NSC Demographics: RELIGION

[Silent Bob]

Actually thats not true. On his visit to this country, his most talked about subject was faith. Faith means believing in something that you cannot prove. Atheism is a faith, for example.

err, obviously the pope would say that, wouldn't he.

I assume what Voroshilov means is that the pope says the world is not full of shades of grey, it's black and white.

 

[beorhthelm]

Atheism is the affirmation that there IS no god. Which can't be proven

no it is not, it is nothing more than the rejection or non-belief in the existance of any god. what can be proven is there is no conclusive or sound evidence for any god. i dont need to invoke a supernatrual deity to explain anything in the world around me.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

True enough but logically there is no tangible of the existence of any higher authority which is my problem with religion, forget about all the negative issues that have been discussed here time and time again.

Logic is simply a word humans have coined to describe a thought process. Does human logic apply outside of our world?

Who knows.

But there maybe million of illogical things existing in the cosmos that blow our concept of logic out of the water.

To me human beings could be viewed as tangible evidence that there is something higher power existing out there. For I simply can not believe that such an incredible machine as the working human body came to be simply by pure chance and luck.

I also look at the pre-programed hardwiring of the human brain as to my kind of evidence that something else had a hand in our design.

There's plenty of things around me that make me question how they can simply just be as they are without some kind of intervention from something that is unexplainable or untochable at this stage in our evolutionary progression.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Thats not what the pope says

I've never heard him say life is completely black and white.

In fact his recent stance on the condom issue would suggest there are grey areas.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

funny, if i didnt know your position i'd have thought that was a good critique against religion and especially the papal church.

Your view of what makes the church is different to mine.

You focus on simply the clergy, where as I believe there is no church without the people.

For me the Pope is the head of the church but his words are simply to stimulate thought and make us think about our lives and how we lead them. These days there is plenty of room for free thinking which is why many of the Cardinals are actually very Liberal in their thoughts.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Logic is simply a word humans have coined to describe a thought process. Does human logic apply outside of our world?

Who knows.

But there maybe million of illogical things existing in the cosmos that blow our concept of logic out of the water.

To me human beings could be viewed as tangible evidence that there is something higher power existing out there. For I simply can not believe that such an incredible machine as the working human body came to be simply by pure chance and luck.

I also look at the pre-programed hardwiring of the human brain as to my kind of evidence that something else had a hand in our design.

There's plenty of things around me that make me question how they can simply just be as they are without some kind of intervention from something that is unexplainable or untochable at this stage in our evolutionary progression.

All of that can be explained by evolution, over millions of years particles arranging themselves into every more complex formations, reactions and cycles.

The really interesting question is why and how did they do it. Out of the mixture of elements why did some combine themselves to form single celled organisms? What is life and what is consciousness and what is the difference?

There's so much stuff our brains will never comprehend. There's clearly massive holes in human knowledge but the design idea is far too simplistic for my liking

 

[beorhthelm]

Logic is simply a word humans have coined to describe a thought process. Does human logic apply outside of our world?

i think you are redefining "logic" so that it fits what you want it to. science might well be proved incorrect by things as yet unknown, but human logic and reason would still apply to human questions, which would extend beyond our world.

To me human beings could be viewed as tangible evidence that there is something higher power existing out there. For I simply can not believe that such an incredible machine as the working human body came to be simply by pure chance and luck.

I also look at the pre-programed hardwiring of the human brain as to my kind of evidence that something else had a hand in our design.

the imperfection and flawed design of humans is tangible evidence we did come to be this form by chance. no designer would make so many mistakes deliberatly, both in us an elsewhere in the animal kingdom. your thought process fails you here because you start from the premise that we are perfect, which is really a matter of faith, when we quite clearly not.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Other equals Jedi, very sad you didn't have us on the list. Bit religionist really!

 

[Football_Friends]

When i was skiing over new year we only had 2 english speaking channels, CNN and BBC world. For 6 days and 23hrs they were tedious at best, but there was a great debate with Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens about wether religion is a force for good in the world.

I'm firmly in the 'none' category but i'm now a lot more open minded about the effects of religion, sure it was called the Munks Debate.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

All of that can be explained by evolution, over millions of years particles arranging themselves into every more complex formations, reactions and cycles.

But what drives/drove evolution is what I contemplate.

I don't believe that admiting evolution as a process exists means there can be no belief in a God.

I actually believe something higher has to exist for it to have functioned the way it has. There's too many organisms that complement each other for it to have all happened by mere chance.

The really interesting question is why and how did they do it. Out of the mixture of elements why did some combine themselves to form single celled organisms? What is life and what is consciousness and what is the difference?

There's so much stuff our brains will never comprehend. There's clearly massive holes in human knowledge but the design idea is far too simplistic for my liking

Agree with this totally.

 

[Gully]

Voted for other, but only because I consider myself a humanist rather than a plain athiest, though I definitely don't believe in a God or any other non-visible higher being.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

i think you are redefining "logic" so that it fits what you want it to. science might well be proved incorrect by things as yet unknown, but human logic and reason would still apply to human questions, which would extend beyond our world.

I'm merely saying that what's logical here does not mean it will be logical elsewhere. Even logic here is subjective depending on whom is viewing a situation.

By all means have human logic as the defining critique of a situation.

For mine though I'm extremely open minded to all possibilities that exist out there beyond what we can see and comprehend which is why I can't lock my mind into a mindset that sets parameters such as logic will and can..

the imperfection and flawed design of humans is tangible evidence we did come to be this form by chance. no designer would make so many mistakes deliberatly, both in us an elsewhere in the animal kingdom. your thought process fails you here because you start from the premise that we are perfect, which is really a matter of faith, when we quite clearly not.

This is where we disagree.

I think we are a wonderous example of a living machine.

In our brain itself is a super computer that isan absolute marvel which still today we do not understand 1/10th of its actual potential.

 

[Phoenix Arrow]

Pagan religions hves always fascinated me. By that I mean ancient Greek and Nordic religion in particular, not that prancing around Stonehenge nonsense.

I mean, I don't really believe in any religion. I'm the sort of person who likes to see proof and beyond some god coming to Earth, saying hello and doing a tap number, it's all impossible to prove. Science on the other hand has some convincing theories so those are nice.
But that doesn't mean religion isn't an important part of every day life, they give advice about how to handle yourself and lessons like that. But then, a lot of these messages can also be found in various Pagan religions but in more interesting ways. The deities are given characters, have relationships and flaws and are altogether more human. Either way, I'd much rather pray to Athena for guidance than to God.

 

[jimhigham]

Wot? No Mormons?

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

The thing that gets me is that those with no faith make sweeping generalisations about those with faith.....I believe but I only believe for myself. I don't know whether Im right or wrong and am quite prepared that I might be wrong... its just what I believe and how I choose to live my life... if others want to live another way then I fully support and applaud them for doing so... they might be right and I might be wrong so who am I to judge?

Being religious doesnt make me a pompous know it all! There are just as many aetheists who behave like that as there are those with faith.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

But what drives/drove evolution is what I contemplate.

I don't believe that admiting evolution as a process exists means there can be no belief in a God.

I actually believe something higher has to exist for it to have functioned the way it has. There's too many organisms that complement each other for it to have all happened by mere chance.

I didn't really want to dip back into this argument - but you really have no idea of how genetic evolution works do you. It is a beautiful thing when you understand it, it really is. The simplicity and elegance is quite astounding.