Can you give me the system of beliefs that stem from not believing in fairies? What beliefs does “not believing in fairies” necessarily exclude?
Capitalism?
Communism?
Desirism?
Error Theory?
Divine Command?
Materialism?
Dualism?
Humanism?
Supernaturalism?
DC?
Marvel?
What?!?!?
As Czarcasm said, it depends what one means by faith. When I wake up in the morning, I have faith that the day will be productive. Otherwise, why bother getting out of bed?
That is a good thing, no doubt, but considering the topic under discussion, it’s pretty weak tea. I mean, you could get the exact same psychological benefit from faith in any spiritual belief-system, true or false or good or evil. For that matter, you could get the exact same psychological benefit just from being too stupid ever to second-guess yourself.
Oh, in your post you appeared to be saying that anyone who professes a faith is all those things so I was acknowledging that I was ok with you holding that belief. I am a programmer though. It did teach me humility. It taught me that I don’t know everything and if I’m going to do something with definite results I need to stay firmly in the arena of definite things. Didn’t do a thing about beliefs neither provable nor meaningful except to remind me not to let those enter into my daily life.
Isn’t alleviating pain and discomfort a positive gain? They’re sugar tablets, that’s what they’re supposed to do. Never said faith was uber powerful. I just said it could have positive gains to a persons brain.
I believe that’s my point. It’s the belief that can be good, not a particular belief set. That is what I mean. Now, I also agree stupidity works too but there’s some obvious drawbacks to that one in the job I did.
What is wrong with stupidity if it makes you happier?
I’m really not trying to paint with that broad a brush. I know you’re right about most atheists. I addressed this to those who weren’t that.
What about faith as a wallpaper not an OS? That’s more what I’m describing.
I could have killed people if I did something stupid. It wouldn’t have made me happier honestly.
I think I’m that little voice. I’ve never felt compelled to believe a certain way and I grew up in a non religious household. I was always in control of my beliefs and never was afraid to have those. Ok, when I was very little I had such a crisis and thought my way out if it. Hasn’t happened since then.
I’ve always been able to spread the cheese of my beliefs over the cracker of reality without breaking the cracker. Heh, had to type it. It just sounds neat.
You’re being difficult on purpose. You’ve been talking about religious type faith that is blind in your OP and that’s what I’m continuing to talk about. You were asked what kind of faith you’re talking about and you said “Either kind of faith works for what I’m asking though”. Sorry, language doesn’t work that way. The same word can have different meanings. Religious type faith where something extraordinary and supernatural is believed without evidence is not the same as having faith your brother will pay you back the $5 he owes you because you know he’s a responsible person that’s not a dick.
See above.
Uh, no. You’re the one making assumptions. I didn’t say anything about the kind of guy you are.
You were talking about religious type faith, so I was too.
It doesn’t matter if we can continue to advance as a species; that wasn’t the topic of your OP. It was whether or not religious type faith is harmful. My two links show how some having faith can bring harm to many others.
No one is saying specific faiths are necessarily directly harmful. If you have faith that a teapot is orbiting Mars no one here will give a shit.
No, I didn’t. Read my post again. The “you” I used wasn’t directed at you.
I just quoted you saying “The Flying Spaghetti dude”; it stands for the Flying Spaghetti Monster. If you don’t know what initials stand for you can just Google them.
It does matter as the FSM’s ideals may not be something worth following the example of. Ever read the Bible and/or the Quran and read the history of what evils people have been carrying out for centuries because of the ideals of their god?
Please get a clue. I never said you or every person that has some sort of faith in some unnamed by you things are going to hurt yourself or others. If you believe there’s a teapot orbiting Mars and it’s your only faith based belief I doubt you’ll hurt everyone. You’re pretending atheists give a shit about that sort of thing and it just isn’t so.
No faith is required of the person taking the placebo to gain any effect? I once read something about that but I don’t remember the details. If it’s true then it makes me wonder if the person has faith in little pills that is unshakable even when given little pills that he is told doesn’t work. That’s powerful.
Good for you, but here (as in a few of your responses above) you’re talking specifically about your faith, whereas your OP asked about “faith”, and people are replying to you, as you might expect, about faith in general. An OP of “What’s wrong with MY faith?” would generate a very different sort of thread, perhaps you should clarify which you want this to be about.
And it works even if you know the truth about them:
Placebos work – even without deception
No, you can measure the impact in terms of pain reduction, which placebos can do, and cure of the underlying problem, which they can’t.
Sure you can fool yourself about stuff with faith. And it works fine so long as everything is internal. During one of the many rebellions in the Congo rebel troops were given amulets which were said to stop bullets. They had faith in these, and the amulets did a great job in aiding them to charge fearlessly at the enemy. But the stopping bullets part didn’t work nearly as well.
I can just hear the discussion before the second charge.
Rebel 1: Are you nuts, those amulets didn’t work worth shit. Look how many people died!
Rebel 2: Of course they worked.
Rebel 1: How can you say that?
Rebel 2: You lived and I lived, right? The proves they work. Samuel got killed. That just proves his faith in the amulets was not great enough. All you have to do is believe, and you will be fine.
Can you cite for me the religious faith involved in Goblins in your pants, unicorns and the FSM? I have been trying to very specifically move away from religious faith to more general faith. That may be wrong but it’s not being difficult on purpose.
We just had the thread about the deghosting houses. I don’t see ghosts as a religious phenomenon and yet the very contention was immediately to stop people from vocally correcting this belief.
I kinda was wondering if people had themselves so wrapped around a hatred of the actions of “religions” that they can’t let up even on lesser beliefs.
Horrible example by me. I’ll agree these aren’t the same thing and I wasn’t really talking about the second kind of faith but don’t discount the fantastical from my question because those are what I meant, not just religion.
No, it wasn’t about whether religious faith is harmful. It assumed that not all of it was and I’m getting feedback that some believe any is harmful. Still, the topic wasn’t that, it was why do some people feel compelled to speak out about someone holding a nonharmful belief. If you don’t believe there is any, then that answers my question.
No, but I’m pretty sure somewhere out there there is an orbiting whale and a flowerpot. 
Well, I don’t have any idea what “The Flying Spaghetti Monster” stands for either. Is it pro abortion? Is it anti orbiting blue whales? I haven’t a clue therefore I can’t tell you if a believe what it stands for much less if anyone else does.
That’s why I asked what it stands for but I think you realize the miscommunication now.
And yet I know atheists in my life who do. Am I pretending they exist? I honestly don’t know what you’re getting at? I’ve said it’s not all atheists. I’ve said I’ve experienced the phenomenon firsthand and wondered what drove it. Others even had thought about it enough to have a name for it so I don’t think I"m just pretending. I just didn’t mean you like you didn’t mean me. Lets let it go at that because I don’t really want this to become personal.
Good point but I’m only going into my faith because I have no other faith to go on. My premise is that all faith isn’t necessarily harmful and as mine I don’t feel is and it’s the one I know best, I’m answering from it. I have admitted that I know there are harmful faiths out there and fighting them makes sense. I was talking about examples that aren’t that.
Thanks for the link. It seems like a persons beliefs ( pills = medicine ) is stronger than their reality. Scary stuff. I’d certainly prefer the real meds but would I respond to placebos if I knew they were placebos? I so want to take that test as I have no idea.
Rebel 3: Hey, I got some extras you can use as a spare. Only used once. $10 each.
I understand you’re not itching for a semantic fight but that’s likely what this will turn into. I understand the need of a working definition so let me try one.
I’ll use the definition here http://www.thefreedictionary.com/faith, particularly 2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. See Synonyms at belief, trust.