In thinking that people with faith or religion are deluded?

[Alouiseg]

This stems from another couple of threads i'm on but until God can be proven isn't religion just an outdated patriachal method of control?

MrsC I don't think theya re all like that though

Our school has a new head (village school so not a lot of alternatives) enforces thrice weekly formal worship: to do thsi she cut all the support for the chidlren with non statemented SN and if someone asks why their child no longer receives reading help etc the stock answer is 'no time after Church'.

Now, I accept she is extreme and the rumour is her contract is not being amde permanent (oh how I hope!) but the faith premise does give rise to such things: at our school theyc an't just choose any Head, he or she ahs to worship in the diocese which leaves a small pool of people to start with.

Anyone withg an imagine can come up with non faith versions of morality stories anyway. Tit's whetehr a school wants to.

YABU

How can you look around you and not see proof of God??

I have a science background by the way with a keen interest in Physics and personally, the more I learn, the more I see God in the finer details

Absence of proof is not proof of absence

BYT, for me it was the lack of spirituality that was amongst my many friends. It just took me years to decide what faith I wanted to follow.

I have friends who are witnesses and TBH I respect them so much more than other Christians as they follow the Bible almost to the letter!

They knock on your door to spread the word of God, as it tells Christians to do in the Bible.

They know how I feel and we often have really good debates about religion. They haven't managed to save me yet though

I now what you mean WRT to JW, although I do see a similar dedication in all faiths if not all people. When we have soem here they chat for ages, and its lovely. Alkthough when I'd just had ds3 the ones back home stopped coming as is a tenet you have a tidy house and I didnt [blush

yep, i was even rejected bt the JW

Quite easily Puss, since the idea of a creator god seems nonsensical. It just doesn't make any sense.

If 1 person thought the world was made by the little blue men who live in radiators they would get called mentally ill.

If 1000 people believed it, it would be a cult.

If millions of people were to believe it, it would be a religion.

Religions are just large collections of people with the same kind of mental illness. To let these people have any power is ridiculous.

GenevieveHawkins, I understand why you would shudder at your child being bought up in something you don't understand. It's alien.

I really like it though and have even gone to the point of regular church attendance because of it. If I was really honest, I actually get some serenity out of this too. Obviously only for an hour whenever I go, but I do.

You have to bear in mind that my child was already in a faith school. For me to consider faith was a huge thing, but when I was invited into the school and found out how faith played a part in bullying, truancy etc, I was really impressed.

It's not for everyone though, I agree.

PinkoLiberal, that school is getting funding from the church (am assuming it's a church school), you should tell them off. Church schools have more funding than normal schools as although the church promises to pay 30%, they often pay above that. Why wouldn't they - it means more money in their coffers as the children become us!

Tiggy D, are you a closet trekkie then?

One of my friends wasn't very happy with Islam on these boards and made sweeping statements. She was banned.

I don't think that it's very nice that you are making them either.

Whether someone believes or not, it doesn't affect you (unless you want your kid to get in a good school, Religion is often ignored until this stage) or your life unless they are pushing their lifestyle on you.

God Bless you anyway.

PussinJimmyChoos - Absence of proof is absence of proof though.

No, YANBU.

"Absence of proof is not proof of absence" is daft though. Not proof of absence of what? Zeus? Thor? The Christian god? The Great Green Arkleseizure? David Icke's lizards? TiggyD's little blue men in the radiators? (above)

Every answer of this sort automatically presumes a Judeo-Christian-god-centric view of the universe, even among those who don't believe in it. It's perplexingly odd.

Religion does affect me. Many of the people who run the country are religious. I want them to make decisions based on proof rather than what a beardy old guy floating on a cloud in space somewhere "says".

Believing in gods and fairis is ridiculous. People who do it are either gullible, nuts or unable to function without an imaginary friend to look after them.

I believe in God, I don't believe in fairies. I am not gullible or nuts and I function pretty well on my own!
Really-what does it matter what anyone else thinks?!
I can't see why certain people have decided what they believe or don't believe and then we all have to follow suit.
I have no problem with you thinking that way SGB -I just can't see why you want to straightjacket everyone into thinking the same. We are all different-one size never suits all-and a good thing too.

"How can you look around you and not see proof of God?"

Easily.

I wonder, do most people who believe in God do so because they spontaneously and independantly decided to believe, or is it more that they are told what to believe from a very young age...

Isn't atheism just as much an act of faith as belief?

No.

Why not? Unless you can provide proof that god doesn't exist.

Because Atheism isn't saying god doesn't exist it's saying you don't believe in god.

See other thread on Atheism for extensive details.

You don't need to prove a negative.

Do you need faith that unicorns don't exist? Do you need faith that pink stripy sheep don't exist? No.

Silly argument. For someone with faith, I'm not sure you understand the concept.

But what if some of the mentally ill people who do believe in God are actually nicer people because of their faith? I am not sure that everyone who has some kind of faith is a raving psycho! I know plenty of people who practice their faith(s) in a really good way without being preachy or ramming down peoples throats. The way I see it, whilst there are people who are fanatical and a bit loopy, there are plenty of others who have a great philosophy about how they treat other people, just like lots of atheists, and try to live their lives according to some decent principals.

Whether the 'God' bit is true or not no one can ever prove, that is why it is called 'faith' and I'm not sure I see what is so bad about that or why they need to be branded as deluded, which implies they have lost some of their critical faculties?

I was at Uni recently doing an MA and taught Eng Lit by a wonderful man who also happened to be a muslim - perfectly reasonable, logical and intelligent human being able to disuss any issue that came up without bringing his faith into it. He didn't drink at the christmas party which might be nuts to me, but then like i said, maybe he's better for his faith!! .

RB of course you do, how else can you substantiate your (dis)belief.
ooji have yoy read your own post?