It is my understanding that this is basically a forum for science-minded people.
Well some, we get the lunatic fringe here too. Some atheist, many theists, some islamics, and several buddhists, you could say we are a mixed group, however not all scientific, I'm not. Don't know didly about science, but I'm well versed in psychology and philosophy.
I therefore tried to limit my expressed reasons for belief in God to the need for a sufficient cause and the inability of science to show one.
Science can't show that which does not exists. Furthermore I don't think scientist are out there to disprove religious notions, they do that very much on their own, all one has to do is use a bit of common sense. Talking snake, similarities of stories of ancient civilizations, flying horse men, yada, yada, yada, you get the picture
Mine is a theory and until there is evidence to the contrary, it is not unreasonable or irrational to hold on to it, any more than it is unreasonable or irrational for a scientist to hold on to an explanatory theory so long as available evidence does not make it untenable.
I'm no scientist, however I do know that science does not hold a theory on mere faith, or belief.
There are practical and experiential reasons for my belief in God, too, but those are for another forum. My question is this: why are string and multiverse theories--neither of which are demonstrable even in theory--respectable and the God-theory isn’t?
Who says their respectable? I've found them on quackery websites too. Here is another I find a bit quacked, Big Bang Theory! I don't think it ever took place.
The man asked why I believe in God and I answered with a relatively long though in fact a very brief summary of my reasons.
And your reasons were:
I used to believe in God because I was taught to believe. Later in life I became a freethinker and atheist. Now, I believe precisely because I was a free thinker and not afraid to investigate unexplored areas of religious thought. Thanks to freethinking, I can comfortably say that atheism no longer poses a challenge to my theology. Everywhere I look, atheism employs either irrational arguments or wrong concepts of God to make its case. Mostly, though, the problem with atheism is not disbelief in God, but wrong belief.
So lets analyse this. You believed cause you were taught, inother words forced introdictination as a child, you rebelled as a teen, and supposedly became an atheist, "it was the cool thing to do" then after you didn't quite understand the atheistic argument, you revert back to what you had been taught all along, so you simply gave up! You figured since the world is complex then there must be some cause, some supernatural force who caused the universe, consciousness, and bla, bla, bla, given that the complexity of the world, and reality were just a bit too much for you to handle. You were never an atheist, by completely examining religious rhetoric, not only of christianity, but also for the many thousands of religions that have existed throughout the ages. You simply just rebelled against your forced "indoctrination" when found that you had trouble to identify your position, you simply reverted back to that quasy good joy feeling of being saved, and part of the group again. Hence you stepped away from the collective, and reverted back when you found it a bit too lonely. Right?
It may very well be that my belief is ultimately based on ignorance in want for answers, but reason and the existing preponderance of evidence points to an infinite God--that consciousness in evolution is a transition from the potential toward a self-existent Actual.
What reasons? What evidence points to an infinite god? See your vague here, my friend, you haven't given any reasons why you believe in god, and sure as hell you haven't provided any evidence. You are merely going on speculations and rationalizations, since you can't explain the complexity of consciousness, and reality, you then seek answers in what "you been taught" as a child, hence it's conforting to not think deeply on issues that can't be answered as yet. You given up, reason for mysticism, you given up logic for irrationality, therefore you were never an atheist by education, only as an experimentation! And you found, that you didn't like the critical thinking that it involves.
I am going to keep tabs on the proceedings here because I find them interesting, but please don’t insult your intelligence by likening belief in God to belief in tooth-fairies
What is the difference? Both are invisible, both are credible to a child, both hold magical powers, fairies and gods, are basically the same! What is the difference? in your own words.
