Fundamentalism versus Critical Thinking

I know that religion is a man made concept. The depths of spirituality, however, can arguably said to be something other than what we humans merely make up. Thats what I have done concerning arguments favoring YEC or a Global Flood. I gave up being a Biblical Literalist. The core aspect of my beliefs, however...based of course on what I was initially culturally taught...introduced me to Jesus Christ. The story was a legend and was either embraced as a solid belief or as a cultural myth. I chose to embrace it as a solid belief.My overall world view as to the characteristics of human nature showed me that humanity is not evolving into a more perfected or complete species by virtue of evolution alone. We apparently sought our opium, after all! The opium of Christ is not a drug that masks our humanity. It is, rather, a necessary (fundamental) ingredient in our makeup.The alternative, of course, is to embrace critical thought as the zeitgeist of our culture and of our future. Ironically, within my belief, God allowed us to opt out!

I vote also for the probability of a woo woo reality. I have experienced too much to ever think otherwise....Of course I am too stubborn to suspend my beliefs and critially investigate Would not a spiritual reality by definition be unmeasurable in an empirical sense?

Gosh...this really was a good topic. *sighs wistfully*

Why an atheist? Whats so hard about believing in God? (Forget about scripture) I believe in neither of those things. Im just talking about belief that God exists or not. What would cause people to doubt the possibility?Edited by Phat, : added text

**sigh** Why must you trot out every mythological entity in literature? I dunno...call me strange...but I always knew that Santa Claus was a myth. I could usually deduce that the others were also myths based on their lack of popularity and also their cultural relevance.Of course, the same could be said for the christian God, and if I relied solely on literary research, I suppose I could conclude that God is mythological. There are two basic reasons why I do not.1) I had a personal experience that I judged to be emotionally and soulfully real to me. I subsequently had other "encounters." I suppose that were I truly unbiased, critically minded, and perhaps even a bit skeptical of lack of evidence, I could disprove God....at least on that level. One thing you don't understand, however, is that I do not as easily dismiss my personal experiences just because they don't make sense from a rational perspective.Besides, that is what faith is all about. Faith does not require evidence or else it would not be faith.

Last I heard, science was not in the business of either proving or disproving God.

Lets think for a minute, though. While one goal of education is to reduce superstition, mythos is thought by some to be a vital part of culture.

I don't necessarily see a direct cause/effect relationship here. People would be persecuted regardless. Thats just how human nature ends up.

The fact that Jesus once lived is hardly in dispute. The belief that He rose from the dead has as much historical evidence as not. The belief that He is alive today is the basis for Christian belief.Many of the problems in modern Christian thought stem from rigid fundamentalist beliefs and exclusivist thinking.One example is the fact that most of the Christians at my church are, unfortunately, Republicans. I try and explain to them that were Jesus here with us today, He most likely would be much more of a socialist than a market capitalist!

quote:

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Why an atheist? Whats so hard about believing in God? (Forget about scripture)

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We would hardly expect God by definition to have any sort of physical presence, aside from sending a representative in human form, and that argument is far from settled as to eyewitness accounts of past physical evidence.Anyway, as the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous so astutely points out, Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe that there is a power greater than myself? If logic, reason, and lack of evidence prevent one from being even willing to believe...for the sake of argument, there is no way that any sort of evidence would even penetrate the skepticism filter! One of my current favorite quotes is this one:
It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us.~P. De VriesEdited by Phat, : fixed pesky quote

Would it be fairly easy if a person has confirmation bias?

Literary sources themselves were scant outside of scripture.

So does that mean that all religion was derived from unthinking masses?

Are you suggesting that to be a good critical thinker implies being skeptical in any and all matters of the heart?Have you ever had any experiences in life which were an emotional catharsis?Why must we always become skeptics by default? If it works, who cares whether or not it is a placebo?Edited by Phat, : fixed Boo Boo

But how do we know for sure how the world actually works? Why is faith, despite lack of support, an outdated concept? Must we assume that everything than cant be tested does not exist?