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Why might one wish to mitigate one's lack of belief ...

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
I have no issue with strong belief or lack of belief unless they directly inform or inspire actions that upend my rights and freedoms. However, just as a speed limit and a measure of caution in driving are wise and beneficial in a vehicle, I find that tempering fervent belief or lack of belief with a baseline of uncertainty and openness to evidence is a crucial element of a sound and healthy worldview.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
I'm not sure that 'mitigate' would be the right word to use, but I think it is a healthy exercise to question your beliefs and lack of beliefs periodically. So, it might be a good thing to revisit arguments or consider alternative approaches that might lead to belief.

After due consideration, you may conclude that you still don't believe, but the exercise is still a good thing.
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
... not the loss of belief, but a long standing lack of belief in deity?
To connect or fit in better with other people around them who believe already
To feel a connection to the deity, such as a feeling of fellowship or to feel involved with deity
To study what the deity is or to try to understand deity
To attempt to gain supernatural knowledge
To attempt to enhance personal intuition or expand awareness beyond natural awareness
To find out what is there in the unseen like an explorer does
To remember or experience what it used to be like (historically) to believe
To transfer the self into the deity and be extinguished (analogous to Buddhist nirvana)
To escape, such as from horrible surroundings, into a different state of mind
To leave personal feelings behind, connecting to a different set of feelings, such as divine feelings
To feel important, drawn to belief perhaps by a desire for importance. An attempt to feel like one is important
To fight against belief in other kinds of deity: to fight belief with belief
To find a way to believe that everything will be Ok
To be transformed by the belief, thinking that the belief is itself a transformative experience
To have a parent, through God, someone to rely upon emotionally
In search of a means of control, such as to control the weather or nature or some other thing not normally controlled
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
... not the loss of belief, but a long standing lack of belief in deity?
To the best of my understanding the most common reason is genuine disconfort.

Proponents of "universal belief" tend to rely on the specific belief that everyone (sometimes literally everyone) would share their belief if they were wise enough, fortunate enough, or something similar.

That it could actually be proper or even best for many people to lack that belief can be a distressing thought for those.
 

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
... not the loss of belief, but a long standing lack of belief in deity?

I've done this, in a very direct and deliberate fashion once in my adult life. In case it's of interest, I'll try and explain.

In general terms, I try to be reasonably open-minded, but at heart I'm a skeptic. It's not really a negative worldview, more just how I consider and integrate new information into my existing beliefs. That doesn't just apply to religion, of course, but also politics, philosophy...anything, really. Accept all new information at face value all the time, and your worldview becomes almost incoherent I would say. So instead I consider how new information fits with what I know, with what I've seen. I kinda...let it breathe a bit.

This was somewhat less of the case when I was younger, although not markedly so. Still, in my uni years I did what college kids have often traditionally done. I looked for better answers. Politics was probably my main area of study with that in mind, but both philosophy and religion got consideration. I had a couple of friends who were very...I'm not sure what the word is. Impressive, in their own distinct ways. One was male, more worldly than me, and had been studying journalism before switching to teaching. That was so similar to my path, but he had a confidence and a individualism that was pretty compelling. I remember being surprised when I found out he was religious (not just casually so). Roman Catholic. The other was a girl I commonly studied with. We were kind of an odd friendship pairing in some ways, but she was exceptionally kind, and studious. I kinda taught her to stress less, and trust herself, I think. She taught me to invest a bit more effort and care in what I was doing. She was Assembly of God (of all things...).

In any case, they were vastly different from each other, but both were impactful people to a developing me. And since I was reading as much as I could about all sorts of topics that could impact my worldview, I decided to try religion, even without any kernel of belief. I thought perhaps going through the motions (to a degree) might lead me to some more insight, and it was something I hadn't done since I was a child. So that's what I did. I tried to stuff my critical brain in a sock and simply go to church, and some associated social gatherings.

At the end of it I'd learnt a few things but amongst them was that my lack of a kernel of belief was unchanged.
Still, it gave me a better appreciation for the diverse role religion can play in lives (even where people are nominally all Christian) and let me saw my friends in a more holistic way.
 

blü 2

Veteran Member
Premium Member
... not the loss of belief, but a long standing lack of belief in deity?
Hmm. It's not a question I've personally encountered in my adult days.

Fear of death, perhaps?

An acculturated emotional buzz that there really is a Being in Charge out there, despite the Iguazu of evidence to the contrary?

