# Why don't people believe in God? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 21, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766 "2013-08-21T00:49:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/341 "2013-08-21T23:53:56Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > But I don’t think it’s hard to be genuine about praying to God to be real, to develop a relationship with Him, if the path of your life eternally is at risk. We always hear about people’s personal relationship with god. We never hear from god and his relationship with people. Why do you think that is? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/342 "2013-08-22T00:00:54Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Well, if they’re going against the Bible… is that really of God? > > If they’re preaching hatred and intolerance… Is that really of God? > > I could say that I would preach hatred and intolerance in the name of you, but would that be true? > > I’d just like to add, that they’re going against God’s word, if they do preach such. I mean… assuming their preaching of hatred and intolerance is extreme… > > I mean, we all make mistakes, but God can forgive. We are not to judge others, because we’re just as bad. Only God can judge. We all sin, we all struggle with different sins. Who’s to say who can go to Heaven, since we all shouldn’t go to Heaven in the first place. Oh, but what if they base their preaching of hatred and intolerance on their interpretation of the Bible? For instance, preaching against homosexuals while ignoring the other “abominations” from Leviticus, such as eating shellfish, wearing mixed fiber fabrics, or getting tattoos? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/343 "2013-08-22T00:03:18Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Yeah, no I see what you mean, haha you hit the jackpot. However, I feel that no matter how much effort is tried, it’ll never get through to them. Plus, I need to learn about other religions to better understand and strengthen the claim that God is real. I wasn’t going to respond after the last post, but I just have to say that you’re right, and it was wrong of me to show satisfaction when the day comes. However, is it not true from the Bible that everyone will be punished for rebuking the truth? It’s not that I’m trying to do a poor job, or do anything just to get treasure in Heaven, because that kind of work will not be given eternal treasure. It’s just that I’ve been so frustrated that I have no real proof besides verses from the Bible to claim that God is real and my own personal, yet small, experiences, along with some posts that imply insanity. I’m just mad that all it takes is a leap of faith, to ask God to show himself with a genuine heart, and you’ll understand the verses and experience God personally. But I know they’re not going to be willing unless they can prove God through complex thoughts, logic, or physical proof. And I don’t blame them, I would have asked the same. It’s only reasonable. But when it comes to God, I don’t think you can reason your way into believing. > To me, from my perspective, because I’m a believer, all the verses make sense. Satan is hindering you from understanding. All you need to do is take a leap of faith, a genuine one. If you take the leap of faith and get baptized, He’ll send you the Holy Spirit. And your eyes will be open. And your relationship with God starts there. He’ll guide you through. > > To the parting shot that I should not consider: I’d be willing to take that risk. And who knows, maybe I will be standing there, while others stand there in glee. However, the personal experiences I’ve had, is enough to stand my ground. Timo, I told you how to reach people - and its not going to be via logic and a keyboard - you have the weak hand. If your objective is saving souls, you need to get off your butt and lead by example. Logic hasn’t worked as an argument for 1000 years, and frankly, you aren’t bright enough to be the one that changes that record - you don’t understand the counter arguments. I know, coming here and making a half assed attempt at debate is way easier than leading a life of service. But if I can see through that even my wimpy God could see through that - assuming my wimpy God gave a damn about saving souls. And I don’t think the God you believe in - the one who wants ‘genuine’ - lets you get buy with hand waving and lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/344 "2013-08-22T00:04:21Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Just out of curiosity, why don’t people believe in God? I’m interested in your personal experiences or just events that prevents your belief. Because there is no proof of the existence of a god of any kind. I’m not one to buy an pig in a poke. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/345 "2013-08-22T00:06:34Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > I’d just like to add… > > If let’s say God wasn’t true, what would be the harm in baptizing yourself and finding out that it wasn’t true for yourself? Because I might offend Cthulu, and he will eat me last. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/346 "2013-08-22T00:10:17Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Yeah, no I see what you mean, haha you hit the jackpot. However, I feel that no matter how much effort is tried, it’ll never get through to them. Plus, I need to learn about other religions to better understand and strengthen the claim that God is real. I wasn’t going to respond after the last post, but I just have to say that you’re right, and it was wrong of me to show satisfaction when the day comes.