I have a friend with the same views
and I think it's a bit lame. Do you believe there is a god or don't you? Obviously we can't prove there isn't (cf Russell's teapot), although God could really save us all a lot of bother by manifesting in Trafalgar square and clearing the whole thing up. But do you really not have an opinion one way or the other?
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flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Thu 5 Feb 2009, 13:58,
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If there is a "God", i.e. some all powerful being that watches over us/ created us
he is nothing at all like the "God" that all the religions describe.
When good things happen, people thank God - he made it right. When things go badly, God is either ignored or it's "all part of his plan". I like what David Attenborough said about the worm whose sole purpose is to burrow through eyeballs.
I think it's very obvious that most religions arise from the fact that our ancestors couldn't comprehend a lot of what happened, so they filled in the gaps with God.
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The Coast Of Yemen, Thu 5 Feb 2009, 14:09,
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It's being open minded to the possibilities
i mean i dont seriously believe in santa claus or faries but that alone doesn't mean they can't exist.
Suspending Judgement is the only way to go when this are not knowable and since philosophy teaches us that Knowledge can never be achieved we have to at suspend judgement on everything...at least a little
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Sonic 2 and Knuckles, Thu 5 Feb 2009, 14:16,
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I don't believe in a god, as in a beardy consciousness in the sky,
But I'm open to many ideas that are beyond our comprehension. Perhaps the universe is just an eternal and cyclical system with no plan? Perhaps it had a begining and will have an end? Perhaps god is chaos? Perhaps the universe is ordered into an intelligence of its own? Perhaps our universe is simply a computer simulation by some consciousness beyond our abilities to percieve?
I don't believe in God or Allah or Jehova, as these are just humanised labels that have been given to things we can't possibly hope to understand. BUT, unlike many of my atheist friends, I am willing to live with cognitive dissonance over this- pretending that you can know 'the truth' is arrogant. It's possible to reject human-based religious traditions without rejecting spirituality. It's also possible to reject the ego-centric/human-centric view of 'God' without claiming that nothing exists beyond our own comprehension (an equally ego/human-centric position).
So I suppose my thoughts about 'god' are confused by the labelling- god is the only word we have for what is beyond our understanding. The core of my belief is that the human mind is a wonderful, but ultimately limited and flawed instrument for attempting to understand the universe. Thus, pretending to know any absolutes is ridiculous.
Having said that, we must learn to explore the nature of the universe within the constraints of our minds. I believe science is the best tool we (currently) have for this, and so I lean much more towards the conventional 'scientific' understanding than I do to a religious one.
So: I suppose I reject the conventional idea of God, but am unwilling to reject the possibility of something beyond ourselves (or 'god'!).
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Fishcat Difficult difficult lemon difficult., Thu 5 Feb 2009, 14:17,
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