theism

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...

Agnosticism = Gateway Drug to Self-Righteous Secular-Theism Agnosticism is an egregious delusion... it is a gateway drug to the self-righteousness drug of secular-theism. In 2023, no sane rational educated functioning human can conscientiously maintain belief in the biblical turpitude. So...

This thread's about a defense of theism/deism, that might include, apart from more general objective reasons, subjective reasons as well. Since personal subjective ideas might be discussed here, I'll request other posters to be considerate/respectful in how they present any criticism they might...

The therapist in the below cited article believes that if you don't believe in God or heaven you should lie to your kids (about God) to promote better mental health. From an article in the Christian Post by Leonardo Blair "...I am often asked by parents, ‘How do I talk to my child about death...

Hi all, My name is Jeff Bradt. My parents raised me Catholic from infancy, until at age 12 I told my mother there was no god and that I was an atheist. From ages 26 to 38, I belonged to a non-denominational Christian church, and then I went back to atheism in 2008, journeying through...

Theists often defend their god beliefs by attacking science with silly comments like - “Science doesn’t know everything, Science isn’t always right, Science can’t explain love”, etc. My response is usually - “So what? I’m an atheist mainly because theism has failed to convince me any god exists...

This poll asks “What” not “Why”, so there is no requirement to explain your vote. ETA - For the purpose of this poll . . . Theism = Belief in a god or gods Atheism = No belief in a god or gods The reasons people are either theists or atheists are of no importance to the definitions...

The statistics suggest that a lot more people say they are Christian than actually are Christian. I didn't have this material at hand when I started the thread about the usefulness of the terms theism and atheism. That thread is now useless. Perhaps this can be discussed here without falling...

Are the terms "atheism" and "theism" logically consistent or useful? I can understand the term "naturalism" as an assertion of laws of cause and effect that are consistent. Specifically this excludes supernatural influences. As far as I can tell, anything that would be described as a god would...

Or the "you can't prove/disprove X," argument. Used by some theists and atheists when defending their beliefs. What do you make of it?

Vincent Bugliosi wrote an article recently for the Huffington Post. Here's what caught my attention: I could be wrong, doesn't it seem like Bugliosi is misrepresenting atheists here?

(1) Provide at least one piece of credible evidence to support the theistic claim that a god exists. Or . . . (2) End Theism.

Talking about the origin of the universe: I don't know how to argue the following point: I am agnostic as to the origin of the universe. A theist I know argues that logically the universe must be created (not eternal), by an uncaused cause, a creator.... citing 'cause and effect' as the reason...

In another thread I said morality is either derived from biology or the only other option is some kind of magical source. Does morality stem from a magic sky man sprinkling pixie dust in the eyes of newborns? Do we pull it out of thin air? It was said this is a false dichotomy. So I'd like to...

My next, and I promise the last, in my series of Theism's best case. Again, this is from Blackwell's Companion to Natural Theology and it is called the "Argument from Consciousness", by JP Moreland. For some reason I had expected to be more challenged by this argument. There are a lot of...

So, I was grocery shopping today and in front of the store was a table with kids and minders asking for donations for a local Christian Church funded Homeless Shelter. Now, normally I refuse to donate to any organization that promotes things that I believe are harmful especially religion. If a...

Reading Arthur Denton's recent thread got me thinking. I see a lot of people disavowing religion, but at the same time stressing their belief in a creator. I don't have any answers right now, but I thought it would be interesting to ask, "What is Theism if not religion?"

There is no disagreement science cannot look for gods that exist outside of the Universe so we can dismiss that issue up front. I propose looking at the problem of testing for gods in a different way. I'm having a unsatisfying discussion with one person on the SWIFT blog so I thought I'd open...

Hello everyone. Early this evening I was having a debate/discussion with my friend that began with the Hot-Burrito-Paradox. I don't know if that's what it's properly called, but the general question is: if God is omnipotent, can he create a burrito so hot that he can't eat it? My friend stated...

This is a recurring pattern I have observed. It seems to be increasing in frequency as theism loses more and more ground to rational thought. 1) Use invalid arguments to attack materialism and evolution, hoping readers are mathematically and scientifically ignorant enough to buy them. 2) When...

http://www.proofthatgodexists.org/index.php Well I guess that wraps it up....Next question. /sarcasm This seems to be an extended version of the ontological argument with Christianity mixed in at the end.

I was debating a theist who was very progressive and didn't believe in creationism or intelligent design. Needless to say, he's not your typical, everyday Muslim. Anyways, the one question that he asked me that really stumped me was this: Do you believe in absolute truth, the concept that there...

Simple question: What is "god"? I'm interested in seeing various people's (both believers and non-believers, etc) definitions of "god". And for you polytheists, you don't have to limit the discussion to a single deity. All views on this are welcome. Please discuss.

Let us assume there is a "god". Here are some obvious follow up questions: 1. Why assume one "god" as creator of the universe? 2. From whence came this "god"? 3. If "god" created everything, then did "god" create itself? Inquiring minds want to know. Of course, this all assumes that such a...

http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2275308,00.html As usual Winston still doesn't get it, does he? -

With all due respect to those who don't think there are any "strong" arguments for theism, I would prefer that you don't fill up this thread just to say that you don't think there are any. We can just assume that if you don't post here, you probably don't think that there are any. Feel free to...

I just found this in the "best of" section on craigslist. I liked the perspective that this person came from. http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/596568636.html

It seems to me that dualism and theism are subsets of materialism (and in general, physicalism). Consider: Materialism -- the only thing we can know exists is matter, of one form or another. Regarding things we cannot know about, there is nothing we can say at this time. Theism -- the only...

I realized the other day that the reason I really despise theistic religions is because of how limiting, rather irrational, their worldviews are. Typically theists assert that materialistic atheism suggests a dull universe with no "magic" to spice it up. In fact, the opposite is true. The...

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.