is all religion, delusion?

[SuperSoul]

Originally Posted by Nozzferrahhtoo

...And what I can tell you is that the main motivation for arguing against god is that most atheists argue not against god, but against ANY idea that is unsubstantiated. That is all. If you understand what one sentence you will understand atheists more than most people do.

The word is full of ideas. Ideas are great. Some of those ideas turn out to be right, some wrong. Some of those ideas come to us.... even the wrong ones.... with reasons to think them credible. Some ideas however.... like UFO abductions, god, a still living elvis and homeopathy..... come before us with literally no substantiation at all. Not just a little, but NONE. People such as me, and most atheists, merely dismiss unsubstantiated ideas on face value.

Against ANY idea that is unsubstantiated? lol
Do you realize how very little is substantiated?

IE: The simple question: Where are you?
You'd say, what street you live on, your city, state, maybe country.
So, in the small picture, going by limited awareness, that may be substantiated.
But in the larger picture, it is unsubstantiated.
Yes, you know you live in a particular hemisphere, on the planet earth, which is the 3rd planet from the sun, which is located in our solar system - in an outer arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is in the Local Cluster of galaxies, which is in the universe. But where is the universe? THAT is unsubstantiated. So, really, where we are is unsubstantiated.

Who are you? You may say your name, or your job title, your family role, or your body - but is that really who you are? How old are you? Am I asking how old your name is, how long you've had your job title, or how old your body is? You may say the age from the date your body was born... or when your body was conceived. Yet, since you completely renew almost all of your cells every 7 years, & if "you" are your body, you are no more than 7 years old.

We assume a lot of unsubstantiated info - for the sake of simplicity & practicality. If you really want the substantiated truth, you must dig deeper... only to realize all thought is illusional because it neglects to substantiate too many other considerations.
So, since all thought is illusional, it makes sense to combine both reason (logic) & passion (hope), to get a sense of meaning & happiness.


P.S. I pm'd you because I thought it was more appropriate to address a concern I had in private. I wondered how someone who seemed intelligent could behave rudely. I don't mind discussing different perspectives - in fact I love it! But I prefer discussing with those who stick with the subject - indicating WHY you think a certain way, rather than just calling it "stupid." I realize that in raising my concern with you, I could have been more polite too. I apologize.

[june 7th]

Folks, the OP pertains to whether there is one true god, and/or whether or not religion is a delusion. Please stay ON TOPIC otherwise thread will have to be closed.


Thanks.

[Nozzferrahhtoo]

Originally Posted by SuperSoul

Against ANY idea that is unsubstantiated? lol
Do you realize how very little is substantiated?

Yes. All of them. I am not sure I see the comedy here. The world is full of ideas. People are coming up with them all the time. Some of them have substantiation, some have very little, and some have none at all.

I am merely someone who dismisses the ones that have none at all. Simple as that. The idea there is a god for example is an idea that is devoid of any substantiation whatsoever in my experience. I have been asking for any evidence, argument, data or reasons to lend even a modicum of credence to the idea for 18+ years now.... and I have been given nothing. Not even a shred.

Ideas with some or lots of substantiation however I am willing to explore, learn and understand.

To keep it on topic however, I would call anything a delusion that is built around a core foundation of something unsubstantiated. I gave the analogy to you building a world view around the idea you can fly for example. Since the core idea there is a god is entirely unsubstantiated and apparently just fantasy.... I would therefore be forced to call religion... which is built around that core idea... delusional.

As for the rest of your post, I repeat that it is important to learn the difference between calling people stupid, and calling ideas or things stupid. I make no apology for when I do the latter. If I ever do the former you can feel free to call me out on it.