U.S. Lags World in Grasp of Genetics and Acceptance of Evolution

@Leadfoot,

I agree: To believe in a god is a human frailty. They believe there is something more omnipotent than humans.
Research have shown that prayers do not work. In the one instance it has shown to be effective is when a christian prays to get healing for some illness. It never works from third party praying.
It's a psychological benefit.

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@cicerone imposter,

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Seems like a late-comer to save lives. Also, the christian god is similar to other ancient gods from Greece/Egypt.

If the drive to believe in God is due to the existence of God, it is not at all surprising that there would be similarities. I find it odd that this would be counter argument to God's existence.

The Old Testament talks about the coming of a messiah long before the fact. As I have said before, man has added all kinds of misconceptions about the God that they sense is real. Christ came to alleviate that a bit. They had some really messed up ideas as recorded in the OT.

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@Leadfoot,

What is also real then is the drive to believe in mythical creatures and that tendency is also universal even when science disproves the myths.

Ultimately it makes gods no different from unicorns or fairies.

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@Leadfoot,

Gods prior to the christian god(s) were mythological.

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@Leadfoot,

So, do you accept that gods are nothing but a "mass distortion"?

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@Leadfoot,

http://www.liberalamerica.org/2015/03/17/5-near-identical-jesus-christ-myths-that-predate-jesus/

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@cicerone imposter,

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Gods prior to the christian god(s) were mythological.

So you are saying the one we have now is real?

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@parados,

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What is also real then is the drive to believe in mythical creatures and that tendency is also universal

I'll need a bit of evidence or examples of that widespread belief.
I'm sure there are isolated examples of people that believe in almost anything including unicorns.. That does not qualify as 'universal'.

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@Leadfoot,

You are using a category and comparing it to a single unit.

Gods are a category. Mythical creatures are a category.

There is no one god that is universally believe in any more than unicorns are universally believed in.

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@Leadfoot,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_deities

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@parados,

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You are using a category and comparing it to a single unit.

No, I'm saying that there is a single cause behind all things in the category of 'God'.

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Gods are a category. Mythical creatures are a category.

Thank you for correcting your previous erroneous statement that they are the same.

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There is no one god that is universally believe in any more than unicorns are universally believed in.

Oh come on. Where is this bunch of unicornists?

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@Leadfoot,

Leadfoot wrote:

Why should something as unlikely as 'God' have such staying power?

Because it threatens to punish you for eternity if you don't believe and to reward you for eternity if you do, and because people indoctrinated into religious culture have a hard time breaking away, and because a lot of people simply aren't educated enough to understand the scientific explanations for the things around them, so they default to the "God Solution" just like our prehistoric ancestors did.

But the good news is that religion is on the decline so it will eventually fade away just as all previous versions before it have. The concept of God will continue to be squeezed into smaller and smaller cracks until only the truly hopeless believers won't be able to see the obvious. I'm sure religion will continue to haunt and damage humanity for many more generations, but unless civilization falls back into the Dark Ages, eventually it'll be relegated to the status is "Crackpot Cult" in all of its forms.

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@rosborne979,

Your explanation falls short for many reasons.
Plenty of very highly educated people believe in God and in many cases (as with me) they were not indoctrinated by family or religions. And I really don't think any significant percentage of believers are motivated by fear of eternal punishment. There isn't even any support for that silly concept in the bible anyway.

Your claim that the society around me did the indoctrination would indicate that as long as there is a bible or any other literature about a god around that it is so infectious that it will never be stamped out. Which is more likely true than your scenario. That's because there is a reason for that susceptibility to belief in God.

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@Leadfoot,

Leadfoot wrote:

Your explanation falls short for many reasons.

You keep saying that but I don't think most would agree with you.

Leadfoot wrote:

Plenty of very highly educated people believe in God and in many cases (as with me) they were not indoctrinated by family or religions.

You seem to be the exception to the rule. And it may be true of your local culture as well. I don't know where you grew up or who you hung around with.

In any case, from what I've seen on this forum for over a decade indicates that you are not a good example of the standard. Maybe you are unaware of this. I don't know.

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@Leadfoot,

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No, I'm saying that there is a single cause behind all things in the category of 'God'.

Which tends to be the exact same cause behind the belief in all mythical creatures.

Quote:

Thank you for correcting your previous erroneous statement that they are the same.

It seems you wish make things up whenever you get the chance. Not surprising, I guess given your arguments so far.
Gods are mythical beings but are usually seen as human in form.
Mythical creatures as I am using are mythical beings that are non human in form and most likely animal.

Quote:

Quote:
There is no one god that is universally believe in any more than unicorns are universally believed in.

Oh come on. Where is this bunch of unicornists?

Reread my statement. If only one person believes in unicorns it would not be universal just as if only one person doesn't believe in Christ would make Christianity not a universal belief.
Bottom line Christ is not a universal belief and Unicorns are not a universal belief.

If you want to argue that universal doesn't mean everyone as in the dictionary definition, then we have to adjust for your failure to use language correctly. I allowed for your misuse of language and you then introduced the equivocation fallacy by changing the meaning from your original bastardization to the dictionary definition when I used. Does universal mean all people as it would by definition? If it does mean all then correct your statement -

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What is real is that the drive to believe in God is universal.
You can of course ignore or deny that drive.

Either your statement is false or you misused the word universal. Which is it?

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@Leadfoot,

Leadfoot wrote:

That's because there is a reason for that susceptibility to belief in God.

What's the reason for that susceptibility to belief in God?

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@parados,

parados wrote:

Gods are a category. Mythical creatures are a category.

Interesting take.

I see gods as a subset of mythical creatures, not a separate category.

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@ehBeth,

Yes, they would be. But in this case the argument is that gods are somehow different from other mythical creatures because the belief in gods is "universal" but no such universal belief exists for other mythical beings.

Of course we haven't even got to the idea of the non god mythical creatures the religions believe in such as angels and demons.

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@parados,

ahhh I'm going with belief in mythical creatures is universal

(which includes the belief in gods)

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@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

ahhh I'm going with belief in mythical creatures is universal

Can we broaden the category even further into just "magic"? I tend to lump all of this thought pattern into the category of magical things.

1 Reply

U.S. Lags World in Grasp of Genetics and Acceptance of Evolution

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