• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Search results

  1. F

    As an atheist, what is your relationship with guilt and past misdeeds?

    I know I raised the topic, but I might just chip in a brief thought on the matter myself: I guess the thing with guilt is that it shows you care, that it shows that as stupid as you've gotten and unkind as you've been, it still matters to you on some level that you might be doing harm, it's...
  2. F

    As an atheist, what is your relationship with guilt and past misdeeds?

    Oh, no. Really not. I think everyone (with a conscience) has felt guilt or regret at one point or another. I was just interested in people's responses to it, and suspected that I'd get more diverse (and therefore interesting) results if I asked the question of atheists rather than religious...
  3. F

    As an atheist, what is your relationship with guilt and past misdeeds?

    This is a subject that interests me, because religions all have ways of responding to misdeeds (sin, karma, forgiveness, etc). It seems to be quite universal among religions. Atheists, on the other hand, are unlikely to find much comfort in the majority of these ideas, so I'm curious as to how...
  4. F

    Can False Beliefs Be Good?

    That's a good point. It does make a difference. Although, to save getting in to a lengthy parallel discussion about the nature of morality, perhaps we can, for the sake of argument, assume that their actions are morally good by a standard we can all agree on? Because in that case, if we all...
  5. F

    Can False Beliefs Be Good?

    Actually, it's interesting you mention Aesop's fables, but the point could apply more generally to fiction. I can recall several instances of having my whole life changed (or appearing to have been changed) by the power of a work of fiction, but then I do still wonder if there are certain...
  6. F

    Post Something You Find Beautiful

    And I love trees. What a lovely picture.
  7. F

    Can False Beliefs Be Good?

    Imagine there was a religion in which most if not all of the "factual" claims it made were false, even ridiculous, but most if not all of the behavior it in encouraged in its followers was good. I've been deliberately vague in that description so that, for the sake of this discussion, you can...
  8. F

    The Best Vocalists

    Some great choices here. Good call on Bjork, Tori Amos, Mark Lanegan, Tom Waits. I'll add to that Antony (from Antony and the Johnsons), Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Eva Cassidy. Oh, and nobody's mentioned Jeff Buckley, which is surprising to me, and rather a shame, so here's a video: A3adFWKE9JE...
  9. F

    A Suggestion That Theism Is Illogical

    Regardless of the nature of an idea, we have to use something to determine whether that idea makes sense to us or not. As far as I can tell there are only two ways to do that. One of which is to go with what feels right, the other to work out whether the idea holds together logically. Now...
  10. F

    A Suggestion That Theism Is Illogical

    It isn't possible to completely understand the weather by logic. This doesn't mean that the motion of air molecules is not logical, simply that it is too complex for us to break down. The same is quite probably true of art, music, religion, etc. What I mean is that logic is a tool by which we...
  11. F

    A Suggestion That Theism Is Illogical

    Sorry. I'm assuming here you're saying one of those things. Obviously, if you're not, just say so. I wouldn't want to respond to a point you haven't actually made, and in doing so fail to respond to one you have.
  12. F

    A Suggestion That Theism Is Illogical

    Are you suggesting that God is beyond logic, that God does not adhere to logic, or that logic is not fit to understand God?
  13. F

    A Suggestion That Theism Is Illogical

    Yes, well, if I've understood you properly, that would constitute a pantheistic viewpoint. What I posted above isn't an argument against pantheism, only conventional theism. I'm not saying there's no God of any sort, only that the conventional theistic understanding of God doesn't make sense to me.
  14. F

    A Suggestion That Theism Is Illogical

    Well, yes, I understand that a human viewpoint on these things is profoundly limited, but all human beings, be they atheists, theists, pantheists or whatever else, still only have human concepts with which to discuss these things. I mean, even the most profound and transcendent experiences must...
  15. F

    Post Something You Find Beautiful

    A thought or idea, a saying or quote, a poem, a song, a picture, a joke, a mathematical formula, a piece of cutlery. I don't care. I just want you to find it beautiful, and I want you to post it here, so that other people can try to see in it what you see.
  16. F

    A Suggestion That Theism Is Illogical

    Just some thoughts I've had on the subject, and this is in no sense written with the aim of disrupting anyone's subjective spiritual experience. For the record, I don't think debate should be about that. It should just be to get people thinking and questioning, improving, broadening and...
  17. F

    Holes In Your Socks: Proof That Moms don't Exist

    There are no holes in my socks because my mum is omniscient, omnipotent and flawlessly benevolent. It almost sounds as though your Mum isn't! :O
  18. F

    Universal Religion

    I don't believe there ever can be a universal religion, unless we just include everybody by default (like discordians do). I love the idea, though. Perhaps the idea that people simply live their lives in pursuit of truth, be it physical, emotional, moral, spiritual or any other kind of truth...
  19. F

    Is Truth Subjective? Is Subjectively the Only Way We Have of Experiencing the World?

    If there's no objective truth, that in itself is an objective truth. Of course that may just mean that human logic can't concieve of a truth that is not objective, but seeing as that's the case I think we haven't really any choice but to treat the truth as something that is objective in theory...
  20. F

    Why do Christians value the Bible more than science?

    Like, a God of the gaps sort of thing? That's not a criticism, by the way (although I do have my complaints with the God of the gaps idea which I may or may not voice later on, depending on whether it seems appropriate to do so) I just wondered if that's what you meant or if I've got the wrong...
Top