Why Do Intelligent People Believe In God?

Why Do Intelligent People Believe In God?

Pop over to http://godisimaginary.com/video10.htm and take a look. Very interesting.

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Don't Believe In God For The Right Reason

Don't Believe In God For The Right Reason

When I was a baha'i we used to talk about how we would answer the statement 'I don't believe in god.' Our response was usually 'What kind of god don't you believe in?', followed by 'we don't believe in that kind of god either'. All very nice and pat!

Looking back, I can't believe how awful that really sounds and I'd cringe were in not for the recognition that that was where I was at the time.

So, that leads me back to the subject of this post.Don't Believe In God For The Right Reason.

I would say that the most common complaint against god is because of a painful life event. Death is painful, sickness, redundancy - I don't mean to make light of serious life events, but stuff happens. How we cope with such things is what makes us. Period. We do not need to depend on anything ethereal, we have the capability within us and through our friends and families, to cope with whatever life throws at us.

Now, here's another thought. If there were to be a god, I think he/she/it is very vindictive. Why would god make another person suffer in order to 'test' me? Why did god let my mother die at 95. Why did god make me physically dis-abled (hyphen deliberate). Why did god let that man murder my brother. [OK, so none of these things has really happened to me!]

To 'test' me? Where's the sense in that? What exactly is the test? So that I can show how devout I am by praying even more? Were I to pray my heart out, would it bring my mother back to life? I liken it to 'god pointing the finger' - deciding that Joe Soap needs to be tested so Mrs Soap will suffer something awful. No very fair at all. We wouldn't do that to our families, not even our pets, so where is the sense in a deity doing to us what he/she/it tells us not to do to others? Derrhhh bigtime!

People get old and die. That will always be the way as our bodies wear out. A disability may be for any number of reasons - genetics, illness, accident. The murderer kills because he can and wants to - for whatever hideous reason.

I really thought the bahai's had the answer. Guess what - they really think they do, until you analyse what they really have been saying. God is no longer the personal god of the christians - but hey, we'll still pray to god anyway. God answers all prayers (he's still not personal, by they way), but sometimes the answer is 'no'. How convenient.

Towards the end of my baha'i life I actually came to think that Baha'u'llah was preparing the world for there being no deity at all - and that really makes sense when you look at their writings: eg the 'coming of age of the human race' - attaining it's maturity.

Bottom line: discard god because it makes sense to do so, not because you think god failed to help you, support you, stop something awful happening. Those concepts are man-made. Stuff is going to happen - always has and always will.

Now be mature and don't take anyone's word for it (not even mine) - decide for yourself.
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The Clergy Project and Freethinkers Online

Just a couple of links to some sites I've recently come across:

The Clergy Project is a confidential online community for active and former clergy who do not hold supernatural beliefs. Sounds like a good idea to me. You can find it here: http://www.clergyproject.org/

Another, more general site is

Freethinkers online Daily Press from http://paper.li/~/publisher/1061309 (hope this link works as they have a strange system!)

... and while I'm here I may as well include a mention of Richard Dawkins - http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-national/richard-dawkins-uncertainty-vs-dogmatism

Question

Why do so many people refer to 'losing faith'? I didn't 'lose' anything when I decided not to believe in a god any more. On the contrary, I gained a phenomenal appreciation of the beauty of life, nature, the universe and all - more than I had ever had when I was a religious person and a Baha'i. The Texan puts it well in the above Freethinkers post: ...an indescribably huge and beautiful world opened up around me. The truth has set me free.

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BTW, I'm reading a great book series by Bernard Cornwell about Alfred the Great era. It's fascinating to see how the pagan beliefs compared to those of the christians - and yes, I'm deliberately decapitalising from now on.

John Prytz Science and Religion articles

John Prytz has some interesting articles over in EzineArticles.com.

Here's the link: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=John_Prytz

Titles like

• Exit Stage Left, The Exodus

• What The Bible Doesn't Mention

• Fun With Physics: Don't Beam Me Down, Scotty!

• No Virgina, There Is No Santa Claus

Take a look. Good reading in an easy style.

Here's the link again: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=John_Prytz

 

 

I've just joined Living Without Faith

I've just joined "Living Without Faith". Not too many members at the moment, but it looks as if it will be interesting.

Visit Living Without Faith

'Been reading 'An Atheists Guide to Christmas' - something I pick up every December. Always a good book to dib into (note to self: see if I can get it on Kindle). My favourite so far is Clare Rayner's chapter. It's a nice easy book, but I must admit some of the chapters seem a bit, shall we say, apologetic. Not to worry. Off to find some more Dawkins! 'Bye for now. . .

To Live Without God Beliefs

Came across this great quote, which I also carry on my mobile phone. Just about sums it up:

To live without god beliefs is intellectually stimulating. To find one’s own purpose and be responsible for one’s own life is exciting. To be free of the imagined surveillance of good and evil spirits is liberating. To seek a peaceful world through work and friendship and civic action is life-affirming.

---- Marie Alena Castle

So who is she? (Thought: does it matter as long as the words ring true?) Anyway, I found this link to some TV & Radio interviews she made: http://www.scottmuir.net/pages/castle.html

If You Are Not Religious...

http://www.humanism.org.uk