Religious conversions

[Hapsburg]

Could you elaborate a bit on how you can believe in something while not believing in it? That's honestly not meant to be a flippant question.

Believing it to be true does not make it true, in and of itself. I believe in the things I've seen, because I have seen them for myself. That's a personal and subjective thing, though. I cannot expect others to believe them outright, because they have not experienced them.
To be put it another way, I'm just not an absolutist when it comes to my beliefs. I'm a relativist. I know that beliefs are not objective; they're opinions. I don't think others are wrong just for not holding the same opinion as me. That would be really arrogant and juvenile.

 

[Jan Ardena]

Aqueous Id,

It's not the plain meaning of the word [google]: [to] deliver a sermon or religious address to an assembled group of people, typically in church.

Let's not forget the other uses of the word:

Websters,

: to write or speak about (something) in an approving way : to say that (something) is good or necessary

: to write or speak in an annoying way about the right way to behave

of action; specifically : to exhort in an officious or tiresome manner
transitive verb

2
: to advocate earnestly <preached revolution>
3
: to deliver (as a sermon) publicly

They are quite active. They pop up in the science threads all the time, claiming that science is broken, that it's the product of robots controlled by an elite, that evolution is lie, Big Bang theory is a lie, climate science is a lie, that relativity is a lie, and that anyone whose name they can associate with science (usu. Darwin, Newton and Einstein) is wrong and the robots have foolishly adopted that person's work, and also that the most obvious cases (the ones they have heard of) involving scientific discovery invalidates the "truth" of science, since there is a apparent conflict between the old and new science.

Do they?
You oughta send them over here.

unless they are passive, and/or trying to bring their religiosity up to a standard that the atheist will let slip

Most folks will respond when they see factual errors or invalid conclusions.

Not sure how this addresses my point. But eh!

As you know a majority of Christians follow religions which embrace evolution. Fundamentalism rejects evolution by insisting on a literal interpretation of the Bible. That's the minority view. Add to this all Christians who are literate to some degree in science. They will tend to reject fundamentalism and accept evolution.

I'm aware that there are Christians who are atheistic, yes, and have no trouble following darwinism.

You shouldn't be surprised by the reaction science-literate people have to the trashing of science by fundamentalists. It deserves to be known for what it is--the glorification of ignorance. It's pretty basic to human behavior that intelligence will dominate ignorance, and, when necessary, unleash scorn for ignorance when it acts out in class.

It's a good thing ''science literism'' isn't science itself, or the art of doing science.

The future is bright, because intelligence has a slight edge over ignorance.

Intelligence never left the building, 'ignorance' is the guy always trying take over the world and never realising that he can't. no matter how much money, influence, or air time he hoggs, because the truth always prevails

jan.

 

[Franklin]

I grew up as an atheist in an atheist home with little exposure to religion. I investigated religions in my teens and found no value in them. Then I experienced life. I saw the horrors of modern culture. I saw how despicable modern people are. I saw my good friends go insane or kill themselves. I saw my not so good friends stab me in the back. So I looked for an alternative. I studied history and science to try to understand what went wrong with humanity. I saw that religion was a civilizing influence in history, so I began researching religion. I visited churches, synagogues, and a mosque. And I read religious books. The one book that stands far above anything that I have ever read is the Old Testament. This is the only book that I completely relate too. Here is Moses trying to civilize a bunch of worthless slaves, who resemble modern people, by imposing a civilizing religion on them. And miraculously, this succeeds enough to create a successful nation. Then the nation goes into decline and there are the prophets condemning all the immorality that is just like in modern times. I relate to the prophets and I am in awe of Moses. These are the only people I have ever read about that share my view on life.

I don't believe in a supernatural god, but I do believe in God who I interpret as the forces of nature that support morality and destroy immoral cultures. This God is personified in the Bible so that people can better relate to Him.

Whenever I am depressed, I turn to the Bible to read the writings of my only true friends, the prophets of the Bible. The Bible is my greatest consolation.

 

[arauca]

I grew up as an atheist in an atheist home with little exposure to religion. I investigated religions in my teens and found no value in them. Then I experienced life. I saw the horrors of modern culture. I saw how despicable modern people are. I saw my good friends go insane or kill themselves. I saw my not so good friends stab me in the back. So I looked for an alternative. I studied history and science to try to understand what went wrong with humanity. I saw that religion was a civilizing influence in history, so I began researching religion. I visited churches, synagogues, and a mosque. And I read religious books. The one book that stands far above anything that I have ever read is the Old Testament. This is the only book that I completely relate too. Here is Moses trying to civilize a bunch of worthless slaves, who resemble modern people, by imposing a civilizing religion on them. And miraculously, this succeeds enough to create a successful nation. Then the nation goes into decline and there are the prophets condemning all the immorality that is just like in modern times. I relate to the prophets and I am in awe of Moses. These are the only people I have ever read about that share my view on life.

I don't believe in a supernatural god, but I do believe in God who I interpret as the forces of nature that support morality and destroy immoral cultures. This God is personified in the Bible so that people can better relate to Him.

Whenever I am depressed, I turn to the Bible to read the writings of my only true friends, the prophets of the Bible. The Bible is my greatest consolation.

Thank you Franklin , Your post is a fresh air to this environment . I agree with you religion gives or induces self control if the individuo chooses to practice .