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Author Topic:   Probability of the existence of God
bluegenes
Member (Idle past 2477 days)
Posts: 3119
From: U.K.
Joined: 01-24-2007


Message 25 of 219 (464351)
04-24-2008 11:30 PM
Reply to: Message 21 by New Cat's Eye
04-24-2008 6:15 PM


There's still the slim possibility that aliens were brainwashing you.
Or that he was brainwashing himself, or that other people/the culture he grew up in brainwashed him as a child. I'd put these two as being stout rather than slim possibilities.
But there is, of course, an anorexically slim possibility that I might be brainwashing myself on the question.

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 Message 21 by New Cat's Eye, posted 04-24-2008 6:15 PM New Cat's Eye has not replied

  
bluegenes
Member (Idle past 2477 days)
Posts: 3119
From: U.K.
Joined: 01-24-2007


Message 151 of 219 (467759)
05-24-2008 1:14 AM
Reply to: Message 150 by Stile
05-23-2008 10:04 PM


Re: God's Existence has a 0% Chance
Stile writes:
Not only is there none, but it is a fact that throughout human history, an overwhelming abundance of people have consistently dedicated their lives to searching for this evidence. And we still have none.
You could also add that there are many different and contradictory Gods of many different religions, and that this is strong evidence of the tendency of our species to invent such things.
Certainly, if we put all the names of all the known Gods that are/were believed in into a hat, and drew one out at random, the chances of it being the "true" God would be negligible even if there were a true God.
Feed in your lack of evidence for any true God, and religious people, regardless of the religion, can be more than 99.99% sure that they're wrong on their beliefs in any specific God (or, more accurately, thinking people can be sure that the religious people are wrong ).
The general idea of a teleological origin to the universe does better than this if the source of "intelligence" or "intent" remains completely undescribed. (e.g. one God is no more likely than 7 Goddesses or 1,475 wizards or beings in white coats in laboratories in another universe - if, and it's a big if, there is a teleological source to the universe).
Maybe we can make a law related to evidenceless propositions. The more vague and general the proposition, the more likely it is to be true.
So, an unspecified number of undescribed Gods existing is more likely than, for example, the existence of a specified number, like one. And one undescribed God is more likely than, for example, the existence of a racist creator who particularly favours one human tribe. Describe the tribe, then the chances get really negligible, and so on.
What it all boils down to is that having a religion is a complete waste of time, and believing in a well described religion is certainly delusional behaviour.
So, the religious might protest, I am describing the majority of the world's population as having religious delusions. Yes, I am, but so are the religious as, whichever "true" religion they believe in, a majority of the world doesn't share that belief.
Edited by bluegenes, : missing letter

This message is a reply to:
 Message 150 by Stile, posted 05-23-2008 10:04 PM Stile has seen this message but not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 152 by pelican, posted 05-24-2008 9:18 PM bluegenes has replied

  
bluegenes
Member (Idle past 2477 days)
Posts: 3119
From: U.K.
Joined: 01-24-2007


Message 154 of 219 (467854)
05-24-2008 11:47 PM
Reply to: Message 152 by pelican
05-24-2008 9:18 PM


Observation and Statistics
pelican writes:
Why would such a vast number of people participate in such a huge delusion? It seems incredible the human race can be so gullable.
That's a very good question (except that it's "delusions" not "delusion" as they believe in many different things), and probably one with a complex answer. Why do some people invent religions, and why do others so easily believe in those inventions?
But my point was one made from observation. As no one religion has a majority in the world, even if one of them were true, the majority of the religious people of the world must be following false religions, and that's statistically undeniable.
One of the obvious and provable reasons why so many can follow ridiculous beliefs is childhood indoctrination, and all successful religions seek to do this. The evidence that it is effective is easily pointed to. If a country had a predominant and well established religion 100 years ago, it will almost invariably have the same one today.
Look around. Brazil is predominately Catholic Christian, so what was it 120 years ago, when its population was a completely different set of people who are now all dead? Sure enough, Catholic Christian.
Iran was dominated by Shia Islam a century ago, and guess what now? Egypt by Sunnis 100 yrs ago, India by Hindus, and Thailand by Buddhists, etc.
So, clearly religions are cultural phenomena, and most religious people follow whatever their parents happened to believe in.
Pretty dumb, when you think about it. And, as you say, gullible.

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 Message 152 by pelican, posted 05-24-2008 9:18 PM pelican has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 156 by pelican, posted 05-25-2008 6:37 AM bluegenes has replied

  
bluegenes
Member (Idle past 2477 days)
Posts: 3119
From: U.K.
Joined: 01-24-2007


Message 159 of 219 (467999)
05-26-2008 8:23 AM
Reply to: Message 156 by pelican
05-25-2008 6:37 AM


pelican writes:
Great point but do they beieve in the same God?
It could be argued that there are as many different Gods believed in as there are theists.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 156 by pelican, posted 05-25-2008 6:37 AM pelican has not replied

  
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