Greg ; it sounds like you are an Atheist against all the religions, except for one , the one you believe in .
@Gary they always leave out the second half of the argument as to why Christianity is the true religion because it is "better than the rest". Which is odd because you can predict someones religion 99% of the time simply by knowing what their parent's religion is.
@Alice @Gary in that sense "rational" simply means in the absence of evidence it is rational to believe in something rather than nothing. Like the way Sheridan confuses the term "faith" to mean "faith in something I haven't seen but heard about" and "faith in God" so you are trying to use "rational" in two different ways and then claim they mean the same thing.
Faith in events that other people tell me they have witnessed, like my parents who were at my birth, is entirely different than faith in a mystical being who I have never met in person or know anyone who has. There is, as it were, a chain of evidence. The only rational thing to believe is if (and it's a big if) the Universe and your life have a purpose then you don't know what that purpose is. The only semi rational reason for belief in God/s is that given in Life of Pi - it will give you comfort and make you happier in this life, regardless of whether it is true. Maybe for some like Sheridan that is a crutch to get through the day but it blinds you to much which is true and intrinsically beautiful for it's own sake without needing to ascribe it to a deity.
As they say: "all religions can't be right but they could all be wrong".
I find the Yazidi religion appealing.
There are two Gods, a good one and a malevolent one.
The good one is absent.
All the bad that happens in the world is utterly predictable as the doings of the bad God.
Seems to accord with what one sees about the place better then Christianity.
The Son of God came to earth?
Really? He had a son? When did this happen?
Where was Jesus at the time of Moses? Unborn, unbegotten?
Then if you throw in all the angels and saints, seems pretty damn paganistic.
Excellent piece. The smug leftist elite scoff at faith and those who believe. Leave them to it I say, there is no point in discussing or arguing with people who are so closed-minded and intolerant.
God is a free gift for anyone who says yes to him. No catches, no conditions. Life-changing for those who 'get it'. To believe requires a suspension of disbelief - hard for those who live their lives anchored (mired?) in their own self-belief.
@George Free? is that after you tithe 20% of your income so the "religious" organisations can amass untold untaxed wealth?
@Gary @George Free ---why then do they get tax exemptions?
If there is a God I hope he has a good excuse!
A rational person surely would claim to be religious.
After all when your times up you want to cover your bases just in case there is a God & get accepted into the eternal afterlife. If there is no God well you won't know & it won't matter.
On the other hand atheists like Richard Dawkins are going to be up to their necks in it if they happen to be wrong.
@RTK That's called agnostic. And cowardly.
@RTK Look up Pascal's Wager - it doesn't hold water in the slightest. What if you believe in the christian god and when you die it's Kali you meet? Or the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Actually the Flying Spaghetti Monster is so cool he'd probably let you enjoy the beer volcano and the hookers in any case.
If the Bible began with "In the beginning there was light and from the light God begat matter.."
I would go, hmm, now that's interesting that almost looks like E=mc2, but there is no such reference.
There is nothing in the Bible more sophisticated than an iron age understanding of the cosmos.
Nothing in the Bible that looks like revelation from an all knowing being.
@Michael Pretty much everything that the bible takes a stand on that can be tested is wrong! The nature of the "heavens and the earth"? Wrong. Sumptuary laws - what you should eat? Ridiculous. And Jesus even turns some of the not so terrible advice on its head - like washing your hands before eating - by stating that it's not what goes into a man that causes sickness (cause who believes in the germ theory of sickness) but what comes out of his mouth, 'cause curses cause real harm; not ebola viruses.
Er.....Michael, God did say, 'Let there be light.' Have a read of 'The Genesis Enigma' by Andrew Parker. Parker a sceptic at the time of writing, concludes the book with the following, 'Now we can live with the real possibility that. God exists while fully accepting science, rather than straining to find contradictions. Faith suddenly appears that much stronger.'
The universe started as a gravitational singularity (like a superdense tiny point of matter, much denser than a black hole) just over 14 billion years ago. It then underwent massive expansion - the big bang. Just one question for you non-believers - how did that gravitational singularity get there? I'd say that's pretty strong evidence for a Creator.
More importantly, why was it there. That is a major point that Greg Sheridan raises. Science gradually explain some of the how but not the why. It seems to me that nature always has a purpose. What is the purpose of the existence of it all?
@Barry Its organic man. That's all man.
@Tammy How did that Creator get there in the first place? From a mathematical point of view space-time can be a closed surface, like a beachball with time on one axis and space on the other. It has no existence outside itself. There is an "earliest time" but no time or space before then. I admit without some advanced mathematics and physics it is a pretty hard concept for most people to understand.
@Tammy Not knowing how or why the big bang came to be in no way supports the existence of god. We just don't know. The time surely has come when we are mature enough in our place in the cosmos not to need an answer.
@Tim @Tammy Or not to need an answer in such a hurry that we give up and say, "Actually, it was God. No need to investigate anymore. End of story." That is just lame. Just because we don't know something - anything - now in no way means that we won't ever know it or that there is no perfectly reasonable answer.
Atheists claim to have “belief” to the same (inverse) extent that Christians do.
Agnosticism is quite distinct, in that it maintains that there are not sufficient grounds to support either belief system.
