Why are all Christians atheists?

If the belief that God's image on Earth died for one's sins and that one must embrace him lest face eternal damnation isn't a superstition then I don't know what is. Religion has elements that fit into all of these defintions, but let us focus on the idea of causation.....Walking under a ladder invokes bad luck.
Rejecting God/Jesus invokes eternal damnation.Neither of these causal relationships has any empirical basis, therefore on this point alone they may both be fairly characterized as superstitions.No amount of word-salad on your part can avoid this.Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.

Who said any belief is superstition? This a strawman of your own creation! A dictionary will tell you superstition is a belief without empircal basis which gives rise to a false conception of causation. Maybe you should google "strawman" instead? Yes it does. To believe in God is to believe in the existence (and influence) of something for which we have no empirical evidence. Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.

This is a superstitious belief that is common to many christians even if you reject it yourself. Are you denying this? This is an old canard. If there is no emprical evidence of God then one must logically proceed from that point. Not to do so is illogical and therefore superstitious.Do you concern yourself with the fact that there is no proof that space unicorns don't exist?Remember it is you who is proposing an influential agent for whom no evidence is either forthcoming or required. In this sense God is irrelevent whether he exists or not.For example, one might believe that black cats bring bad luck. The fact that back cats exist still doesn't mean that they produce bad luck!Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.

No, you have conveniently decided to reject the common definition and create your own.Furthermore you failed to account for the fact that the existence of an given agent does not automatically indicate a given causal relationship.Did you read my responses in Msg 88?Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.

You'll find that made a similar point when I stated that:- You conceded this point neither to Schraf or to myself at the time. Quite how I'm meant to guess your unposted thoughts is anyone's guess. Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.

Mmmm. So let's leave the issue of causality aside for a moment and focus on a simple belief of existence.Is a belief in fairies a superstition? If so, then how is a belief in God different?Now let's bring causality back into the mix and consider why you choose to believe in God at all. As Schraf has already pointed out, surely you seek some form of consequence to arise from your beliefs?Alternatively, do you believe for absolutely no reason at all?

Hi Ana,I find your beliefs intriguing. You seem to embrace a form of Christianity that centres on spirituality rather than strict doctrinal adherence. Are you a member of a more progressive sect, or a liberal branch of the Church of England perhaps?Which brings me to my question. In refuting the idea of the religious atheist do you believe that all religions, in their own way, are praying to the same God, or in the case of polytheistic faiths like Hinduism, facets of a single God?

So how do you react to the paganistic/polytheistic influence that is clearly in evidence in the Catholic (unreformed) church? The trinity, the Virgin Mary and the saints provide scope for the extension of worship onto separate entities.The Nicene Creed outlines a God with three facets, does it not?

Sounds like you're splitting hairs to me! Either there was an influence or there wasn't. Given Christianity grew from within pagan culture it is very unlikely for there not to have been some influence and there is much evidence to support it. Christmas and Easter are based in part on pagan festivals, for example. The fact remains that the trinity represents a single God in three different forms. Of course, but my focus was on catholicism.Anyway, were drifting OT here. My intention was only to point out what I see as the hazy boundary between monotheism and polytheism.The last word on this goes to you if you want it!