Not a cop out it’s just not black and white. You seem to really be struggling with the fact someone could be in a state between believing in God and not.
You’d be surprised how many Christians will tell you they struggle with believing from time to time. The ones who will admit it at least. Many do and to many God is different from one to the next.
I won’t argue that religion hasn’t been usurped throughout history in the name of control. I can mostly only speak with any confidence on Christianity. The Bible regardless how holy and true we are told it is has no doubt been tainted by men throughout history.
There’s still plenty of good in religion despite that. And I don’t think it’s wrong to believe there’s more than what we see. What life looks like after death is a mystery. Science points to your body shuts down. Fact. But we can’t say with any certainty that’s it.
From my experience a healthy church encourages my skepticism. It’ll encourage asking tough questions. It helps me to explore what I believe. The reward when doing that exploration seems to vary from one to another. Myself I became more resilient to the day to day troubles around me that were too big. Me yelling in the void of social media doesn’t change much about issues like global warming or people in need. I can reduce my consumption I can repair instead of replace. I can volunteer my time to help kids who’s parents can’t take care of them. The universe as a whole will be a little better for it
Not all need religion, I accept that, some people have all they need to get by and will cruise from now to the grave. But to some of us it is a major force for happiness and healthiness.
The assertion "I believe in God" is true or false. It cannot be anything else.
Right but what is God? There’s a myriad of different answers to that and most religions a God is not a being as much an idea or force.
This is where it not being black and white comes into play. Answering that question with True of False means you believe my god is what you believe God to be. That’s likely not the case.
Nonsense. Belief in a god is a binary proposition.
Life isn’t black and white. Neither is religion, at least not a religion I’d follow. Those who make it black and white are we have hatred and division.
No such thing. Any ideology based and unprovable and unverified claims is a mistake by definition.
Given that religion is the root of past major civilizations which we are built on I’d say we wouldn’t have science without it. Hardly a mistake in my opinion. We might still be beating each other in the head with rocks without religion.
You're mistaken on both counts, I'm afraid. Please see http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CI/CI001.html and subsequent pages.
This doesn’t disprove intelligent design. People still argue we are a simulation within science. That’s a form of intelligent design. As is sending a spacecraft that terraforms the beginning of the world and steers throughout history. There are plenty of ways in which a god could have formed us.
Science has not found meaning. I cannot point to any scientific discovery that tells why we exist or what our purpose is.
It does provide meaning to some on a small scale who devote themselves to science.
Both statements can be true. Science can provide meaning on a small scale without ever finding it.
Science has and will continue to provide a lot of things that improve our lives. I only argue it has failed to deliver a sense of meaning on the scale of religion thus far.
If we believe in evolution then we must also believe that religion is an evolved advantage to our ancestors because it has formed over and over in all great civilizations past. It must have played and likely still plays some important role in the ability for humans to work together, live happily, and to be something bigger than the individual.
I don’t think forced religion is good people should have freedom of choice to include atheism. I also think it should be considered that it has had its place in history and probably still fills an important role.
What helps you would make some people very depressed. It’s great that you don’t need it and can provide your own path through life and death but many others need help.
To counter the core of what I felt this comic is saying. Religion can be replaced by Science. Right now it can’t.
There’s actual scientific evidence of it helping with depression and lower rates of mental health problems. If you google it you will find not one but many dozen articles discussing links between religion and improved mental health.
Not everyone who needs can work at an amusement park but anyone can find a religion to suit them even in the US.
Having a reason to live, a reason to do the right thing is a good thing. Religion done right accepts that the world is tough, they accept each other for their mistakes, teach one another how to get through life without anger and they forgive. It’s something very hard to get in day to day America. Until someone comes up with a better way to do this religion will still have a place.
But ultimately belief in a God isn’t deluded, intelligent design is still a real possibility.
Not insulted at all. Grew up in Church of Christ and I can tell you that church did not match me. There’s a lot to what didn’t match me but let’s go with the overall close mindedness of it was a problem for a curious mind.
As soon as I was old enough not to go, I didn’t. Atheism for the next two decades until I found something was missing. Explored other churches and found a non-denominational that matches my views as well as doesn’t judge me as a heretic for questioning.
I think it’s unfortunate many of us grow up going to a specific brand of church. What worked for our parents in their situation may not line up either with our personality or the world we live in today.