How can you possibly believe in a benevolent God

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Once more, acts of 'god' have left communities blown apart.

Does any one really feel these vilages deserved it?

God's a bit of a cunt at times.

The 14th Dalai Lama one said "If science proved that part of Buddhism was wrong, then Buddhism would have to change". I've never come across a Christian with flexible beliefs like that

Neil deGrasse Tyson is fantastic and so poetic in the way he describes the universe. He's also an atheist, but a great educator all the same.

scientists never disagree about anything. - r- That's hillarious!

It's also why you never get religious scientists. - Appart from all the religious ones right?

That was funny! I hope you were being sarcastic! Otherwise

Chiggers, those pics of Adam and Eve you "took one look at", photos were they?

I'm not especially bright (and therefore can't articulate what I feel as well as some of the posters here) and I'm as spiritual as a ring doughnut but I'm often struck by just how amazing and fabulous the universe is. I remember as a child going on a school trip and going up some mountain somewhere and hating every moment; until we got to the top and the view was breathtaking. I'd never felt so TINY. I was spellbound. I remember tearing up and someone noticing and having to say it was because my feet hurt.

My mate and I often sit in her back garden and gaze up at the stars and the moon and there's that same sense of how small and insignificant we are but how lucky we are to be on the planet.

I think I'm more thankful for my life and more appreciative of everything beautiful in the world as an atheist than I would be as a Christian. More determined to make the most of every day (don't let hard times stand in my way) and be a good person, and a good friend and a good mum.

dollop- well said.

I often find myself tearing up- the forst time I saw the Northern Lights, or Giant Redwoods.

I feel more of an appreciation as an atheist than I would if I thought the whole thing was stage managed.

JassyRadlett It certainly can be interpreted in many different ways that's the point does belief have to be set in stone does it have to be one thing or another

For some people it maybe that the remains of a loved one helps nurture a plant that has been especially planted for that person or just simply we become dust of the earth

I said it was in my experience of what I have been told from atheists and I have been surprised as I guess I had not given it thought before in that way our finality allows us to still be part of our world

I am not sure what a militant atheist is but not quite sure that all are not peaceful people we fight/go to war for many reasons

I tend to get that feeling of wonder just by looking at beautiful flower in full bloom, or something like a cherry tree in blossom. I get awed by the sheer generosity of nature in providing something that, albeit for a short time, is so perfect and so beautiful. But I am I no doubt that it is nature that provides this, and that it does so solely for the benefit of the plant and nothing else.

In relation to the idea that the sun, moon and earth are in such perfect positions and proportions because God created them, it doesn't work, does it? We know that the sun will expand over time and will reach a point when it is so hot that life on earth will be unsustainable. And that's not because God fouled up, it's because that's how the relevant science works.

It does work though. The sun will be there for as long as we need it. The world as we know it will probably have passed away long before the sun shrivels up.
I have the opposite view to you. I look at the beauty of a flower, so perfect in all its detail, and I am in no doubt that there is a God. Nature, could never be so accurate to create what we have here on earth alone no mind the rest of the universe. I'm not trying to convert you, I'm just saying, as strong as your beliefs are that there isn't a higher power that created it all, I believe strongly that there is.

"as strong as your beliefs are that there isn't a higher power that created it all, I believe strongly that there is."

No atheism is not a belief. It is the lack of belief.

How can you have a strong non belief? That's just silly.

You are trying to understand atheism as just another religion- it isn't.

It's like saying I am strongly keen non- stamp sollector.

Unfortunately Dione, there were no cameras back then, dark old days as they were. That said, I'll have to get onto Marty McFly and Doc Brown to see if I can go back there and say Hi

Sistermillyrose: "I look at the beauty of a flower, so perfect in all its detail, and I am in no doubt that there is a God"

So how do you feel when you look at something ugly? A mosquito, say?

No I don't have to prove there is a God, that is the whole point. It is faith. I'm not trying to convert anyone. I'm not bothered. I'm talking about my faith. I don't have to nor am I going to try to convince anyone otherwise.
I actually think it's so much easier to just believe rather than look for reasons not to believe. Imo there is more evidence to say there is a God rather than there isn't. There's no need to argue about it, I won't be convinced otherwise.

there is more evidence to say there is a God rather than there isn't.

Such as?

My take on atheism is that there is not enough evidence to prove that there is anything to worship. So, I don't worship anything, I just revel in the beauty of what nature created and enjoy it for what it is.

I've heard a few people say that atheists have nothing to live for. On the contrary, we have everything to live for and nothing to die for, so we may as well do good and make the most of the beauty of the world around us and the universe above us.

Nature, could never be so accurate to create what we have here on earth alone no mind the rest of the universe

Why? We do, after all, know the science that goes to make flowers and indeed everything else in nature what they are. It's not as if there's some mysterious element in the process that we don't understand and must therefore be down to a god.

hackmum other posters have just said more or less the exact thing about the beauty of a flower, but I'm the one you pick on. Everything has a purpose in life. The whole planet isn't filled with beauty. I hadn't said so anyway.

Sister, I'm not fully clued up on statistics, but I'd guess that the universe was more likely to come about from the big bang than be created by a god.

AFAIK, the big bang wasn't actually a bang, it was more of a long slow drawn out process.

No, we probably just don't yet understand why, in the wisdom of god's greater plan that we can't comprehend, it's actually a good thing that people get stung by mosquitoes and get malaria. Someone said earlier that god is a wise parent like the parents who get their children immunised even though the children don't understand why and just know they're being stuck with a needle: it might be that mosquito bites have some long term good. Or it might be that that is satan's doing, and god is powerless or unwilling to do anything about it. Or it might be free will.

Icimoi are you serious? Scientists can do all sorts of things but do you really think they can create a flower from scratch. They can cross pollinate and create beautiful varietys of flowers but they have to have the seeds to do so. The DNA in a single flower alone contains information that is far beyond anything scientists could ever know. They are baffled by DNA and it is that alone that have made many question their own beliefs in that we weren't created.
Bigdorrit
Are you reading something that isn't there?
Where have I said that God didn't create everything?
Read the posts properly before you jump in just for the sake of an argument.

Chiggers That there was a Big Bang isn't disputed. What scientists want to know is....something made that happen.....this is where scientists come unstuck.