pathetic. Because wagering, betting. Isn't actually belief. LMFAO! Faking belief is not belief. Pretending to believe in God. Is NOT believing in God. Belief is not a matter of policy

I wouldn't say Pascal's Wager was specifically bad reasoning, it's just bad reasoning for us ... what I mean by that is that it depends on what you value most from life. In essence Pascal's Wager is an insurance policy, it seems to say what have you got to lose by believing, and that could be true if you're not the kind of person that tries to use their mental faculties a great deal, it might actually make no difference to you so hell yeah, why not hedge your bets? If however, you value your freedom to think then the wager is not good because believing in something without evidence, without good reason effectively imprisons your mind in a cage. There are smart theists out there (yes they really exist despite being minus a few rational brain cells)that don't consider their minds imprisoned and I presume that is because they've bought into the idea but I haven't and I would so the wager doesn't work for me at all.

Kyu

[Edwardo Piet]

Its funny yes. Its pathetic yes. Its amusing yes. Its stupid...yes.
But its still a 'bad reason to believe in God'. its extremely pathetic. Because wagering, betting. Isn't actually belief. LMFAO! Faking belief is not belief. Pretending to believe in God. Is NOT believing in God. Belief is not a matter of policy

I wouldn't say Pascal's Wager was specifically bad reasoning, it's just bad reasoning for us ... what I mean by that is that it depends on what you value most from life. In essence Pascal's Wager is an insurance policy, it seems to say what have you got to lose by believing, and that could be true if you're not the kind of person that tries to use their mental faculties a great deal, it might actually make no difference to you so hell yeah, why not hedge your bets? If however, you value your freedom to think then the wager is not good because believing in something without evidence, without good reason effectively imprisons your mind in a cage. There are smart theists out there (yes they really exist despite being minus a few rational brain cells)that don't consider their minds imprisoned and I presume that is because they've bought into the idea but I haven't and I would so the wager doesn't work for me at all.

Kyu

Well I say its not bad reasoning to them obviously. Otherwise they wouldn't do it. And it IS bad reasoning to us. But that doesn't mean that it isn't just bad reasoning.
Because even IF all you care about is fear and desire it fails completely anyway. If you actually believe that faking belief is belief and your God would be any better than any other.
So I'd say its definitely bad reasoning. Whether they think it is or not. If the other reasons I gave are bad despite the fact the person saying it wouldn't think so. Same goes for this. I think its VERY bad reasoning.
Yes lots of people fall for it. But its stupid narrow-minded biased thinking. I'd say that its very bad reasoning. Belief is not a matter of policy. Faking belief is NOT belief! Its amazing that so many people don't know that! And why on earth would betting on what god, if all your doing is betting. Be any better than betting on an OTHER God that is about eternal punishment and reward. Why choose "God" when Allah could be God? Why choose Allah when "God" could be God?
Its extremely bad reasoning as far as I'm concerned. Whether narrow minded people consider it to be or not. Hey some people could consider ANYTHING they want to be good reasoning.
I say that completely faking your belief=Sincere belief.
Is like 2+1=4.
I don't care how many people think fake belief thought over and over again to your self=sincere belief. Thats delusional. And extremely bad reason to believe in God. Even if you DO think that risk/reward is all that matters and you don't care about the actual truth of it.
If God wants belief! That doesn't mean faking belief and pretending to believe what you DON'T!
If you already believe in him however, why do you need the wager? There's no point in the wager either way. If you believe in him you don't need it. If you don't believe in him you're only FAKING belief so its not what God is supposed to want anyway!
What could be MORE pathetic and that? Letting the fact so many narrow-minded people who don't understand but into it.
Its not just a bad reason for US. Its a bad reason for ANYONE. You shouldn't fake belief just for a risk/reward reason that doesn't work. And actually think its just as good as sincere belief.
In the bible does God ever say: "Pretend to believe in me and you shall be considered to be genuinely believed. In fact maybe I - despite all my supreme intelligence - won't know the difference. In fact you can trick me this way and I the almighty God will think you are REALLY believing me when you're just faking it".
No. God says he knows when people are believing or not. He says belief. Not pretend belief.
If God thinks that faking belief will do, then he's perfectly happy for atheists to pretend to believe and not actually believe. He's actually happy with that. That will do.
Where did they get the IDEA that FAKE belief=belief? That betting on what you don't actually believe in just for risk/reward= BELIEF? Thats an insane reason. Insanely bad thinking as far as I'm concerned.

[Purple Rabbit]

There are neither good nor bad reasons to believe in god imo, simply because the adjectives bad and good indicate a normative assessment of reasons, where reasoning itself is non-normative. The two should not be mixed. It is therefore more appropriate to discern valid or sound reasoning on the one hand (i.e. that the reasoning itself is logically valid or sound), and morally justifiable on the other. Believing in god imho ultimately has nothing to do with valid reasoning at all, but with accepting as true even when evidence lacks. So, in the end believing constitutes more of an emotional than a rational decision process. In other words, believing in god is non-rational but can serve a purpose in harnassing a range of emotions on both the individual and community level.

- fear for the unknown
- fear of death
- fear of authority
- emotional bonding to parents
- mourning
- fear of community disruption
- ...

Though on the whole the 'net result' of believing imo is negative, some of these may even be morally justifiable in certain contexts. For instance when parents loose a child, the pain can be unbearable but faith can supply some support and reconciliation. Can someone point out to me why that should be a bad thing?

[CoxRox]

Purple Rabbit, welcome to the forum. You make some very logical and interesting points. I can see I will enjoy your contributions. Your last point is interesting and may explain why so many people believe in God without any evidence.

[lukec]

I agree, I definitely think pain and loss is one of the major reasons people turn to religion. It must certainly help, for example, to think that the lost are in a "better place." As for if that's a bad thing? I don't think it is, if it helps people through a situation. You could equally well appeal to an imaginary friend to help you through your tough time, but of course that would be silly.