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Post by Youngster Joey on Apr 6, 2012 13:15:24 GMT -5
I don't. I wish I could, though. I've always admired people who can find faith in the goodness of life and possess a higher calling. Must be a nice thing to have! But, alas, I am a skeptic who stopped believing in God before I stopped believing in Santa Claus.
I feel like I'm in the minority of atheists in this regard, but I genuinely do believe that religion is an inherently good thing. Religion is kind of like guns. Guns don't kill people; people do. Likewise, religion doesn't breed hatred; people do.
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Post by sukotsuto on Apr 6, 2012 13:51:54 GMT -5
I always had, and my belief only grows over time and the more I know about this world. I always feel that a true higher entity is beyond our limited comprehension, even with the best human minds combined. Just as the affairs of humans cannot be fathomed by tiny ants, who sees a child stepping on them is their notion of natural disaster, as we are to tidal waves, earthquakes, etc. I could go on really long about this if it's brought up to me in person
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Post by Hiro the Half-Elf on Apr 6, 2012 13:59:57 GMT -5
I'm an atheistic agnostic, as far as labels need go. Until empirical evidence proves otherwise, I will go on believing that there is no magic in the world. However, I'm fairly certain no empirical evidence will surface, so it's safe to call myself an atheist.
What really cemented my atheism, very early in my life, was reading the Bible. Like, actually reading it, not just hearing people cherry-pick and paraphrase the stories. I think that's probably the quickest way to get converted to atheism.
I don't think religion is inherently good or evil. It is a useful social construct most of the time, though, but it's much less important in the modern first-world country than it has been historically. However, while it's a tool that is very handy for getting people organized as a society, it's also still a tool, and this means that people with agendas will have their fingers in the pie. So, neither good nor bad.
What I do think it is is eminently interesting. Mythology is joined with religion at the hip, and even the religions that survive to modern practice maintain a bevy of interesting stories. People get very offended when you refer to their religious scriptures as mythos, though.
It would be pretty cool if the world was turtles all the way down, though.
EDIT: Also, like, having some sort of afterlife makes it so people don't have to wrap their brains around not being alive. The brain cannot imagine itself dead, after all, and even if it could it wouldn't be a very pleasant thought for most people.
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Post by Captain Zelar on Apr 6, 2012 14:05:13 GMT -5
I believe there could be a higher power, but I don't believe in the conventional religions. I really don't care anyway since I follow the moral compass I made for myself rather than one decided for me.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Apr 6, 2012 14:06:31 GMT -5
Yeah, I view religion as the same as mythology, too. I've always found the parallels between stories in different religions and mythologies to be particularly fascinating, i.e., the flood myth.
Although I think the Bible is fascinating, its stories, if taken literally, are really ridiculous. I don't understand how people can interpret and believe them literally. It just takes such a huge stretch of imagination. Interpreting the Bible as a huge metaphor, though? Makes some sense to me.
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Post by Frederick on Apr 6, 2012 14:34:04 GMT -5
I believe there could be a higher power, but I don't believe in the conventional religions. I really don't care anyway since I follow the moral compass I made for myself rather than one decided for me. This. Yeah, I view religion as the same as mythology, too. I've always found the parallels between stories in different religions and mythologies to be particularly fascinating, i.e., the flood myth. Welp, everything just tells the same stories anyways. Archetypes are just rooted into the subconscious of all humans, so it's easy to find similarities when they manifest in different religions/stories.
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Post by Umbra on Apr 6, 2012 16:39:51 GMT -5
I'm an atheistic agnostic like Hiro. One one hand, I'd like to say that because of lack of evidence for a higher entity, one doesn't exist.
But on the other hand, I can't disprove that there is a higher entity. Even if you lay down scientific (material) evidence that contradicts the scriptures of sacred texts, you aren't going to convince people that there isn't a God--you can't put God in a test tube; science tests only the material.
Also, humans are known for coming up with abstract ideas--some of these ideas become inventions or lead to new discoveries. The fact that the supernatural and belief in a higher entity have been conceptualized means that there is a possibility it may be existent.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Apr 6, 2012 22:38:37 GMT -5
Yeah, I view religion as the same as mythology, too. I've always found the parallels between stories in different religions and mythologies to be particularly fascinating, i.e., the flood myth. Welp, everything just tells the same stories anyways. Archetypes are just rooted into the subconscious of all humans, so it's easy to find similarities when they manifest in different religions/stories. Haha, a fan of Jung's collective unconscious, are you?
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Post by Frederick on Apr 6, 2012 23:28:51 GMT -5
Welp, everything just tells the same stories anyways. Archetypes are just rooted into the subconscious of all humans, so it's easy to find similarities when they manifest in different religions/stories. Haha, a fan of Jung's collective unconscious, are you? Yup, did my social studies fair on it this year. I would have gone to district if my teacher had put it in the right category instead of history -.-
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Post by supersonic1453 on Apr 7, 2012 13:57:30 GMT -5
Ehhh, maybe? I dunno. Don't think about it very much.
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Post by Hiro the Half-Elf on Apr 8, 2012 7:23:45 GMT -5
Welp, everything just tells the same stories anyways. Archetypes are just rooted into the subconscious of all humans, so it's easy to find similarities when they manifest in different religions/stories. Haha, a fan of Jung's collective unconscious, are you? Ah, now if there's a "higher entity" I'd like to believe in, it's the collective unconscious. Or maybe, like, Shinto spirits. I like nature spirits. They coo'.
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Post by Umbra on Apr 8, 2012 15:38:29 GMT -5
I seen this Shinto priest once. He had the most awesome beard.
On an interesting sidenote, he was white, too, but was the real deal. Not that you can't have a white Shinto priest, but it was uncommon in my mind.
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Post by Hiro the Half-Elf on Apr 8, 2012 16:21:06 GMT -5
Less common than a Japanese Christian priest, for sure.
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Post by sukotsuto on Apr 8, 2012 20:17:47 GMT -5
I believe in a higher entity, a collective consciousness, and nature spirits, all at the same time lol. I feel all is possible, we just couldn't wrap around and explain it with such a extremely limited time and knowledge we have in this world, in this reality we perceive. Heck I believe we barely even scratched the surface of scientific discoveries, given how supposedly vast and near-infinite the whole universe is.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2012 4:11:17 GMT -5
I believe in a higher entity, this whole world couldn't possibly created by itself, there must a great power who created & calculated every move that happens, & that power is God.
if I had the ability I'd change the title of this thread to "Why do you not believe in a higher entity?"
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