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So why be religious?
No
FAITH AWARD
FAITH AWARD There are reasons to religious whether the religion is true or not and despite the harm that it may do. Reasonable people can certainly disagree...
Kant´s Nightmare
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No
Yes
No
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Yes
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• Physical harm or disfigurement • Inciting violence • Direct oppression of any group • Discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, or race • Devaluing science/scientific literacy • Encouraging xenophobia • Attempting to limit or control those not of your religion (i.e. politically) • Encouraging excessive guilt • Degrading members´ self worth • Denying positive experiences • Wasting time
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Harm?
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Is your religion guilty of any of the following:
Then is it really worth the harm that religion causes if the religion is not true?
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The Bearded Occam
I´d love to hear why you think such a seemingly improbable explanation is required.
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Unique Spiritual Experience
Wow. You have been uniquely touched by the hand of the supernatural. Or you´re insane. Either way, I would love to hear about it!
If we assume that this couldn´t come from some other source...
FAITH AWARD
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FAITH AWARD
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Then others have similar spiritual experiences. But they come to different, contrary conclusions. How do you know that you are right and not them?
• Feelings of warmth • Feelings of reassurance • Answer to prayer • Incredible coincidence • Feelings of peace • Glowing sensations • Burning sensations • Out of body experience • Altered consciousness • Angelic visitation • Ghostly visitation • Extraterrestrial visitation • Religious Ceremonies
And why then do they believe, and how do you know that they aren´t wrong?
-ANYREASON
No
If we´re after truth, reason (Occam´s Razor) demands that we accept that explanation instead. Unless there are other reasons to be religious?
No
Do your spiritual experiences consist of:
Oh? And why do you say that?
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Yes
Yes
Ok, but why believe in your god(s) as opposed to the others?
So why be religious if it´s not true?
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Do people not of your religion have the same type of spiritual experience and use it to justify their contrary belief or lack thereof?
But wait! It is true...
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Can you not think of a simpler explanation (requiring fewer assumptions) than invisible god(s) and the supernatural?
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A person, or persons whom I trust.
Well then, to evaluate reasons for believing besides truth, you assume that your religion is false and see if the reasons are still compelling.
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God(s)
Pragmatic reasons.
Ok.
Personal spiritual experience(s).
In the import of personal spiritual experience
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Evidence and science.
Faith. In what?
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Congratulations! No one would ever accuse you of being too willing to critically look at your own beliefs. You wouldn´t dream of stooping so low.
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Many reasons.
Ok. Great! So why do you believe in your religion?
Blind Faith
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FAITH AWARD
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I wouldn't be here if I weren't.
Nope. Not interested.
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Well good, we´ll take a look at all of them. But no amount of bad evidence ever equals good evidence, so let´s look at each reason one at a time. Where shall we start?
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START
So, are you ready to reasonably evaluate your faith?
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Well yeah... You´re alright.
You´re in a religion that doesn´t hurt anyone, for reasons that have more to do with the good it provides you or other people than whether it´s true or not. Cheers!
Faith To say that you believe in a religion because of faith is no different, fundamentally than simply saying that you believe in that religion. It is circular. Why have faith in that particular religion? That is, unless what you are trying to say is that you believe specifically in spite of evidence to the contrarywhat I would call blind faith. Hopefully though, this is not the case, because at that point you have divorced yourself from reason to such an extent that God herself could not convince you that you were mistaken. After all, a burning bush would be evidence.
DESIGNED BY REYNOLDS JOHNSON
Evidence & Science
Personal Experience All too often, someone will say, "Oh I know that you don't understand my religion, but I've felt x or seen y!" The problem with this is that for every religion on earth, there's someone saying this. They can't all be right. Miracles are not hard to come by and spiritual experiences are not as varied as believers might expect. Because of this there needs to be some other way of navigating the religious terrain. It might be a very fine line between a devil´s promptings and indigestion. COPYRIGHT 2011
Millions of dollars each year are spent looking for evidence for particular religions. This is always a case of shooting an arrow and then trying to paint a target around it. Worse, nearly all of these arguments can be simply dealt with through an invocation of Occam´s Razor. Isn´t there a simpler explanation? Believers are left admitting that they aren´t most interested in truth, or that they can´t think of one, which seems incredibly unimaginative. Ironic given how often atheists are accused of having no imagination.
Pragmatic Reasons Any reason to be religious removed from the truth of that religion is considered a pragmatic motivation, and these are the last refuge of the beleaguered believer. Religion, according to many, is the sole source of morality, community, and solace. It can relieve fear, and can provide a longer healthier life. The list goes on and on. Each of these claims deserves serious consideration beyond the scope of this page, but even if one or more of these come only from religion, and even if they warrant the possible harm, this still says nothing of truth.
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