Question for Religious People
Discussion
Genuine question for those of you who are religious on here.
People always say to Aetheists, “What would it take for you to believe in God”?
9/10 the answer is always something like, God appearing out of the Sky right now and explaining everything (Christianity) or something similar.
As a religious person, what would it take for you to no longer be a believer?
For example, if we invented time travel and travelled back to key dates in religious scripts and proved it was completely falsified, would that be enough? Or what if we could resurrect the dead and ask them questions?
People always say to Aetheists, “What would it take for you to believe in God”?
9/10 the answer is always something like, God appearing out of the Sky right now and explaining everything (Christianity) or something similar.
As a religious person, what would it take for you to no longer be a believer?
For example, if we invented time travel and travelled back to key dates in religious scripts and proved it was completely falsified, would that be enough? Or what if we could resurrect the dead and ask them questions?
Plate spinner said:
The religious people I know are not interested in facts or proof - nothing would make them non believer
They want to believe (conditioned to it from birth or need something), so they do. That's all there is to it.
To somebody who doesn't believe, it makes no sense at all.
A sceptic is waiting for something tangible, as in God turning up and sitting on their face. Once the tangibility is in the bag then off they go.
A religious person is already away with the fairies so I really don't know what would talk them out of it, apart from God turning up and ordering them not to believe any more.
A religious person is already away with the fairies so I really don't know what would talk them out of it, apart from God turning up and ordering them not to believe any more.
Religion allows people to not have to think critically or for themselves. Their answer is already written in a religious text or it is the will of their chosen deity.
It also absolves them of feeling bad or guilty because their 'religion' justifies it or dictates they behave or act a certain way, even to the detriment of others.
Religion is a scourge and holding back society in myriad ways.
It also absolves them of feeling bad or guilty because their 'religion' justifies it or dictates they behave or act a certain way, even to the detriment of others.
Religion is a scourge and holding back society in myriad ways.
J2daG1990 said:
Genuine question for those of you who are religious on here.
People always say to Aetheists, “What would it take for you to believe in God”?
9/10 the answer is always something like, God appearing out of the Sky right now and explaining everything (Christianity) or something similar.
As a religious person, what would it take for you to no longer be a believer?
For example, if we invented time travel and travelled back to key dates in religious scripts and proved it was completely falsified, would that be enough? Or what if we could resurrect the dead and ask them questions?
Irrefutable proof or evidence.People always say to Aetheists, “What would it take for you to believe in God”?
9/10 the answer is always something like, God appearing out of the Sky right now and explaining everything (Christianity) or something similar.
As a religious person, what would it take for you to no longer be a believer?
For example, if we invented time travel and travelled back to key dates in religious scripts and proved it was completely falsified, would that be enough? Or what if we could resurrect the dead and ask them questions?
This subject of religion comes up with much tedious regularity, I think the people who poo poo it just don't understand what it's about for a lot of people.
Most folk like to be part of a group, it's human nature. But wait, get this, you don't actually have to fly the flag for whatever central subject the group is based upon, you can have a healthy, passing or mild interest, maybe very little or none at all yet still be part of it to gain from it.
Does everyone who turns up at car meets talk incessantly about cars, worship them and know everything about them? IIRC there was a thread on here last year about someone wanting to get rid of a (obnoxious sounding) woman from their car group and it sounded like she had no or very little interest in cars yet she was there. It was just a group she wanted to be part of and latched onto for whatever it gave her.
There are many people on PH who never talk about cars at all, they just want to be part of this group. It's somewhere to go and talk about every thing but cars.
Religion is often exactly the same, it's a group where they join up for what it gives them, the belief in God or whatever comes way down the list of other things they get out of it. Once in the group you go to the meetings, talk about things anyone else does and you need a trusted tradesman or whatever? No problem, Bob over there is a plumber, he'll sort you out. Sue over there knows a sparky who's good, he'll do the job. Fancy a bun? Sheilas pregnant did you know?
It's just a group where people can be amongst others with some mutual trust.
Most folk like to be part of a group, it's human nature. But wait, get this, you don't actually have to fly the flag for whatever central subject the group is based upon, you can have a healthy, passing or mild interest, maybe very little or none at all yet still be part of it to gain from it.
Does everyone who turns up at car meets talk incessantly about cars, worship them and know everything about them? IIRC there was a thread on here last year about someone wanting to get rid of a (obnoxious sounding) woman from their car group and it sounded like she had no or very little interest in cars yet she was there. It was just a group she wanted to be part of and latched onto for whatever it gave her.
There are many people on PH who never talk about cars at all, they just want to be part of this group. It's somewhere to go and talk about every thing but cars.
