Existence of God

[Crickett]

Originally Posted by iron_jones

I'm not a communist or an atheist and I plan on keeping it that way.

Are you Batman?

[iron_jones]

Originally Posted by Crickett

Are you Batman?

Hope not.

[Eltu]

You know, if there is interest in an actual debate, I can always clean up the thread.

But given the amount of activity here at the moment, I won't enforce that

[Omatikaya Tsamsiyu]

So why did you say 'chuckles sovietly'?

[Theorist]

You absolutely cannot prove or disprove G/god. Simply because:

There are 3 types of knowns/unknowns
1. Things we know we know.
2. Things we know we don't know.
3. Things we don't know we don't know.

That 3rd category will not be eliminated ever.

Also, we have know way of knowing how a higher power would act. What morals it would hold, etc. Any disproof of G/god based on how the universe plays out is entirely irrelevant, because there is no way of knowing how G/god would command the Universe.

My opinion? I'm skeptical a G/god was required to start the uni/multi-verse.

That said, even if there is a G/god, and he acts to control the universe, there is some mechanism by which he does that act. (I'll say it has to be physically real, because it is acting on the physical universe, thus it should be some real physical mechanism if it interacts with the real physical universe).

That being said, and sufficiently advanced race may come to understand these mechanisms, and thus make itself indistinguishable from G/god.

If these mechanisms are no physical, simply interjections, well idk. I'm not sure they can be, since it seems wrong to say G/god could violate the "laws of physics." Rather, if G/god appears to do so, maybe it is better to say our laws of physics simply need to be adjusted to allowed for that 'interjection' mechanism G/god is using?

[Omatikaya Tsamsiyu]

Originally Posted by iron_jones

I'm not a communist or an atheist and I plan on keeping it that way.

Good

[iron_jones]

Originally Posted by Omatikaya Tsamsiyu

Good

I assumed you'd want me to be an atheist.

[Raptor]

Atheism is not necessarily an indication of enlightened thought or moral superiority.

The Crusades and the Inquisition were Catholic.
Al Qaeda and ISIS/ISIL are Islamic.
Stalin and Mao were atheist.

See where I'm going?

Atheism does not justify intolerance of different beliefs.

[iron_jones]

Originally Posted by Raptor

Atheism is not necessarily an indication of enlightened thought or moral superiority.

Tell them that.

[Crickett]

Originally Posted by iron_jones

Tell them that.

I try not to. I'd like to have a conversation with them ever again.

[moonbeam]

In Buddhism, the concept of God comes from your own mind. And so does everything else. Most people give names and ideas to every and that goes for the suchness of Universe.

[iron_jones]

Originally Posted by moonbeam

In Buddhism, the concept of God comes from your own mind. And so does everything else. Most people give names and ideas to every and that goes for the suchness of Universe.

Do you practice Zen Buddhism?

[Raiden]

Why did anyone feel the need to make this thread?

A topic like this can only hope to be a divisive trap, and our community has no use for divisive ideas or people who wish to promote them.

The title even implies a judeo-christian deity, which instantly leaves out almost anyone else who could practice a polytheistic religion (Buddhism is the only non judeo-christian religion that is practiced today that is monotheistic).

If you have to know, most of the people here are atheists or agnostics. If you want to discuss particulars, take it to the spirituality forum and change the topic to something less absolute and more open to discussion.

[Eltu]

Although the spirituality subforum specifically does not permit debates.

This topic can definitely be practiced in the form of a friendly debate without a need to reach a "solution" or consensus. In addition, a lot of people use the term "God" to refer to a non judeo-christian deity - the title can be interpreted to cover any higher power, spiritual deity or non-human force and any of this is definitely within the scope of this discussion.

I don't think the point is to find out what everyone here believe, as much as to just air different thoughts from different perspectives - scientific, philosophical or spiritual. I believe we've moved past the point of such an issue dividing up the community, and sincerely hope that we can hold this kind of discussion without hostility.

I, for one, am always interested to hear people's thoughts around these kind of questions - if any issues arise I will obviously deal with them, but until that happens this thread can definitely stay open.

[moonbeam]

Originally Posted by iron_jones

Do you practice Zen Buddhism?

Chinese Zen, yes.