Utter ignorance. Einstein was not religious (in any traditional sense, certainly not a theist).
“My position concerning God is that of an agnostic”
-Einstein
*
“I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one”*
-Einstein
“…what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God”
-Einstein
etc…
That is pretty much the philosophy which keeps me from worrying about what someone believes and allows me not to feel bad about adopting beliefs that again, provide me with a feel good benefit.
I’ll admit that’s an odd view and maybe I’m way out there on this which is why I say maybe I have no faith at all. Still, it seems to me that I have an inner faith that I can’t go wrong picking something to believe in because it’s useful and it can’t be proven wrong. I dunno. The belief feels real when i have it but the belief above really is probably the true belief that I have that drives my trivial ones. SHURG.
Logic has it’s place in how I approach the world but to me, it has no place in my imagination where it’s irrelevant Remember Lewis Carroll was a logician.
What I’m getting is that people who are Atheists generally are very connected with their logical side and can’t muster up a belief that is illogical but I’m really not getting again, the logic of why what a stranger believes matters logically.
Again, strictly on an individual basis, not organized religions. A telling point to me is that whenever I say faith, in pretty much any discussion everyone assumes Christian and I can’t usually get them past the fact that it’s invalid. Maybe Christians have co opted the word now and there’s no hope in it retaining it’s original meaning.
Perhaps it is the audience as well. In America, Christianity is the dominant religion, so I think it is natural for Americans to conclude you mean Christian even if you don’t because the others are of much less consequence to their lives. In Yemen, I suspect the assumption would be Islam, in Israel, Judaism, etc…
If you really choose to look at it that way, then your lack of tolerance toward “Evangelical Atheism” is also bigotry.
I wonder if any of these countries have as polarizing a split about their religions as we in America do? I mean between believers and nonbelievers not sectarian stuff.
I suspect not. I think Israel is an example of a country where the religious and non religious coexist quite well actually.
I wonder how some of the Middle Eastern Muslim countries deal with Atheists. I’ve never really heard anything about it but I’m sure that the information is out there.
There could conceivably be no difference if one were able to completely compartmentalize his or her beliefs surrounding the Flying Spaghetti dude in such a way that they had no substantive impact on the outside world. But to take such an idea seriously would be naive. For one thing, the belief in the Flying Spaghetti dude betrays a lack of critical thinking, and/or ignorance. If not corrected this lack would likely affect this persons more externally-relevant decisions: how he votes, how he educates his children, how he spends his money, how he feels about women’s rights, and so on. But even putting aside this point, most religious beliefs also affect directly the decisions I listed above. Do you want specific examples of how, say, faith in the Bible affects people’s outward behavior? (this is so obvious I would feel like I was patronizing you…)
The only problem I have with faith is when it is not conditional. When there is no evidence, and you think something is true, go ahead and have faith in it and support it. But when you start to discover things that indicate your position might not be right, why not be open to the other position? As for being right, isn’t it a waste to invest time and money into something not correct?
Science has progressed by being willing to admit when it was wrong and changing course. Many religions have trouble doing this - and even when they do it they pretend they don’t.
Your mistake about Einstein has already been corrected. Now, the Christians have done evil argument only arose as a counter to the many who have said how morally superior Christians are. No one I’ve ever run into has thought this has had anything to do whether God exists - though he doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with his believers making trouble.
So please tell us what evidence you have for the existence of God or the divinity of Jesus? I pretty much accept he existed - false Messiahs were a shekel a dozen back then. And also tell us the incorrect logic of atheism. You might also mention why atheists are correct about all the gods except yours.
If you believe in a harmless thing without evidence, like God exists or goblins in your pants, then one day someone might convince you to believe a harmful thing without evidence, like that group of people killed our God let’s get medieval on their ass.
Best not to to rely on faith at all really then this danger is averted.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
I don’t think it’s a more broad question than the other one; I think it’s a specific example of the broader question; “what’s wrong with faith” is that you may well be putting your faith in the wrong thing instead of the right one – and we’d rather reason about that question right than skip straight to having faith in Answer #37.
Pithy fellow that Voltaire was he not?
Well, I guess I’m a bigot then.
By that definition I certainly am. I won’t persecute you because of your beliefs, though I will judge you adversely for believing Woo of any sort, and if asked I will tell you it’s bullshit to your face.
The problem is that religion being in that list is simply another case of it being given special status that other irrational views do not have. Would I be a bigot for being intolerant of someone who belived that computers were run by little orange men, even after you opened it up and showed it too him? No, I’d think he was mentally deficient or insane. Nobody would expect me to say ‘maybe you’re right, they could be hiding in the capacitors when we look for them’ or ‘you’re right, there is no eveidence that little orange me don’t exist even though they violate known laws of physics and there is a much simpler obvious explanation’.
I am tolerant towards absolutely anything that someone can’t change. ‘Faith’ is not one of those things and is therefor fair game.
And on topic, I don’t think there is anything wrong with faith other than it’s wrong. If you seek to understand the world faith is a hinderance, if you seek to improve the world acting on faith can steer you down the wrong path.
The only way to find truth is through reason, not faith.
Before this goes any further, I would like Disgruntled Penguin to tell us the definition of “faith” we are working with here. Confusing(either deliberately or unknowingly) “faith” and “blind faith” seems to be what is happening in this thread, and nothing can really be resolved until the OP gives us a working definition and sticks with it.
The problem with “evangelical atheists” aren’t that they’re atheists, it’s that they’re evangelical. Evangelicals of any sort tend to be self-righteous jerks who think that they own the truth, whether they’re atheists, Christians, ex-smokers, Apple users or whatever. This tends not to endear them to other people.
It’s really isn’t, you know. There’s nothing systematic about it.
As I see it there is nothing wrong with Faith but the way some people use it.
Most have faith that they will awake tomorrow,that their spouse will be with them ,their child will succeed.
Religious faith is based on other humans who did not have proof, just their own beliefs so having any religious faith is not based on a supreme being, but on what and who they were taught about, what was written or thought.
This is glib, but, what’s wrong with faith is that it’s wrong. I mean, what’s bad about faith is that it’s incorrect. Part of the problem is that “wrong” has meanings about badness and incorrectness that get blended together.
What’s so important about being right? Correct thoughts or beliefs or understandings are useful and are the only basis for thinking and acting that should turn out well. Thinking incorrectly or believing something untrue or having an understanding that is incorrect is worse than useless, like a road sign pointing the wrong way or a measurement that is practically misleading. As thinking and acting creatures, all we can try and hope to do well in life is to reach correct conclusions and act accordingly. Any deviation from that is a shift for the worse.
It is hard for me to imagine not accepting the principle that we should at least require some kind of logical reasoning framework consistent with sensory observations to support a belief before we adopt it.