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What do you believe in without having any evidence of?
- Thread starter tomspug
- Start date
And years later it turned out their last message was "so long, and thanks for all the fish."Dolphins and whales are quite bright, as the for the rest I'm not sure.
Spiral Galaxy
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I cannot believe something only on the basis of being told by someone else. The instant I am told something, my decision to believe it will always be influenced by my prior understanding of reality and my innate skepticism.
Muffled
Jesus in me
I figure that I am descended from aliens but then I have over 25,000 antecedents in my genealogy chart.
Muffled
Jesus in me
I believe you must live a very sheltered life but then I don't really believe that it is true.
Muffled
Jesus in me
I don't know how that can be. Does one question that 1 + 1 = 2? Granted not all the things taught are true but usually that is figured out somehwere along the line. However I believe one ought to be skeptical of inveterate liars, politicians and people proposing a new religion.
Cephus
Relentlessly Rational
It doesn't matter what you believe, it matters what is actually so.
Spiral Galaxy
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I think perhaps I was not being clear. I did not mean that I choose not to believe only on the basis of being told by someone else, I mean that I cannot stop myself from considering the statement in the context of my own memories and experiences and making a judgement as whether to accept/reject. Naturally I do not question that 1 + 1 =2 as it matches perfectly with my memory and experience.
Spiral Galaxy
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I think perhaps it does matter what you believe. Belief informs action and actions have consequences.
Cephus
Relentlessly Rational
Yes, of course but that wasn't what I was saying. Even if you have the most innocent, innocuous beliefs, if those beliefs are factually incorrect, they are incorrect, regardless of how your beliefs make you feel. There are a lot of beliefs that are potentially dangerous because, as you said, our beliefs inform our actions and do impact how people think, how they act and how they vote.
Right, this is what your concern about religions really consist of. I understand and can work with it.
However we can't necessarily understand or determine how what they believe will affect their actions. We can only deal with the actual actions. We do this by passing laws. So attacking their beliefs in the hopes of causing others to vote the way you think they should.
My position is closest to Hinduism I think. All this is illusion. The reality of dualism, nothing exist outside the subjective experience. Which means as far as I am concerned, your acceptance on an objective reality is incorrect yet does your belief in if affect the way you vote?
What does effect the way you vote? I believe in compassion. Don't need an objective reality for that. It does surprise me though, Jesus, who I think taught compassion, so why would Christians pass laws against their fellow man? If they believe homosexuality a sin, didn't Jesus teach to have compassion for the sinner?
