Quote Originally Posted by denuseri View Post
And yet the majority if not all of the people in the world still use a belief system, even the Aeithists.
Quite true (though I still disagree about atheists ). But they don't all believe the same things. Yet almost every religion claims that it is the One True Faith, with no evidence but their own beliefs.

In fact....scientists and philosophers, especially in the field of epistemology and ethics (the study of knowledge and belief and the study of right and wrong belief and behavior including morality) alike will tell you its part of being human.

Its part of what gives us as human beings the ability to look ahead and structure our behaviors accordingly. Its an excellent survival tool.
Yes it is. It's something we've evolved with and it has helped us to get where we are. But trusting (or believing if you prefer) in something you can see, touch, feel, is not the same as believing in something which is outside of our reality.

The person who says they can 100% divorce themselves from feeling is quite simpley a liar or suffering from some kind of nerological disorder.
I agree, completely. I don't claim to divorce myself from all feeling. I have to struggle every day to live up to my own standards, not taking anything for granted, not believing something just because it feels good. Feelings are important, a part of us. But relying on them at all times can lead to problems, one of which (imo) is religion.

And yes, believing that you have no belief system can in fact be in part or whole a belief system.
LOL! This sounds bizarre to me, I'm sorry. I don't BELIEVE I have no belief system. I KNOW I have no belief system. Can you prove I do?

What is a belief system....Thorne you stated yours (or at least parts of it) ...you want evidence, but you certiantly do take much on faith becuase I am quite certian you dont run around repeating every experiement made by everyone, so in that, you are trusting that who ever it is is backed up by enough of their peers (which is all peer review really is) so that you have allmost blind faith in their postulations.
I explained this in an earlier post today. No, I cannot go around repeating every experiment. I have to rely on others. That's a sign of trust, not belief. I read and learn what I can, and I try my best to make certain that the people doing the peer review are reputable scientists in their fields. But yes, ultimately I have to rely on the word of other people. Trust. Not the same as faith, or at least not in my book.

I am sure when you hear of some new theory...such as multiple universes, global warming or the big bang (which was new once upon a time) not having the means to test it yourself you have had to put your faith in what others have told you about it and come to some kind of a decision as to whether or not to "believe" what they have said.
Multiple universes I spoke about above. I don't know. Global warming I was skeptical about for a while. I came to the conclusion, after reading a lot of relevant literature (which does not include the main stream media or Al Gore) that global warming is real, it is happening. I was still undecided about anthropogenic causes for global warming, but the more I learn the more convinced I'm becoming. The evidence is there, even if I don't necessarily understand it all. You claim I'm putting my faith in other scientists, I say I'm trusting those scientists. Six of one, a half dozen of the other.

Whats curious to me is that people are just as hypocritical sounding as the people they wish to denounce for their beliefs when they start touting whats best about theirs and bad about someone elses.

If someone doesnt like a certian belief system and yet says they respect someone elses right to have those beliefs that in and of itself is fine, why then go the extra distance to be derogatory and try to demean it?
Part of the problem is in seeing how many religious people don't really know the foundations of their religion. They go to church, they go to Bible study, they listen to their preachers. How many of them really study their faith, their religion, and learn what it's all about?

Forgive me for using Christianity as an example, but again, it's the one I'm most familiar with. If Christians actually read the Bible, the whole thing, not just the "good" parts, they couldn't help coming to the conclusion that Jehovah was an evil bastard who blamed his creations for his own shortcomings. How does one reconcile an "all-loving God" with a being who will condemn the descendants of a sinner, "even unto the seventh generation." How does one countenance a being who will punish a man by killing his children? How can you worship a being who instructs you to abandon your family? (Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.)

And no, I don't claim to have read the whole Bible. (Only the "bad" parts ) But I've read enough to know that one has to pick and choose which parts to place your faith in. Taken as a whole, it's a real mess at best.

It's my contention that, as you learn more and more about the foundations and history of religion, the less likely you are to maintain any belief in that religion. Not faith, which is personal, but religion. I don't attack people's personal faith. That's their own dominion. I will attack religions which attack rationality and belief, which spew hatred and lies. There's a difference.