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Is religion a lifestyle choice?

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Amadeus

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Just curious what your thoughts are on this. Being an atheist, I don't understand faith. However, I often see religious folk say that their faith is constantly tested, and that it requires work and dedication to maintain.

At the same time, people say that opinions derived from religious convictions can't be judged by the same criteria as other opinions. Which kind of confuses me, and I think is part of what frustrates other atheists.
 
Just curious what your thoughts are on this. Being an atheist, I don't understand faith. However, I often see religious folk say that their faith is constantly tested, and that it requires work and dedication to maintain.

At the same time, people say that opinions derived from religious convictions can't be judged by the same criteria as other opinions. Which kind of confuses me, and I think is part of what frustrates other atheists.

Opinions are Things that have no truth value.

Strawberry icecream is the best flavor ... that's an opinion, it has no truth Value.
God will judge mankind .... that is a religious conviction, it's either true or false.

That's just ONE difference.

Faith can be tested in other situations other than religious, faith in Your wife, faith in Your government, faith in Yourfriends, faith in engineers who make airplanes and so on.
 
Opinions are Things that have no truth value.

Strawberry icecream is the best flavor ... that's an opinion, it has no truth Value.
God will judge mankind .... that is a religious conviction, it's either true or false.

That's just ONE difference.

Faith can be tested in other situations other than religious, faith in Your wife, faith in Your government, faith in Yourfriends, faith in engineers who make airplanes and so on.

An opinion is an evaluation of information. It has no truth value, but then neither does the truth, if it isn't true. You make a conscious decision to accept something as true, thus forming an opinion.
 
An opinion is an evaluation of information. It has no truth value, but then neither does the truth, if it isn't true. You make a conscious decision to accept something as true, thus forming an opinion.

No one Accepts something as true unless they think it's ACTUALLY true.
 
Just curious what your thoughts are on this. Being an atheist, I don't understand faith. However, I often see religious folk say that their faith is constantly tested, and that it requires work and dedication to maintain.
At the same time, people say that opinions derived from religious convictions can't be judged by the same criteria as other opinions. Which kind of confuses me, and I think is part of what frustrates other atheists.

Faith and Religion are not interchangeable terms. I believe the crux of faith is that one believes in the spiritual. Christ said: "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

This is the dividing point between those who would be good, and those who would be faithful. Good do not worship God. They are sufficient in themselves. Self-approved if you will.
The faithful deny self and worship God. The test is how far we are able to deny self and trust God.
I believe both of these are religions of sorts. They are practices based on your faith, or lack of faith. They are opposing views.
 
Which is ultimately an opinion.

And this is the issue for me: religion is a choice, not a solid fact in life. God is a belief, not a truth. (my interpretation).

People choose to believe and decide it's important. Hence why a lot of people are road-side faith followers and don't really care all that much.
 
Like any ideology, the subset we call religion is certainly a choice.

While people tend to get confused in terms of judging religious convictions differently than they do other ideological convictions, what is more interesting to me are the ways people react to the different religions along the same lines. Especially when discussing the Abrahamic religions, precious few judge by the same yardstick.
 
No, because there is a fact of the matter ...

To the person it may be a "fact", but ultimately it is really just an opinion. It isn't FACT that God exists, it is called faith for a reason. Now the person may call it "truth" or "fact", but that is no different than me calling a "dog" a "cat" and then claiming it as fact and trying to tell people as such.

Religion is a choice.
 
No, because there is a fact of the matter ...

You know - when my father was questioned in that way his response was usually something like "If I'm wrong at least I won't suffer for it." Which was much more palatable and made him vulnerable and yet it seemed true at the same time. There's a humbleness to his beliefs - and he doesn't alienate people, that's not his job.

His job is to bring people into the church by being understanding, opening, and welcoming.

His job is not to distance people from the church by being snide, judgmental, and stubborn.
 
To the person it may be a "fact", but ultimately it is really just an opinion. It isn't FACT that God exists, it is called faith for a reason. Now the person may call it "truth" or "fact", but that is no different than me calling a "dog" a "cat" and then claiming it as fact and trying to tell people as such.

Religion is a choice.

Whether or not God exists is a Fact ... either he does or he doesn't.

As opposed to whether or not ice cream is delicious ....
 
You know - when my father was questioned in that way his response was usually something like "If I'm wrong at least I won't suffer for it." Which was much more palatable and made him vulnerable and yet it seemed true at the same time. There's a humbleness to his beliefs - and he doesn't alienate people, that's not his job.

His job is to bring people into the church by being understanding, opening, and welcoming.

His job is not to distance people from the church by being snide, judgmental, and stubborn.

Absoluetly ...

But theologically speaking, either religious truths are true or they are not, that's my point.
 
Whether or not God exists is a Fact ... either he does or he doesn't.

