[UA] What Do You Beleive?

[Epoch]

On Thu, 14 Jun 2001, Liam Astley wrote:

> From: "Eric Christian Berg" <ecb at samedi.gothpoodle.com>
> Subject: Re: [UA] What Do You Beleive?
> >I like to think I still have an open mind about things
> > supernatural. I'm willing to listen to evidence, I just have yet to have
> > anyone prove me wrong.
> 
> 
> i thought the point of religion is that it's based on faith rather than
> evidence.

Religion is an axiomatic belief system which is, hopefully, not
contradicted by anything in real life.  So, you choose some axioms, like
"God makes the world work," and, presuming that you don't see anything in
the world which contradicts your view, you go along happily.  And when
people ask you /why/ you believe in God, you shrug and say
"Faith," because it sounds better than "Because I chose to."

Hard-core atheism of the sort I usually see here in California is,
similarly, an axiomatic belief system which is, hopefully, not
contradicted by anything in real life.  So, you choose some axioms, like
"Physics makes the world work," and, presuming that you don't see anything
in the world which contradicts your view, you go along happily.  And when
people ask you /why/ you're an atheist, you generally speaking get all
hostile and claim that it's based on some non-axiomatic
reason.  :)  Because (feel the big, flamey generalization coming
on) atheists hate to think that they actually believe in something. [1]

When people see something which doesn't fit with their worldview, they
either abandon or modify their worldview to fit.  What Eric is, as I read
it, saying is that he's willing to modify his worldview.  Which is,
frankly, far more than what most people are willing to do, so kudos to
him.  :)

Mike

[1]  Yes, I know, I know, I'm being a mean, rotten, horrible bastard.  I'm
sorry to all the perfectly legitimate atheists out there -- you're on the
receiving end of all the bitterness that intellectually snotty college
students have built up in me.  :P

--
"Like H.P. Lovecraft's dark and inbred Maine, only with grits!"
		- Greg Stolze


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