ArchAngel

I think it's more complicated than that.

Thor Q. Mada

It is not more complicated than that, and I always get incredibly angry when I read about these outbursts of superstition from what are otherwize supposed to be educated people.
And that idiot in Rome better prepare for (if he believes in what he professes himself) meeting his angry maker. Angry for him spreading stupidity.

Colander of Truth

Maybe not! Let's say 10% are strongly anti-religious (1150) and 60% are religious (1020). The other 30% are among the other two choices. And let's say that of those 60% that are religious, the upper hextile (1/6th of the 60% is 10% and the same size as the strongly anti-religious) could have a score as high or higher, but when aggregated with the whole 60% falls to a lower score.

Therefore, religiosity may have an appeal outside of intelligence, SUCH AS GREED and perhaps is well received when one's morals are weak.

Just my thoughts ...

IvanJames

You somehow got my name on a post from Marduk, #2195016
[/QUOTE]Quote:
Originally Posted by IvanJames
I never encountered anyone who was angered by someone expressing their opinion that they did not believe in God…[/QUOTE]

---Ivan James
�*

sharon45

Yes, but they did not use their intellect to become christian though.

Jagella

OK. I suppose the issue isn’t as cut and dried as the fact that Washington D.C. is the capital of the United States. However, I asked you who’s in the position to know whether god exists because you seemed to be dismissing the claims of many atheists, myself included, that there is no god. There’s a mountain of evidence against the existence of God. As a result, I can say I know that God does not exist.

Jagella

Jagella

No doubt about it—greed and weak morals also play a part in religiosity. However, I believe that if a person is educated in credible history and science, then there’s a very compelling argument that he or she must realize that God is but a myth. If the religionist is rather bright, then he or she might understand that one can get wealthy by “fleecing the flock.�? Ergo, it’s not an either-or situation. The religionist can be both smart and greedy.

Jagella

sharon45

Exactly.As far as the christian god, yes, there is none, but for a 'general' version of a god, I don't see this 'mountain of evidence' in either way. There is only the lack of evidence from both parties.

Oxymoron

"Only the insane consider themselves to be the sanest of all"

I did ask you quite specifically to consider the distinction between "having a mental illness" which we all do from some time to another and "being mentally ill" - partially the difference between chronic and acute.

<sarcasm>
Your belief in imaginary friends and millenia-old fables (ie a total inability to distinguish fact from fiction from a distorted blend of the two) is, of course, perfectly rational and well-adjusted :thumbs:
</sarcasm>

What is interesting is the personal angst that lies at the bottom of it all. I don't expect you to bare your innermost fears and wishes here, but their existence and your beliefs are not unconnected. Fear is, of course, one of the top distorters of rationality and critical thinking. Anyone who is capable of thought, and considers issues such as the following:

* their own death
* the death of those close to them
* the impersonal nature of the world we live in
* the vastness of the world and the smallness of the individual

experiences fear. Hell, I know I do. But what is fear? Well I call animals 4F entities: Fight, Flight, Feed or Fuck? These are the instinctually hard-wired choices animals face when presented with situations that affect their survival. So fear is one response to something that the individual considers is detrimental to their continued wellbeing. It's unlikely that fear will directly lead to feed or fuck - it's fight or flight that it's really concerned with.

What I am saying is this: life is terrifying. Death is certain, pain and illness are unavoidable, atrocities happen under our noses... and lucky old humans are the creatures best equipped to understand exactly how scary it all is. So how do we respond to the fear? Well some people choose "flight"... alcohol, drugs, religion. The first two dull your ability to think about the nature of your existence. The latter is a great big sticking-plaster of a lie that goes over the wound and makes you feel warm and cosy that there is a plan and that you are a special person and "don't worry there is an afterlife where you'll meet up with granny and Harold the Hamster".

Mental illnesses are interesting. We're not really talking about the chemical imbalance ones where brain cells just don't function as they should. We're talking about certain types of schizophrenia, for example. Schizophrenia - especially chronic - is amazingly common. It's possible you have it and don't realise. Common to all flavours of schizophrenia is a disconnection from reality - for some, it's belief that voices in their heads are from real entities. Personally I find it utterly impossible to distinguish that from (say) god talked to me and told me to sacrifice my brother/give $10,000 to the nice man from the Kabala society/devote my life to converting heathens/whatever.

Schizophrenia and fear go hand-in-hand. The "voices" or "visions" usually demand something unpleasant because they are actually the repressed fears of the individual expressing themselves. People disconnect from reality for a reason - fear. But these fears manifest themselves in other symptoms, and often lead to a compounding of the disconnection.

So there you have the bones of a case: certain types of mental illness and religious belief are indistinguishable. I really ought to do some work now but it would be nice to put some flesh on this argument. Maybe tonight...

The AntiChris

Nope. Whether or not there is a God is not a matter of opinion.

What people may believe about it may be a "matter of opinion" but not all opinions are equal and in this case, one opinion must be wrong.

Chris