Do you believe in God? Why/Why not?

[JWeinCom]

superchunk said:

JWeinCom said:

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?

RE: Noah - the stories have a lot more in common than a flood. They all focus on a man/family that based on guidance from divine built a boat to save substantial life from a catastrophic flood. I think that base root is what is true and that story spread far and wide due to the abnormal level of catastrophe.

UU is awesome. Anyone regardless of belief, ability, sexual orientation, etc is welcomed. The focus is not how you worship or don't worship something but how you work to improve your life and the lives of those you can impact. I go on Sunday's (they do have roots in Christianity, but that is not the basis UU). You will find atheists and theists in any congregation as an example. I'd suggest that it doesn't hurt to take one hour on a Sunday and just pop in on your local congregation. You may like it or not, but its no risk and very little investment.

Take a look at this.

https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

We started going because we wanted a place where all people are accepted, we could build on strong morals and good character for or kids, and we could use the community to make some sort of difference to others. While my wife and I are theists, 1 son is atheist and the other 2 kids are still figuring it out. However, they have learned that helping others is a critical part of life and we do things such as go to Mexico to build homes, etc. We also work with homeless when possible and are active in political protest. UU is a very liberal community. I believe you can only raise the well-being of your entire nation by improving the lowest points first. Its how business do well and its how the nation should focus its long-term strategy and investment.

I went to a UU service and came out with some kind of mixed feelings.

In general, it seemed like everyone's heart was in the right place.  There was nothing I found like objectionable, and in general it was a nice message.  Basically, "be nice to other people and help them".  And while they used some terms I don't particularly like (spiritual for instance) I didn't feel like it was Christianity in disguise or anything like that.  It felt genuinely open to any kind of belief.  

For me though, the ritual and location were kind of a little off putting.  It may just be because I never really went to church when I was a younger, but a lot of the ritual seemed a bit odd, and maybe a bit overly ummmm... I dunno the word.   Ostentatious?  I could see how it would be really nice for someone who grew up as a church goer and liked the ritual of it, but maybe for whatever reason didn't like the message of their religion.

Ultimately, I felt it was kind of... unnecessary.  Like I said, it's a nice message, but I'm not sure I really need to go out of my way (it's about an hour each way) to hear that message.  I kind of already know that I should be a nice person. I may try it again, or maybe some kind of event outside their weekly sermon.  It is near my favorite ice cream place, which does influence my decision.  So we'll see how it goes.  At any rate, thanks for the recommendation.

Last edited by JWeinCom - on 25 September 2018