@Catherine Catherine, repeating verbatim a point you made earlier does not make it truthful.
Words have meanings (outside of Alice in Wonderland!)
Religion IS "the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods"
This is precisely what atheists do NOT have.
Non belief is not belief in something else any more than as somebody has already pointed out - non stamp collectors can not display their non collection.
The FACT that I do not believe your superstitious nonsense does NOT mean that I believe in some replacement nonsense; I just do not accept any of these man made religious beliefs as having any more validity than the flying spaghetti monster.
So you're a person of faith and you see it a criticism of Atheism to accuse it of being a faith too?
Contradictory perhaps?
Sheridan is really off with the pixies now.
Re reading the article I'm drawn to the concussion that Sheridan has as much understanding of "the Dawkins style of atheism." as he does the workings of his car.
@Tim I hope it is not Sheridan who is going to arrange for you to be "drawn to a concussion". I think he is a man of peace and would prefer that you were drawn to a conclusion, and not between two horses either.
@John @Tim Its the banging my head on the table in exasperation that does it.
Thanks Greg. Very well described. I often think the picture of Eden in the opening chapters of the Bible provides a picture of what we humans still hanker for. We are idealists, looking for a better world,a just world, a happier world. Why bother if we are nothing but mindless matter. The echo of Eden, though long lost, still reverberates in our souls.
Not mine. The story of Adam and Eve has no more relevance in the creation stories of indigenous Australians, and the hundreds of not thousands of similar representations of various social groupings around the world. I for one do not hanker to wander around the garden naked.
Delusional group think. Sheridan highlights how weak humans are. He requires an all powerful being to enable him to justify his weakness and ideology.
@Gary You make his point exactly - that sneering has replaced rationality in our discourse, while failing to address any single one of his arguments.
@David @Gary The sneering is due to the fact that these arguments have been had since before Epicurus nailed the "omnipotent, benevolent, omnipresent" god on the point of the existence of evil.
There has never ever been any evidence for the existence of any god. Belief in and of itself is utterly ridiculous. You can't dole out belief in descent from your parents in the same breath with belief in a sky fairy that grants wishes. It is mundane to actually be descended from ancestors - happens all the time. But for a sky fairy to do magical things is very unusual. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence which mundane claims do not.
Why believe in this god and not Thor or Ahura Mazda or the Rainbow Serpent?
You are atheist in respect of all gods but one. I take it one tiny step further which is in accordance with all evidence and is clearly the most rational position.
Why do we have to keep visiting the same arguments when the god delusion has been shot out of the water for several thousand years?
@David @Gary what arguments? Someone asserts without any evidence that they have proof of the existence God, basically because they really like the idea. Why is that sneering? Are the snowflakes of faith to be afforded more leeway for hurt feelings than they, for example, allow to LGBTIQ people?
@David @Gary Sheridan's arguments are not fact or merit based they are as I stated pure delusional groupthink that has been used to manipulate the weak minded and those who want to relieve themselves of the responsibility of their decisions and actions.
@David @Gary He has no arguments except a short version of Aquinas' 5 Ways. The shortest response to them is that existence is not a predicate; and that the First Cause argument is a fallacy of composition. Google if you do not understand David.
Apart from listening to inner voices, which is not a convincing argument for anything except possibly evidence for hallucination, Sheridan's so called arguments are very weak copies of well known and repeatedly refuted cases of special pleading or willful constructional of others positions.
Sorry David, there are sophisticated theological arguments that certainly could have been at least alluded too [and I'd be happy to debate and refute them in a genuine spirit of debate] but this article is so weak it cannot be taken seriously.
Great article, Greg. The core of our existence lies in the knowledge and purpose of God for our lives.
@Helio But which God Helio?
@Helio Helio, how are you?
Spoken like a brainwashed acolyte.
Ifyou were a North Korean you could substitute the words "Kim Jong Un" for God and it would be equally applicable in that context.
And you voted, yes!
A person's Faith, as witnessed, can be a powerful tool in helping them through their difficult and dark days. They draw comfort and hope through prayer, faith and community. No psychologist's couch has this type of power.
Rationalism and Atheism offers no such solace.
Whether there is a God or not, Faith and that inner voice can alleviate suffering, allows hope and brings some meaning to our existence. To crave unconditional love and support is part of the human condition and Faith plays a central role, especially to those feeling marginalised or isolated.
Drawing on the imagery of 'Footprints', the Deceased asks his Maker why, when seeing two sets of footprints walking through the sands of his life, in his darkest times there was only one set. His Maker answers "it was then that I carried you".
Amy
@Tony It's a complete intellectual copout, to say "it helps" to believe in something for which there is no evidence. Why not believe in astrology or homeopathy, or any other daft belief for which there is no evidence?
@Tony Belief simply on the basis that it is soothing is delusion. It is cuddling up to a teddy bear on a dark and stormy night.
Do you wish to live your life in truth or delusion?
Personally, I haven't been able to deludedly console myself like that since I was a child. If you face up to truth and reality you can find a strength that will withstand the scales being removed from your eyes.
@Tony The "Life of Pi" defense. Just because it would be nice if something were true doesn't make it so. It is the neotynic version of magical thinking.
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