\*\* However, is it not true from the Bible that everyone will be punished for rebuking the truth? \*\*It’s not that I’m trying to do a poor job, or do anything just to get treasure in Heaven, because that kind of work will not be given eternal treasure. It’s just that I’ve been so frustrated that I have no real proof besides verses from the Bible to claim that God is real and my own personal, yet small, experiences, along with some posts that imply insanity. I’m just mad that all it takes is a leap of faith, to ask God to show himself with a genuine heart, and you’ll understand the verses and experience God personally. But I know they’re not going to be willing unless they can prove God through complex thoughts, logic, or physical proof. And I don’t blame them, I would have asked the same. It’s only reasonable. But when it comes to God, I don’t think you can reason your way into believing. \ How can you know what is ‘truth’ if you are unwilling to consider all the possibilities and ask the hard questions? > [@Timo](#): > > To me, from my perspective, because I’m a believer, all the verses make sense. Satan is hindering you from understanding. All you need to do is take a leap of faith, a genuine one. **If you take the leap of faith and get baptized, He’ll send you the Holy Spirit.** And your eyes will be open. And your relationship with God starts there. He’ll guide you through. > > To the parting shot that I should not consider: I’d be willing to take that risk. And who knows, maybe I will be standing there, while others stand there in glee. However, the personal experiences I’ve had, is enough to stand my ground. \ I was baptised when I was young (not as young as you - but younger than I am now) - there was no “Holy Spirit” - there was nothing - other than being wet. You’ll respond that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, didnt really want it or some other judgey nonsense - trust me when I tell you - there was a time I was quite the ‘evangilist’ and I could pounce all over the scriptures and make you look like just a kindergartner trying - and I had knowledge ABOUT the books to go along with those scriptures so I could talk about who was writing what and to whom and how it all was meant to work together. It wasn’t long (in GOD years) after that that I realized how much of a sham it is - as I went thru the process of trying to PROVE how right it all was thru history and more research. Baptism is a display for OTHERS to see how YOU have joined THEM. Much, if not ALL, of religious trappings is all trying to prove how you are better than others, and how ‘good’ you are to those that look at you. It is the greatest deceit and conceit in history - it is nothing but divisive. And you’ve proven it nicely in your last few posts. Have a pleasant day - ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/347 "2013-08-22T00:11:23Z")
In the interest of full disclosure, I do believe in God. I expect to be judged after this life and I expect to be damned. Not for lack of enthusiasm in my worship, or because I sit in the wrong building on Sunday mornings, but because I am lazy, selfish, and intolerant. I consistently put the comfort of my family ahead of the real needs of others. I have in my youth treated many women as objects rather than persons. I am still quicker to mock another then help them. However, if at Judgement I am damned for not worshiping in the correct manner, I will do whatever I can to join Lucifer’s rebellion against a capricious tyrant. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/348 "2013-08-22T00:20:46Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > If let’s say God wasn’t true, what would be the harm in baptizing yourself and finding out that it wasn’t true for yourself? This is one of the flaws with Pascal’s wager. To expound: one of the requirements of many Christian sects is faith. Just getting baptized (for some sects) is meaningless unless the baptized actually believes in the process. Another flaw: it assumes there is either the Christian God or no God at all. What happens if there is a non-Christian God who doesn’t take kindly to Christian baptisms? In that case, you could very well be leading people to eternal damnation. There are a few other hidden assumptions here but that’s a good place to start. ---
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/349 "2013-08-22T00:26:31Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Oh, but what if they base their preaching of hatred and intolerance on their interpretation of the Bible? For instance, preaching against homosexuals while ignoring the other “abominations” from Leviticus, such as eating shellfish, wearing mixed fiber fabrics, or getting tattoos? First, I’d like to say that what is typed below is just from my understanding but I’m not too sure about this one. What is said below does not necessarily mean it’s 100% correct, others may correct me. Here’s the puzzle, are they preaching hatred and intolerance on their interpretation of the Bible or what they want to think, of what fulfills their worldly desires. Even if you don’t like what is written in the Bible, like…let’s say… the one wife/husband policy…haha… you’re still going to have to follow it. Because it is not the earthly desires that should interpret the Bible, but your spirit. I think you can tell that you are not reading the Bible through your earthly desires when you don’t want to do what it says. I read somewhere of this cult leader, who, even though it says specifically in the New testament, 1 Corinthians 7:2/Deuteronomy 17:17, to have only one wife or one husband, he left the church and created his own beliefs. He led others astray because of this, and might I add, he was very eloquent, cunning, and firm in his “beliefs”. He wanted more than one wife. Like, if you feel that anything I say is wrong because it is going against the Bible right now, then it’s wrong, and I made a mistake. That’s why brothers and sisters fellowship, to guide one another where others fail. But here’s what I think about the Leviticus portion. A list of what is and what isn’t followed: [http://peverel.random.info/leviticus](http://peverel.random.info/leviticus) Then here’s where the contradiction may