God exists only in your mind!!!

[nubianconcubine]

I genuinely want to know how theists justify their beliefs. DD seems confident that atheism and theism are equally valid, but that would require a way to validate ones theistic beliefs. if one cannot validate ones beliefs, then they are not equal, considering atheism is built around the idea that one must justify things with evidence or logic.

you say live and let live. I say let the more valid method be known. one should not deny truth to maintain the status quo.

that's the point. athiests and theists are two separate species. it's like trying to compare cats and dogs. trying to compare the group thought of canines with the loner mentality of felines. the basis of religion is faith and faith has no scientific basis. it has more to do with the "paranormal". we feel it is right. no, we can't prove scientifically that god exists. there, i said it. but we can feel it inside us and all around us and that's good enough for us. i do not under any circumstances believe in pushing my beliefs onto others. i feel it defeats the purpose of faith altogether. i tend to be ashamed of those that do. but like i said, we simply don't want the rest of you to miss out on something we feel will be a really great thing. so we tend to get overzealous.
religion is based on things that are - or should - already be self-evident. like the sins. you don't do things to others that you wouldn't want to happen to you. i suppose religion is a way of cementing those beliefs and giving a reason to the "why not?"...
all i can tell you is that science will not be able to convince theists that there is no god anymore than our feelings will be able to convince athiests that god is real. two totally different states of mind.

 

[cato]

we feel it is right

thats all I wanted. it feels good. not different than crack. I just don't want theist running around saying that their beliefs are as valid as atheism.