Do you believe in God

I'm a believer.
There's got to be a higher power in control of all this astounding stuff around us.

 

One brief misstep in you post, which I think is absolutely on point.

If an atheist's main objection stems from the concept of a God or supreme being, than they can actually be a Buddhist.

Buddhism is generally viewed as a religion or philosophy without a Supreme Being in the sense of a Creator God or Creator of the human race. The Buddha, also know as Siddhartha Gautama or Gautama Buddha is sometimes viewed as the example for a human who has achieved the primal, eternal, sustaining essence within all beings and phenomena, but by no means is The Buddha considered to be divine.

 

Are you guys REALLY believers?

Or hopers?

 

I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her
If I tried

 

Thanks for clearing that up, Red. Didn't quite realize that about Buddhism (I actually don't know a lot about it, which I probably should), although I always enjoy learning something new.

 

They're not? How can an objection be valid if you don't know what you're objecting?

 

From the very little I know about Catholicism and Pentacostalism, I can then decide I don't want to be a part of those religions, even without knowing more. To me, it's a perfect valid objection.

 

Alma, perhaps this is coming down to semantics. If you insist, atheists can start defining ourselves as "agnostics who don't believe in a god or gods." Of course, to me that is simply atheism.

Yes, it goes without saying that atheists cannot empirically prove that God does not exist. If that's your point, then you win. It's not possible. But in what perverse debate does it fall on non-believers to justify their lack of belief?

I can't prove that Santa Claus doesn't exist. But I feel secure saying that I don't believe in Santa Claus, and I don't plan to spend the rest of my years scouring the North Pole with a search team looking for him, just in case I'm wrong.

 

Declaring that you are a member of a certain religion and that your religion is the one true religion (which is a default if you are a member) is the equivalent of discounting all other religions. If you have not analyzed all other religions in the world how do you discount all and settle on one?

 

I'm not saying an atheist has to prove anything other than that they've actually considered all the world's positions on God. I doubt many have.

You can't just say "well, I don't feel a presence of god" because, in some faiths, you wouldn't.

 

You can be a Deist, as was Jefferson.
You can join Flannery O'Connor's Church Of Truth Without God, where the lame don't walk, the blind don't see, and what's dead stays that way.
Or you can join with me in Flann O'Brien's reason for not engaging in blasphemy -- because, if there is no god, it's stupid and unnecessary. And, if there is, it's dangerous.

 

But Buddhism has demons and reincarnation, two concepts I can't get behind.