Do you believe in God? Why/Why not?

[JWeinCom]

superchunk said:

JWeinCom said:

Yeah.  I'd be ok with defining it as belief, although certain people might want to argue with it that it's a lack of belief as I've experienced.  Lol.

In the example I provided, I'd say the lack of evidence is the evidence.  If I had a kid, or kids, you would expect to have positive evidence that a child lives in my house.  The lack of that positive evidence is the evidence.  

Similarly if you suggest there is a god, depending on how you define god, I might expect some evidence.  For example, if someone said that the Bible is literally true I would expect for instance some evidence of Jews having spent a significant amount of time enslaved in Egypt.  However, we don't have that.  We would also expect some evidence of a global flood, and we don't find that.  And so on.

Which is why I asked earlier if you believe that god actually interacts with the world.  If he does, then we would expect some kind of detectable evidence.  If we can't find this evidence, it is reasonable to believe that god does not exist.

I think there is evidence in the massive backlog of human spiritual experience. Literally every civilization has numerous ideologies and stories. I do think there is truth most stories. This is also hinted at the Noah story which is a common story shared by many different civilizations. Of course it can't be a literal global flood, but something had to have happened to drive so many common stories from so many different people and religions. You could argue that it is just one original story that was stolen and reused, but I still think it has truth at its core for some group of people.

This vibrant and massive history, to me, is the evidence of some interaction. Even today, across the world over, you'll find stories of little miracles here and there from all aspects of people (religious or not). Things that have quotes from doctors or other professionals that they cannot state why the outcome happened as it should not have. Possibly just random chance or natural variation or possibly the influence of the something else. (these examples also demonstrate that no single religion is 'right' as these 'miracles' happen in all societies)

My point of view is that the belief in the existence of God or the belief in the non-existence in God is irrelevant to each other or to God. People push on their belief's because it makes them feel better. I say, do what makes you a happy person and provides you value. So long as you recognize the worth of others and treat them as you'd want to be treated. If you are curious about that type of mentality, research UU. 

Eh... well there is something that happened to drive so many common stories... floods.  

Virtually every civilization was born near a river or body of fresh water out of necessity.  So, it's not surprising that nearly every culture has some kind of story involving floods.  Basically every civilization also has some sort of Cinderella story, because every culture has step children, and that sort of situation.

Likewise, I think that we all have experiences we can't explain, and it's often natural to associate them with miracles.

Overall, I really have no objection to your beliefs, and I actually am curious.  I've been looking for an organization where I could meet with people who want to do good in the world, and have a community connection.  I've looked mainly at secular humanist organizations, but for the most part it seems like the events they have are all about spreading atheism or secularism.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but not what I'm into.  I was more interested in helping people and perhaps having a supportive group.  

I've heard of Universal Unitarianism (I think that's what UU stands for), but I haven't looked into it that much.

Have you attended UU services often?  Would you mind sharing some of your experiences?  Do you think as a very strong atheist I would feel welcome there?