Pascal's Wager because (at least on the surface) there's no down side?
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
@Brickjectivity
To connect or fit in better with other people around them who believe already: Why is that necessary? Do theists and atheists not connect in world? Are they at war?
To feel a connection to the deity, such as a feeling of fellowship or to feel involved with deity: And what if there is none?
To study what the deity is or to try to understand deity: And what if there is none?
To attempt to gain supernatural knowledge: That is funny. What supernatural knowledge one gets by being a theist?
To attempt to enhance personal intuition or expand awareness beyond natural awareness: Intuition if OK, but is one's intuition always correct?
To find out what is there in the unseen like an explorer does: For that one needs evidence. Is there any for God and soul?
To remember or experience what it used to be like (historically) to believe: Historically, different beliefs led to war and strife.
To transfer the self into the deity and be extinguished (analogous to Buddhist nirvana): Why does one need a deity for that. One can be one with nature.
To escape, such as from horrible surroundings, into a different state of mind: Escapist, deny reality?
To leave personal feelings behind, connecting to a different set of feelings, such as divine feelings: Why should one term altruistic feelings as 'divine'? Even atheists have that.
To feel important, drawn to belief perhaps by a desire for importance. An attempt to feel like one is important: Ha ha. Why does one need to feel more important than others.
To fight against belief in other kinds of deity: to fight belief with belief: That is what I said. Different beliefs lead to war and strife.
To find a way to believe that everything will be OK: Everything, unfortunately cannot be OK. We have to adjust to what is not OK.
To be transformed by the belief, thinking that the belief is itself a transformative experience: Atheists too can have transformative experiences.
To have a parent, through God, someone to rely upon emotionally: Why not rely on family?
In search of a means of control, such as to control the weather or nature or some other thing not normally controlled: Ha ha, again. Extreme cold, heat, rain, tornadoes, typhoons, floods droughts, earthquakes, volcanoes, sunamies, forest fires - control that with belief. You are taking me back to Vedic times.

parjanya%20yajna%20PTI-compressed.jpg
Varun Jayna to stop rain
tamil-nadu-water-woes-aiadmk-performs-havan-seeking-rain-dmk-stages-protest.jpg
Yajna to bring rain
 
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PureX

Veteran Member
There is no they. Why might someone in good faith seek to address his or her absence of belief? It's not a trick question.
Because they finally realized that their "lack of belief" is just a baseless bias, and they need to revisit the issue for the sake of their own intellectual honesty.
 

Brian2

Veteran Member
... not the loss of belief, but a long standing lack of belief in deity?

I suppose it is a grief that does not go away.
Personally I don't want to lose my belief and I can imagine other Christians or Jews who have been involved in these forums to have had their faith attacked over and over and it can take it out of your faith after a while even if you have strong faith. If they feel the way I have felt at times I imagine some might say that they do not believe any more even if in reality it has not gone that far. But I have just gone on in faith and found that God can increase your faith again if you are open to it.
If you just want to feel better about not believing. I don't know I can help you.
It is interesting to notice the concerted attack on the historicity and legitimacy of the Bible, both Testaments, over the past couple of hundred years and with increasing intensity. It certainly is easy to fall prey to these attacks and to actually believe some of them are correct and then once you do that and lose some faith it would be easier to just let the other attacks have their way with you and go the whole hog in saying the whole Bible is just a pack of lies.
It certainly helps to listen to the more conservative Bible historians and see these attacks as not as bad as you had thought.
 

Hermit Philosopher

Selflessly here for you
... not the loss of belief, but a long standing lack of belief in deity?

As someone who was raised atheist in a secular society, I’d say that one doesn’t - unless one’s experiences force one to.

Then, after exhausting all secular avenues first -if doubts persists- one may start looking in more spiritual directions.


Humbly
Hermit
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
@Brickjectivity
To connect or fit in better with other people around them who believe already: Why is that necessary? Do theists and atheists do not connect in world? Are they at war? ...
Please learn to distinguish between
  • "why might someone wish to ...?", and
  • "why should someone wish to ...?".

It is not a debate thread. It asks for possible motivations, not for your evaluation..
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
Because they finally realized that their "lack of belief" is just a baseless bias, and they need to revisit the issue for the sake of their own intellectual honesty.
The irony of you talking about "baseless bias" should be lost on no one ...
 
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