belief

What would have to be different for you to stop believing in God? This question is directed at theists, who do believe in God. I'm looking for first-person answers. Hardly any theists here, I know. Let's also include one-time theists here, people who at one time did believe in God. If...

Oh where to start oh where.... Other than that the statements are belied thoroughly by what the New Tall tales actually say Jesus said about hating one's own kin an kith to be worthy of the cult leader.... and other than that history definitively rives to smithereens the assertions with...

Creeping rationality creeps along. Give it another couple of decades? No wonder the American Christian Right is worried. From -- fewer Americans believe the Bible is the “literal word of God” now than they’ve ever recorded, 20 percent. A record high of 29 percent say it’s a book of fables...

This is not about the god debate, it is about the respect debate. It's a given we should be polite and respectful regarding peoples' god beliefs (and whatever else one believes without evidence.) So Dr Plait's concern we not be dicks isn't the point I want to get at. But is there really some...

I was wondering what the scientific consensus is regarding religious faith. Example: Is it true that speaking in tongues mirrors that of a schizophrenic on a brain scan? What about faith in general? -complexcontext

Why do theists and deists think that belief in god is a virtue? I have discussed this with some family members who still believe, but haven't received an adequate answer. This forum may not be the best place to ask this question. It appears that most members are atheists or agnostics. But there...

I have often heard this "argument" that science is something that we just chose to believe; and it's just as much of a faith as religion. I'm sure you've heard it too. How do you deal with it? I get so annoyed at that "argument" that I usually get rude and sarcastic. But I wanted to know how I...

Now here's something interesting from the always intriguing field of neurology: http://www.newsweek.com/id/216551?from=rss This could be the reason as to why you will never (well, at least rarely) convince a purveyor of woo that they are wrong. As many of us are aware, these people are "true...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5603096/Two-thirds-of-teenagers-dont-believe-in-God.html Some rational thinking, if we can believe the survey.

The following is a response to a letter from someone who asked Bishop John Shelby Spong who he prayed to.: I suppose that it is almost universal for human beings, who have the ability to embrace the vastness of the universe and to ask questions about life's meaning, to yearn for a protective...

Time and again here I hear people coming up with the old 'Atheism is simply a lack of belief in God(s)' definition. In the thread entitled 'Percentage of atheists should be higher today than ever?' it's doing the rounds again. Putting aside the ridiculous consequence that this makes bricks...

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/1002/2 As a logical continuation, people who are in bad times seek a "higher" explanation, thus leading them to woo. I think this is something already known and exploited by religion, but it's nice to see that science backs it up.

We've discussed something kinda like this here before...the way that people will say that anything good is because of their god. This typically happens when there's a disaster and someone is hurt but not killed. "God was looking out for them." Oh, really? Why did their god fling them across...

Some of you know I have been an advocate for addressing the underlying causes of people's false beliefs and not to only address the false information they believe. Here is a brief comment from Shermer published in SciAm that adds to our knowledge base on the function of the brain that...

Howdy all, I'm going to give this a second shot, seeing as how the first thread got derailed so quickly. I've noticed a lot of wrangling back and forth on various topics on these threads, but I wanted to pose a question specifically to the religious members of the Forum. Please note that...

Howdy all, I've noticed a lot of wrangling back and forth on various topics on these threads, but I wanted to pose a question specifically to the religious members of the Forum. Please note that, though I'm an atheist, I am not starting this thread with the intent to be smarmy or a jerk...

I haven't posted in a while as I try to make each one count. I hope everyone will enjoy this. Some may remember that I have been having an ongoing debate/exchange with my Christian fundamentalist brother over evolution, intelligent design and god. When I feel I have something worth posting from...

Do you have to understand something in order to believe it? What is an example for you?

I mean, what the hell? Once you settle on God or Zeus or Chac or Bigfoot or whatever, where do you go from there? What have you accomplished? What can you learn further? What have you explained? Seems to me you're just praying to the ceiling to bless and keep you.

I mean, what the hell? Once you settle on God or Zeus or Chac or Bigfoot or whatever, where do you go from there? What have you accomplished? What can you learn further? What have you explained? Seems to me you're just praying to the ceiling to bless and keep you.

Practically everybody here comes from an Abrahamic society, i.e., we all think like Jews, Christians, or Moslems. We focus on a male deity, specifically one descended from a Bronze Age Semitic sky-god. You may believe in the guy or disbelieve in him, but you sure as hell think of him as a god...

For those who consider themselves Athiests or Agnostics, I'm genuinely curious and hoping for serious answers. There are probably a couple ways to phrase this question: If you believed in God what would God be like and why? or If you wished there was a God what would God be like and why?

I went to church this weekend, at a place called the Church in Baton Rouge. Apparently, this is the "real" church. It was a group of ~40 people altogether. I have reproduced the experience here. I apologize for the length of this post, but I feel that this is instructive in the fact that...

I had the privilege of attending Jeff Wagg's presentation of the Million Dollar Challenge at Dragoncon 2007. Several questions from the audience focused on what an individual can do when friends, acquaintances or co-workers endorse irrational notions. Generally, these people lacked the...

Has anyone read this book: The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World It looks interesting.

I'm gonna try running one. Measures include: The Wonderlic (12 minute paper and pencil IQ test). Tests of basic cognition (reaction time and inspection time) Overclaiming (a signal detection based measure of familiarity with general world knowledge; correlates pretty nicely with IQ). Surveys...

While reading "about Jesus", I thought I'd share this obvious trail of thought and worry about the slagging-off later! After all 'free speech' is KING, is it not? So please don't get all heated up and over react! And if this causes offence, then I think the idea of god per-se causes Me personal...

maybe a christian can enlighten me or us(who/what ever you think you might be) with this question. It is said that... God sent his only son to Earth. So... does that mean. He already gave birth to Jesus in his heaven then sent Jesus into mary's womb. or did Jesus become God's son when God...

when the world was born. there was termoil and kaos... and on the top of a tall mountain was a stone from this stone came... the stone monkey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! monkey magic~ monkey mgic~ in the beginging the voice said... let there be light... so on and stuff... clay was used to make man...

In 1998 John Stossel hosted a ABC News Special titled The Power of Belief. It features Shermer and Randi debunking various claims: channeling, fire-walking, therapeutic touch, curses, and some others. Thankfully, ABC News posted part of it online...