Yeesh, some people really do live in the dark ages. This is abuse.

[dtewi]

mrstickball said:

dtewi said:

What's the point of the first two polls? If I said I didn't like Burger King, why would you post the reasons to choose a Burger King restaurant?

Polls 1, 2, 3 and 5 are basically irrelevant to this discussion.

Poll #4: People were asked to give multiple responses.

Also, I didn't mean CONTINUE to believe which Poll 4 seems to deal with, I mean that people started to BELIEVE in Christianity out of those two reasons. You're saying why they continue to believe, I'm saying why they start. Would you care to find a poll that shows why people START believing?

You argued that 'Fear and Indoctrination are why people signed up for church'. I gave you studies concerning why people went to church.

As for why people start believing:

1. The good design / natural beauty / perfection / complexity of the world or universe (28.6%)
2. The experience of God in everyday life (20.6%)
3. Belief in God is comforting, relieving, consoling, and gives meaning and purpose to life (10.3%)
4. The Bible says so (9.8%)
5. Just because / faith / the need to believe in something (8.2%)

And the six most common answers given to the question Why do you think other people believe in God?:

1. Belief in God is comforting, relieving, consoling, and gives meaning and purpose to life (26.3%)
2. Religious people have been raised to believe in God (22.4%)
3. The experience of God in everyday life (16.2%)
4. Just because / faith / the need to believe in something (13.0%)
5. Fear death and the unknown (9.1%)
6. The good design / natural beauty / perfection / complexity of the world or universe (6.0%)

Now, if you have any other polls and surveys expressing that fear and indoctrination are the core components of a belief in God, I'd love for you to share them. Afterall, your aguing why people become Christians.

Honestly, four of those reasons are piss-poor. The first one is odd. They say that is why most people believe in it but those people think that it is the least used reason?

2) I believe that God has never appeared in anyone's life.

3) Basically, they don't want to be overwhelmed by the unknown. I believe that is a very good point brought by someone else, not wanting fear of the unknown.

4) The Bible Says So? That is REALLY circular logic.

5) Coorelates with two.

1) I believe that this is one of the worse reasons. Because the world is so complex, something created it? I would like to see the chances of a planet like Earth being created.

For the second poll, 1, 2, 3, and 5 all support my ideas. Since you believe in God, you won't see eye to eye on my ideas about 4 and 6 though.