"Don't take away people's hope"

[Shell B]

I mean if that makes you happy. If I believe that I should wipe my ass exactly seven times per shot or a wizard will eat me, it will never, ever affect you. I mean, that statement is completely false.

A person who has ticks and compulsions does effect the people they live with, but that’s largely an aside since religious beliefs....what we’re talking about, aren’t exactly ticks and compulsions.

So, sure, if we were talking about believing that you had to wipe your ass seven times, it wouldn’t be completely false, but false enough, I guess.  Since we aren’t, it isn’t.

-and you knew that, lol.

That is not a "tic." It's a belief.

You said there aren't ANY beliefs that don't affect others. Of course, we aren't talking about ass-wiping. We're talking about beliefs that don't affect others, of which there are literally countless numbers. My nieces believe in fairies. It has zero affect on anyone's life. My husband believes that The Shawshank Redemption is the best film ever made. It affects zero people. I've made my point using examples of beliefs. I don't know why I have to explain that, but there they are.

[Shell B]

Not really; just one question is enough to take every non-believer to square 1: "what the hell started the big bang?"

Ask a physicist. We're just atheists. Atheists don't automatically believe the Big Bang is the correct hypothesis. That said, I do. My understanding is something to do with pressure and a chemical reaction. I'm not that smart, so I'm not really sure.

So let's wait for death to knock our door then we will see who's right.

But we won't. More than likely, you'll just die and never even know you were wrong.

[Anomalocaris]

That’s because only those who are both stupid and delusional can possibly sink so low as to become a believer.

Not really; just one question is enough to take every non-believer to square 1: "what the hell started the big bang?"

We can rephrase the question by saying: "where the hell did the singularity originate from?".

Religion is a mere scenario. While each theist believing their scenario is more correct, a non-believer is just another person rejecting the scenarios provided by the religious.

In the end; neither you nor me have seen a thing. But both of us are taking one hell of a leap of faith.
I believe in a higher being; you don't.


So let's wait for death to knock our door then we will see who's right.

We don’t know what scenario is correct, but we have better basis to know what could be correct and yours ain’t it.

We are on square 1.   You are on nothing, just floating amidst the flatulences of Iron Age bullshitting hucksters

[WinterHold]

[The Grand Nudger]

It doesn’t take a leap of faith to say “I don’t know”.

I don’t know what made the univers happen, I don’t even know if the question is valid.

Why would that take me to square-1 as a non believer. Doesn’t have shit to do with gods.

---

A person who has ticks and compulsions does effect the people they live with, but that’s largely an aside since religious beliefs....what we’re talking about, aren’t exactly ticks and compulsions.

So, sure, if we were talking about believing that you had to wipe your ass seven times, it wouldn’t be completely false, but false enough, I guess.  Since we aren’t, it isn’t.

-and you knew that, lol.

That is not a "tic." It's a belief.

You said there aren't ANY beliefs that don't affect others. Of course, we aren't talking about ass-wiping. We're talking about beliefs that don't affect others, of which there are literally countless numbers. My nieces believe in fairies. It has zero affect on anyone's life. My husband believes that The Shawshank Redemption is the best film ever made. It affects zero people. I've made my point using examples of beliefs. I don't know why I have to explain that, but there they are.

I couldn’t possibly have been discussing religious belief in a discussion about religious belief.

Carry on.

[Shell B]

It doesn’t take a leap of faith to say “I don’t know”.

I don’t know what made the univers happen, I don’t even know if the question is valid.

Why would that take me to square-1 as a non believer.  Doesn’t have shit to do with gods.

---

That is not a "tic." It's a belief.

You said there aren't ANY beliefs that don't affect others. Of course, we aren't talking about ass-wiping. We're talking about beliefs that don't affect others, of which there are literally countless numbers. My nieces believe in fairies. It has zero affect on anyone's life. My husband believes that The Shawshank Redemption is the best film ever made. It affects zero people. I've made my point using examples of beliefs. I don't know why I have to explain that, but there they are.

I couldn’t possibly have been discussing religious belief in a discussion about religious belief.

Carry on.

Ugh, so religious beliefs that don't affect anyone else are still numerous.

[The Grand Nudger]

If you say so.

[Shell B]

I do, and I know it to be true. My suspicion is that you just don't like that it's true because it doesn't fit with your narrative that the effects of religion make people's beliefs your business, but not all of them are or should be.

[The Grand Nudger]

People’s beliefs are our business. There’s no necessity of politeness in describing reality.

I think that you might want to take this one up with the religious. They consider their beliefs to be foundational to how they see themselves and how they interact with others.

Religion is politics. Profoundly consequential.

I don’t distribute pamphlets or hit religious boards to de convert people. That’s not my business.

[Shell B]

Huh? People's beliefs are not your business. If they do something with that belief that has an impact on others, sure. Otherwise, a whole lot of nunya.