Actually partially true. Can you rule out multiple Gods and what are those roles? Is the God a Christian God, etc.

Yes, the ANSWER to those questions COULD be a FACT, but you cannot say a deity(ies) exisitence or non-existiance is fact.

Regardless, religion is still a choice. You CHOOSE what to believe and that belief is not fact as it hasn't been proven.
 
"for we walk by faith, not by sight."

Says it all.
 
"for we walk by faith, not by sight."

Says it all.

And that's great, just don't expect us to support laws based solely on your "faith".
 
No, because there is a fact of the matter ...

Here is the thing...You are given 5 senses to interpret your world. The question is, can your senses be fooled? There is lots of evidence that it's possible to fool sight, touch, taste and smell. When you evaluate your world you make the assumption that your senses can know the real world.

As a non-theist, the only faith I have (that can be compared to religious faith in that I cannot prove what I'm about to say), is that my senses are at least sometimes accurate. Everything else, truth, and morality can be determined via evidence. Having said that I know it takes 10's, 100's or even thousands of pieces of information to determine if something is true, and only one piece of information to make a belief that was formally considered true, false

Now not all truths (what your calling facts) are of equal wight and value. The "truthiness" of a claim is proportional to the evidence for it.....

I understand that there may be facts and truths which are external to us, that are true independent of any interpretation of their truth value, but no one lives in that realm. We live in the realm of interpreting the world though the imperfect instruments of our senses, thus all facts held by us, are in fact opinions....
 
Whether or not God exists is a Fact ... either he does or he doesn't.

Your insinuating that there are two choices and thus equal chance for each.....

If I drop a dart out of an jet flying at 30,000 feet trying to hit the bullseye on a dart board laying flat on the ground. There are two choices, either ill hit the bullseye or I won't, but the chances that one of the outcomes is much greater than the other. I'd say I have about the same chance of hitting the bullseye as you have of demonstrating that your god, in fact, is real.
 
Absoluetly ...

But theologically speaking, either religious truths are true or they are not, that's my point.

True to the believers and followers of said faith - that is what's key to establish, here. It's not a matter of universal fact.

Things cross the line when people of those beliefs try to govern others based on those beliefs. That crosses from religion to politics.
 
True to the believers and followers of said faith - that is what's key to establish, here. It's not a matter of universal fact.

Things cross the line when people of those beliefs try to govern others based on those beliefs. That crosses from religion to politics.

While I don't necessarily disagree with you, the question in my mind is upon what beliefs should it be acceptable to govern others. Regardless of your background, theist or non-theist, everyone has beliefs and those beliefs inform our actions. This is why spiritual and religious beliefs shouldn't get defacto protection in our culture, just because they are "religious".
 
Could you define what you think faith means in that sentence?

Walking by faith means living life in light of eternal consequences. To walk by faith is to fear God more than man; to obey the Bible even when it conflicts with man’s commands; to choose righteousness over sin, no matter what the cost; to trust God in every circumstance; and to believe God rewards those who seek Him, regardless of who says otherwise

Walking by sight is what the materialist of this world do. The sheeple if you will.
 
While I don't necessarily disagree with you, the question in my mind is upon what beliefs should it be acceptable to govern others. Regardless of your background, theist or non-theist, everyone has beliefs and those beliefs inform our actions. This is why spiritual and religious beliefs shouldn't get defacto protection in our culture, just because they are "religious".

Of course not...Satanism is a religion.
 
Here is the thing...You are given 5 senses to interpret your world. The question is, can your senses be fooled? There is lots of evidence that it's possible to fool sight, touch, taste and smell. When you evaluate your world you make the assumption that your senses can know the real world.

As a non-theist, the only faith I have (that can be compared to religious faith in that I cannot prove what I'm about to say), is that my senses are at least sometimes accurate. Everything else, truth, and morality can be determined via evidence. Having said that I know it takes 10's, 100's or even thousands of pieces of information to determine if something is true, and only one piece of information to make a belief that was formally considered true, false

Now not all truths (what your calling facts) are of equal wight and value. The "truthiness" of a claim is proportional to the evidence for it.....

I understand that there may be facts and truths which are external to us, that are true independent of any interpretation of their truth value, but no one lives in that realm. We live in the realm of interpreting the world though the imperfect instruments of our senses, thus all facts held by us, are in fact opinions....

Concepts such as love, justice, etc are not fact based. We arrive at these with our intellect, which is also how we arrive at God.
 
Concepts such as love, justice, etc are not fact based. We arrive at these with our intellect, which is also how we arrive at God.

Actually love is just simple chemical signals programmed though thousands of years of evolution meant to ensure the survival of our species that can be seen in the brain with an fMRI....

Justice is a concept created by man in light of circumstances that surround us. In this sense it is a useful social construct, but it is by no means universal....

Can you give me a statement that involve the concepts you gave above that cannot be judged in the light of truth?
 
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