Do you wish there's a god?

[Belacqua]

They weren't able to have that discussion. And it wasn't their rationality that was preventing them from having that discussion. There were irrational factors that were preventing them from having that discussion.

This is really interesting. I hadn't thought of things this way before.

Especially among the atheists who are adamant that their non-belief is not a reasoned conclusion based on analysis -- if it isn't the result of reasoning, it would pretty much have to come out of subconscious reasons, including, most likely, what they want. 

It's certainly consistent with the behavior around here. Emotional attacks are more frequent than reasoned disputes.

[Acrobat]

I think it's interesting that atheists here indicate they don't want God to exist, that they prefer there be no God.  I would say such a desire plays a significant role in why they don't believe. Creates a barrier to prevent belief.

Cool, so all I have to do is to develop a want for a god...and then be born in the right country, of course.
Let's not forget that many atheists here were believers at one time.

If you wanted to believe in God, then I think you'd very likely find yourself believing in God at some point, regardless of what country or place you were born into. Perhaps all those atheist who become theists fall into that bucket. 

Our desires shape our conceptions of reality, form our biases, the parameters of what we consider, and the rules that dictate our beliefs.

[Succubus]

...Sometimes it seems as if people formed a view of the Christian God when they were about 12 years old, decided it was bad, and stopped believing. It doesn't occur to them that a 12-year-old might not have the most well-informed judgment...

At twelve years old, probably not. So why do this to four year olds?

[LadyForCamus]

I thought we were uninteresting, and you weren’t going to waste anymore time on this “rotting pile of insanity”?

[possibletarian]

When the sun rises over the good and the bad
and the rain pours on the righteous as well as the wicked,
wouldn't you wish there's a god?

Besides all ideas about the creator being a wicked psychopath

wouldn't you wish for a loving god?

.

Define what a loving god would look like perhaps ?

---

I think you'll see from the replies that people here focus their not-belief on a very specific image of God. Basically a naive literalist reading of the early Old Testament. 

Though people are adamant that their not-belief extends to all the different images of God people have believed in, this is the one that they talk about. What William Blake called Nobodaddy. It doesn't matter that no theologian has ever agreed with that view.

 

So how do you go about deciding what is real or not meant to be taken as real ?

And how do you think theologians go about deciding the same question ?

[pocaracas]

When the sun rises over the good and the bad
and the rain pours on the righteous as well as the wicked,
wouldn't you wish there's a god?

If there's a god, there's a god.
If there isn't a god, there isn't a god.

I wish to know which of those cases is the one that best describes reality, if any.

Thus far, humanity's best tool to ascertain reality seems to be science and no god has been found, using this tool... so I don't expect any to come forth anytime soon. As such, I might as well live my life as if there's no god at all, as this seems to be the most honest position, regardless of personal preference either way.

Besides all ideas about the creator being a wicked psychopath

wouldn't you wish for a loving god?

Sure... if there is to be a god, might as well be one that won't decide to destroy me and my loved ones on a whim.

[Angrboda]

Depends upon the specifics. I was a faithful devotee of Kali for many years and would not be upset if she actually existed. You need to be more specific. Very few religions would not describe their gods as loving, and so it's not at all clear what you are asking. Is there some possible god that I would wish existed? Of course! Would the attributes of said god include that he/she/it was loving? Maybe.

[Nay_Sayer]

I don't have to wish, I already know. I wish you could know too.

Bless. RAmen

[The Grand Nudger]

The popularity of the fantasy genre strongly suggests that any notion that people who don't believe are being guided by some desire for the world to be bereft of magical beasties is wrong on it's face.  We escape our day to day grinds by diving into worlds chock full of them.  

That's always been a thing, and it's always been contributing to religious narratives.....but what you're likely to get here is people cutting right through the nonsense of loaded questions and assumptions and fantasy dreamlands and thinking..."man, if the world really was full of these characters...would it actually be all that great?"  Well, by reference to the stories themselves, probably not.  On the one hand the notion of a world full of carnivorous shapeshifters is cool...but I wouldn't want to have to barricade my house to keep them from eating my kids.  Similarly, the loving gods™ of the questions construction appear to be in the business of doling out alot of stuff that doesn't immediately strike a person as loving...and it's not as if love can't go wrong.  If the world contained a god that deeply loved me, but I wasn't interested..for example..it would be a world that contained an immensely powerful stalker.

[Gwaithmir]

No. I find the whole god concept to be primitive, irrational and ridiculous.