Religion is often exactly the same, it's a group where they join up for what it gives them, the belief in God or whatever comes way down the list of other things they get out of it. Once in the group you go to the meetings, talk about things anyone else does and you need a trusted tradesman or whatever? No problem, Bob over there is a plumber, he'll sort you out. Sue over there knows a sparky who's good, he'll do the job. Fancy a bun? Sheilas pregnant did you know?
It's just a group where people can be amongst others with some mutual trust.
I would separate religion from God in that religion is a man-made construct based on tales of dubious veracity and with political purpose. God may or may not be a reality but is separate from religion even though He is used as a power with which to control the gullible by the practitioners thereof. One may believe in a Supreme Being (aka God) but not subscribe to no any particular religious regime. I would classify myself as agnostic and very sceptical of the major world religions. Brought up in a family of lapsed Salvation Army members I was infused with a moral code born out of the SA beliefs unstated. The unbelievable complexity and beauty of the world seems not to have credibly come into being accidentally (and carries many co-existing unanswered questions) which raises the (perhaps lazy) thought that perhaps there is/was a deity which might not necessarily be entirely benign. Some ethereal lab worker who set a cosmic experiment running and went away to make tea or lunch perhaps. The amount of time that evolution from a big bang would need isn't easily swallowed, but then a century to a mayfly isn't either. I'm sure I've conveyed something of my dilemma.
All the paraphernalia of the religions makes me smile occasionally. Where did they get the idea that setting fire to lumps of perfumed resin has any foundation in God's existence as a random example. No, religion is a mechanism devised by clever people to stultify and control the dimmer members of the populace. The oft-quoted Opiate of the People.
Some religions are so far from the point that instead of appreciating a fine wine, they worship the bottle, the label, and even the bloody cork instead of the contents! I remain uncertain...
All the paraphernalia of the religions makes me smile occasionally. Where did they get the idea that setting fire to lumps of perfumed resin has any foundation in God's existence as a random example. No, religion is a mechanism devised by clever people to stultify and control the dimmer members of the populace. The oft-quoted Opiate of the People.
Some religions are so far from the point that instead of appreciating a fine wine, they worship the bottle, the label, and even the bloody cork instead of the contents! I remain uncertain...
227bhp said:
This subject of religion comes up with much tedious regularity, I think the people who poo poo it just don't understand what it's about for a lot of people.
Most folk like to be part of a group, it's human nature. But wait, get this, you don't actually have to fly the flag for whatever central subject the group is based upon, you can have a healthy, passing or mild interest, maybe very little or none at all yet still be part of it to gain from it.
Does everyone who turns up at car meets talk incessantly about cars, worship them and know everything about them? IIRC there was a thread on here last year about someone wanting to get rid of a (obnoxious sounding) woman from their car group and it sounded like she had no or very little interest in cars yet she was there. It was just a group she wanted to be part of and latched onto for whatever it gave her.
There are many people on PH who never talk about cars at all, they just want to be part of this group. It's somewhere to go and talk about every thing but cars.
Religion is often exactly the same, it's a group where they join up for what it gives them, the belief in God or whatever comes way down the list of other things they get out of it. Once in the group you go to the meetings, talk about things anyone else does and you need a trusted tradesman or whatever? No problem, Bob over there is a plumber, he'll sort you out. Sue over there knows a sparky who's good, he'll do the job. Fancy a bun? Sheilas pregnant did you know?
It's just a group where people can be amongst others with some mutual trust.
Heresy!!!!Most folk like to be part of a group, it's human nature. But wait, get this, you don't actually have to fly the flag for whatever central subject the group is based upon, you can have a healthy, passing or mild interest, maybe very little or none at all yet still be part of it to gain from it.
Does everyone who turns up at car meets talk incessantly about cars, worship them and know everything about them? IIRC there was a thread on here last year about someone wanting to get rid of a (obnoxious sounding) woman from their car group and it sounded like she had no or very little interest in cars yet she was there. It was just a group she wanted to be part of and latched onto for whatever it gave her.
There are many people on PH who never talk about cars at all, they just want to be part of this group. It's somewhere to go and talk about every thing but cars.
Religion is often exactly the same, it's a group where they join up for what it gives them, the belief in God or whatever comes way down the list of other things they get out of it. Once in the group you go to the meetings, talk about things anyone else does and you need a trusted tradesman or whatever? No problem, Bob over there is a plumber, he'll sort you out. Sue over there knows a sparky who's good, he'll do the job. Fancy a bun? Sheilas pregnant did you know?
It's just a group where people can be amongst others with some mutual trust.
I suspect that many cultural religious followers are like this, but many are not.
The religious "worship" services seem very odd to somebody who is out of the loop when they (I) attend the occasional baptism, wedding or funeral, especially RC ones (although protestant ones fairly strange too), having been brought up a Methodist.
I prefer not having to attend every sunday
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