If somebody can give an example of something that sprung into reality from belief and only from belief, then maybe I’ll consider the idea that a God might also have come into existence the same way.
Considering the type of God many people believe in, I really hope this process cannot actually produce Gods. Suppose Fred Phelps and his type have more belief than saner people?
Replace “Christian” with “Jew” (which is the way I know it anyway, being a nominal one myself…) 
… Or with “Muslim.”
So was diggleblop actually serious with the Pascal’s Wager suggestion? I read it as sarcasm.
[accent=Irish]“You should believe in Leprachauns, because if they do exist, you may get a pot of gold.”[/accent]
More government is good for you.
the difference between knowledge and faith is this: if a person experiences an event that he remains conscious throughout, that person knows what has transpired. Any person that he tells may choose to believe or disbelieve his account for they were not there and did not share in that experience so therefore cannot know what happened
Unless you feel that the idea that more gov’t is good for you became true because people believed it was true, I’m not sure how that applies.
And people went out and voted for it, paid taxes for it, built buildings and equipment for it, and so on. The local Federal Building and Post Office didn’t just materialize out of nothing, complete with officials and fax machines.
I’m thinking that’s exactly what he meant.
Look where that got Einstein. EPR and all.
Merit as what?
There’s a sort of school of theology (I hesitate to use terms that suggest that level of formality, but whatever) in certain pagan circles that consider gods to be fundamentally archetypes that people relate to for purposes of self-development. It’s a very Jungian sort of theism; the archetypes exist and are real, but they only have any relevance or existence because people are framing their conceptual struggles in those terms.
They’re fairly widespread, but not terribly popular with the non-psychological theists.
I wonder how many people posting to this thread don’t know the OP is referencing last night’s South Park episode.
Not that it matters…
I have read of Hindu Scholars feeling much the same way. The Gods represent aspects of the human psyche. Like the perfect triangle they don’t exist except as an expression of a perfect but impossible to achieve state.
For there is nothing either God or Man, but thinking makes it so…
**diggleblop ** is really Blaise Pascal!
A god who would damn me for not believing in him would not be worthy of my belief, my respect, or my worship.
Actual quote (shameless self-promotion :D):
The OP sounds like a reverse Shrodinger’s Cat.
I think the otters’ Wise One was one step off. Just believing in God causes many people to act as they believe God wants them to act. That can be a good thing, or it can be a horrible thing. It depends on what sort of God they believe in.
Welp, if you read the rest of what I typed, maybe you would know.
Believing in a God doesn’t mean you are Christian. Not to mention, I didn’t mention I’m religious in any way whatsoever. So if I were you, I’d watch how I threw around the “stupid” word. Stupid.
What kind of god do you believe in that would be pleased to have people believing in him only as a safe bet?