Believers VS Non-belivers

[edwardcullensotherwoman]

Why is it that if someone believes in something, they will talk about it as exactly that - something they believe in - and not portray it as absolute fact; yet if someone doesn't believe in something, they will say this as an absolute fact and ridicule those who believe?

It's almost as if those who don't believe (in whatever the subject: angels, God, reincarnation) consider themselves superior to those who do, and view those who do as stupid for doing so.

Surely everyone's beliefs are their own belief and opinion - nothing "woo" can be either proven or disproven, so therefore nobody is right or wrong.

It just seems that every thread that starts "Do you believe" on this board ends up in a bun fight with believes defending themselves against non-believers who tell them they're being ridiculous. The clue is in the title of the board - if you don't believe in anything that's likely to be discussed under that heading, just avoid the board!

There isn't much difference for me between C of E, Catholic, whatever.

You were born into it, you went to Church, and you are now Christian. Is it a coincidence?

I did not attend much Church Cote, I also went to numerous car showrooms but I am not a car enthusiast beyond getting from A to B.

I do choose what to believe Corus. For me belief is a decision. I decide to believe and follow up that belief with actions appropriate to it.

"For me belief is a decision. I decide to believe"

How odd.

I decide to believe that there is a green monster under my bed.
I decide to believe that rain is angels pissing on our heads for a laugh.

Surely grown adults would only believe something after they see sufficient evidence of its validity. I'm not even sure my 8 yr old DD would just decide to believe something she isn't convinced is true.

I don't decide to believe those things, green monsters and the pissing, though, Cote.

Funnily enough my Ds, as an infant, did used to occasionally argue with the sky for not doing as he wanted, but then he decided he liked the rain because it 'washed him clean...'

The point was that it is odd to just believe something.

It reminds me of one of the last scenes of Memento where the guy decides to make himself believe that Teddy is the killer, so that at least he would think he found the killer and finally be content.

Odd? Maybe, I not asked enough people to have a firm opinion. Liberating to be able to decide to believe something or not though, IME.

Liberating... how?

Deciding to bow to a quite-possibly-fictional deity is the very opposite of liberating.

I might decide it is not odd, of course. I don't mind being odd but I like having things in common with people too...

Because otherwise Cote we are victims of our biology, slaves to our synapses. No free will.

Believing in God and Free Will does set us free. We can choose.

Corus that is a matter of faith and much patience.

"Victims of biology"? Is that what you call being rational and not believing all sorts of stories for which there is no proof?

Cote it does not pay to rely on biological perceptions too much, they can be misleading.

For example the conjuror you booked for your child's party is not really performing magic, even though it might look like he is.

"Biological perceptions" - Is there another kind?

What do you think Cote?

I asked first

Clue: I believe in the spiritual realm as well as the physical.

Ok capsium - ancient civilisations and peoples who believed in various gods, spirits, beings etc. Presumably you would not claim that all if those deities are/were real? If they were not real, but made up, then what do you think drove those people to invent them, if not those needs and basic human fears and insecurities I mentioned before? Or do you believe that all other gods are just a way that other peoples interpret the true god (i.e. yours)?

But you could think of it this way, what if you never got beyond the stage of development where you believed something did not exist just because it was hidden from view?

Ummm - how does our 'biology' prevent us from having free will?