Archbishop of Canterbury not sure that God exists

[Nom de ploom]

ABC...

not sure why i found that funny but I did. its friday.

My old flatmates girlfriend could say archbishop of canterbury when she belched. she was about 5' nothing but jaysus when she let rip....

factoid.

[Steffan]

kowalski655 said:

Well now he has started this train of thought,he just needs to think it though to the logical conclusion and tell his following that its all just a fairytale

I agree. However the Archbishop will take the money and enjoy the qudos inherent in his career. Which is very probably what gipave him the interest in the first place. The worlds religions contain a huge amount of sensible and wise advice within their teaching. However not onE religion has the answer in any way shape or form. All the world religions and religiious beliefs become self serving oligarchies much to the monetary good of the religious leaders.

I honestly think we have outgrown religion. In the words of St Paul "when I was a child .......". Religion has no answers and has become a self serving gravy tran. Why on earth anyone would follow such visibly dishonest nonsense I cannot imagine.

[pork911]

King Herald said:

Steffan said:

pork911 said:

Faith isn't about being sure.

Well unless you are sure it must be difficult to have faith. If you have no faith then how can you be sure?

Faith is for when you have no facts, no evidence.

Somewhat unfortunate that no religion ever has brought any facts or evidence to the table.

"That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence"

Edited by King Herald on Friday 19th September 01:09

Religions make a mistake when they attempt to invoke any facts or evidence.

Just as atheists make a mistake when they criticise theists for being unable to prove god.

[steveT350C]

A mate of mine married a Vicar's daughter. The Vicar did not believe in God, said it was a career choice.

Typing that has reminded me of a guy who used to come into my Local pub. He was training to be vicar, as a career choice. He said that a lot of the clergy did not 'believe'

[pork911]

Derek Smith said:

pork911 said:

Faith isn't about being sure.

However religions are. And therein lies the great tragedy. We need more people in the church admitting unbelief.

There is, of course, the sure and certain hope of resurrection.

Great play is made of faith, or belief regardless of facts. It is what gives support to homoeopathy. Faith is a human weakness. If you can't accept facts you have problems.

Religions are the problem.

Some faith lacking all certainty is required for all human existence, that's not just the preserve of theists.

(Not that it matters, but I have no religious Faith)

[ATG]

Steffan, have you any idea how little the clergy are paid? The idea that they are riding the gravy train is idiotic.

[Esseesse]

bad company said:

At least I know I don't believe in any God.

What is this God that you don't believe in? People say they believe/don't believe in God when I feel it's not really defined what God is. Perhaps with the right definition you do believe in God?

[CAPP0]

If we accept the premise that a man called Hay-zoos did indeed walk the earth 2014 years ago, and that he was identified for what he was by certain actions, then can anyone rationally explain to me why Dynamo is not the much-vaunted Second Coming?

- Born into an under-privileged background? Check
- A quiet, modest man? Check
- Bullied by his peers? Check
- Performs acts which the general populace cannot understand; you may even call them "miracles"? Check
- Builds up a massive following? Check
- Generates much love and affection amongst those followers? Check

and crucially:

- Can walk on water? You got it.

I sincerely hope that he doesn't square the circle by being strung up by some mad dictator whilst on his travels, but otherwise, spot the difference?

[ATG]

Religion is not about knowledge or certainty. It is about faith. Doubt is completely normal. It's not treated as a dirty little secret. I'm a little surprised this would be news to anyone. You'd have to be a blinkered nutcase or a bit dim to hold religious convictions without any doubt. And it should be pretty obvious to us atheists that there are plenty of intelligent, sane people who have religious faith.

[joe_90]

There is a difference between blind faith and faith, and faith enforced due to irrational fear.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Esseesse said:

bad company said:

At least I know I don't believe in any God.

What is this God that you don't believe in? People say they believe/don't believe in God when I feel it's not really defined what God is. Perhaps with the right definition you do believe in God?

If god involves any supernatural elements, then I don't believe in it. If god doesn't involve supernatural elements, then why call it god?

[XCP]

I don't even know 100% that I exist, much less that any god does. I presume the Archbishop feels the same.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

XCP said:

I don't even know 100% that I exist, much less that any god does. I presume the Archbishop feels the same.

I doubt the Archbishop has ever even contemplated the veracity of your existence.

[Bradgate]

This sort of ‘belief’ is not uncommon among Anglican theologians.

They consider themselves far too sophisticated and well educated to accept a simplistic ‘literalist’ view of the existence of a supernatural deity or an afterlife. They are a bit shaky on virgin births, miracles, resurrection and angels, too. They regard these ideas as metaphors or parables.

The poor old ordinary churchgoer could be forgiven for being somewhat confused about what exactly they are supposed to believe in.

Edited by Bradgate on Friday 19th September 15:39

[King Herald]

joe_90 said:

There is a difference between blind faith and faith, and faith enforced due to irrational fear.

And then there is 'believing' because you were told to, on a daily basis, every day of the week, and were threatened with violence and eternal misery if you didn't.

It should be treated as child cruelty, scaring, lieing too, and threatening youngsters, but it is not.

[MikeO996]

King Herald said:

joe_90 said:

There is a difference between blind faith and faith, and faith enforced due to irrational fear.

And then there is 'believing' because you were told to, on a daily basis, every day of the week, and were threatened with violence and eternal misery if you didn't.

It should be treated as child cruelty, scaring, lieing too, and threatening youngsters, but it is not.

Although brainwashing doesn't require any threats or cruelty, just a pervasive context. The distinction between e.g. "Catholic children" and "children of Catholic parents" is important to hold.

[anonymous-user]

Anglicans, eh? Belief in God optional. If you go to King's College chapel in Cambridge, the service booklet includes a description of Anglicanism written by some clever Divinity Don. IIRC, the word God does not appear in the text. Jesus is mentioned once as "a Jewish teacher and healer active in the early first century AD". Convictions, we don't got'em.

[Qwert1e]

Jasandjules said:

I am only surprised that intelligent people believe in a God.

Since you've got it all cracked, can you just let us know why there is a universe?

You see when push comes to shove there's only one question and it's rather a tricky one. Namely, why is there "anything" and not "nothing"?

[Rovinghawk]

XCP said:

I don't even know 100% that I exist.

Read some stuff by Descartes. Even though he's French, he makes sense.

[XCP]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I doubt the Archbishop has ever even contemplated the veracity of your existence.

He should do. He ( via his local diocese) is flogging me a house on Monday! Exchanging contracts last week was delayed as 'everyone in authority is with the Archbishop' to quote their brief!