start, like how can you follow some rules but not all? Well…Some people say that it’s because Leviticus is in the Old testament and because Jesus died to save us from our sins, and Jesus appeared in the New testament, but I believe was prophesied in the Old, we no longer have to follow those laws. These are just ideas…which I"ll be looking into more but I just want to get this out there. Uh, haha I honestly don’t know, so I looked it up. I mean, I heard that Jesus died for our sins which is why we don’t have to follow the rules in the Old Testament…but wait… Jesus did say that Matthew 5:17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose” So maybe we are still sinning, by not doing what is Law. But Jesus has taken care of the consequences. My take on it, it’s debatable, and I’d be willing to listen to other suggestions. Which brings upon an interesting thought. The less people who sin a particular sin the more sinful the sin becomes. For example, we all lie, so it’s not considered as sinful. But other people are homosexual, but it’s considered as a direct path to hell. When in fact it isn’t. All sin is sin, there isn’t a greater sin or a sin that’s less. All sin can result in eternal torment, but with God’s mercy and because Jesus died on the cross, we don’t have to be eternally tormented. ---
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/350 "2013-08-22T00:29:24Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > This is one of the flaws with Pascal’s wager. > > To expound: one of the requirements of many Christian sects is faith. Just getting baptized (for some sects) is meaningless unless the baptized actually believes in the process. > > There are a few other hidden assumptions here but that’s a good place to start. Right. But actually getting baptized in the river, is that not showing some kind of faith? No matter how small? If you really didn’t believe in God, of course you wouldn’t baptize yourself because you’re adamant that it wouldn’t matter. But if you take the chance to be baptized, doesn’t that mean you have some small inclination that God may be real? You’re taking time to baptize yourself. You’re taking that step. If that makes sense… ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/351 "2013-08-22T00:31:03Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Right. But actually getting baptized in the river, is that not showing some kind of faith? No matter how small? > > If you really didn’t believe in God, of course you wouldn’t baptize yourself because you’re adamant that it wouldn’t matter. > > But if you take the chance to be baptized, doesn’t that mean you have some small inclination that God may be real? You’re taking time to baptize yourself. You’re taking that step. If that makes sense… Oh, now you have to be baptized in the river for it to work? is there a particular river? moon phase? how many witnesses? ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/352 "2013-08-22T00:32:24Z")
My least favorite rebuttal ever from Evangelicals is the “God is above your mortal logic. You can’t apply your human reference to the world of God.” argument. It’s such transparent garbage, I can’t believe it’s trotted out every single time religion is being debated. I remember once I was tutoring math and one of the kids I was helping gave up and said “I don’t know how to do it your way.” I explained to him that this isn’t MY way. It’s simply the way. I didn’t invent it, give it my own rules, and bend the rules of math to fit my needs. It’s simply math and we observe it to be true. The same is for logic. This isn’t OUR logic. It’s simply logic. Animals understand it. We understand it. If there are aliens out there they will understand the basic rules of logic as well. It’s the beauty of the sciences. It’s not another religion dreamed up arbitrarily where sheer rhetoric butts heads to zero effect. Proof. Evidence. Logic. It just simply IS. THAT is the universal truth - not facile, empty, meaningless tautologies seeing how many of the undereducated they can pull the wool over and shame/frighten into obedience before the synapses fuse. Furthermore, this is the world that HE created - logic and all. He created “our” logic and it obviously is the basis of law, society, science, math, philosophy etc. within which we operate. Why would HE not act in accordance with it? It’s insane. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/353 "2013-08-22T00:33:39Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > But if you take the chance to be baptized, doesn’t that mean you have some small inclination that God may be real? Or you’re humoring somebody. Or somebody has a gun pointed at your head. Or you like jumping in water. Again, what happens if there is a non-Christian God? Especially one that is particularly angry about people getting baptized? Your assumption is not only does the Christian God exist but that everybody else should assume that is the only possible God. Note that many of the people in this thread are Christians, and your arguments are not new or particularly convincing, even to them. In particular, this latest line of reasoning is a very poor approximation of Pascal’s Wager, whose logical merits have been derided by Christians and non-Christians alike for centuries now. As somebody else pointed out earlier, try learning a bit from the Jesuits. They’re quite a bit better with logical arguments regarding faith and God. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/354 "2013-08-22T00:35:44Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > Yeah, no I see what you mean, haha you hit the jackpot. However, I feel that no matter how much effort is tried, it’ll never get through to them. Plus, I need to learn about other religions to better understand and strengthen the claim that God is real. I wasn’t going to respond after the last post, but I just have to say that you’re right, and it was wrong of me to show satisfaction when the day comes. However, is it not true from the Bible that everyone will be punished for rebuking the truth? It’s not that I’m trying to do a poor job, or do anything just to get treasure in Heaven, because that kind of work will not be given eternal treasure. It’s just that I’ve been so frustrated that I have no real proof besides verses from the Bible to claim that God is real and my own personal, yet small, experiences, along with some posts that imply insanity. I’m just mad that all it takes is a leap of faith, to ask God to show himself with a genuine heart, and you’ll understand the verses and experience God personally. But I know they’re not going to be willing unless they can prove God through complex thoughts, logic, or physical proof. And I don’t blame them, I would have asked the same. It’s only reasonable. But when it comes to God, I don’t think you can reason your way into believing. It is admirable that you want to do a good job. But if you abandon reason, you abandon any way you can convince anyone that your way is better than their way except by trying to shout louder. You can see how well this has worked in this thread, especially against a bunch of people who have been doing this a long time. I’ve been discussing religion on-line twice as long as you’ve been alive. I assume you never took debating in high school. If you had, you’d know that one of the most important ways of preparing for a debate is to understand the argument of the other side inside and out. If you don’t do that you can never construct good counter-arguments. And the arguments have to be good ones, not strawman arguments. If you want to spread the word more effectively, you need to understand why people are atheists. No, Satan making us doing it or we refuse to look at the obvious truth of religion or we really just hate god are not good arguments. There is a danger - you might get convinced by the other side. I did on one issue when I debated in high school. Want to take that chance? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/355 "2013-08-22T00:37:49Z")
“You can’t win an argument that you only understand one side of” - its something I like to remind myself and others of often. Its why I ask the ‘tough’ questions on things I believe - and why I take almost nothing ‘on faith’ alone (except when my wife says something, of course). “Test everything, hold on to what is good” -1 Thessalonians 5:21 ---
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/356 "2013-08-22T00:42:31Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Another flaw: it assumes there is either the Christian God or no God at all. What happens if there is a non-Christian God who doesn’t take kindly to Christian baptisms? In that case, you could very well be leading people to eternal damnation. I agree. But all I have to say that if you fellowship with brothers and sisters, if you aren’t mislead by false prophets- prophets who go against the Bible- plus, some of you already know by your instincts that they may not be advocating for God- like those churches that force you to pay money to be forgiven of sin…yeah, like you can forgive your sin through earthly things. Jesus paid the price, you just have to pray for forgiveness. But I’m going off topic. In short, When you develop that relationship with God, you’ll know it’s true…haha… I mean… has there been a religion that doesn’t take kindly to Christian baptisms? maybe there is, I wouldn’t know. I think listening to K-Love radio station can be a start. I could, but would I be here right now if I didn’t feel this way? If I didn’t feel that God was real? If I didn’t feel that there’s something that’s true about this God? In the end, like what was said before, only one can be true…take that risk of being baptized with the feeling that there might be a non-Christian God out there who looks down upon it, and the true God will be proud and happy to call you his child. That is also a test of faith. ---
**Author:** ![Timo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@Timo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/357 "2013-08-22T00:43:43Z")
> [@simster](#): > > “You can’t win an argument that you only understand one side of” - its something I like to remind myself and others of often. True. But when something is true, there is no need to understand everything, because the rest are bound to be false. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to look into the other religions though ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/358 "2013-08-22T00:44:50Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > has there been a religion that doesn’t take kindly to Christian baptisms? Does it really matter if such a religion exists? Take the hypothetical for what it is: what if there is a true God that no human being knows about that and that God takes Christian baptisms poorly? Evading the argument is also a poor debating tactic. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/359 "2013-08-22T00:45:00Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > True. But when something is true, there is no need to understand everything, because the rest are bound to be false. And that’s why some people think Jesus spoke English. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766/360 "2013-08-22T00:48:26Z")
> [@Timo](#): > > But when something is true, there is no need to understand everything, because the rest are bound to be false. The statement is provably false. There are times when understanding false things is useful. It happens all the time. It even pops up in mathematics. Proof by contradiction is essentially this principle. You get to the truth by starting with something false. A related principle is learning from our mistakes. It is the height of arrogance (and just not a good idea) to think that there is no value in false things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-people-believe-in-god/666766.md?page=19)