...as someone who doesn't have those sorts of experiences, that contributes to not being prone to those sorts of beliefs. — Terrapin Station
What more did I say? — Sivad
That's not really necessary if we're being reasonable — Sivad
It's not that these types of experiences result in belief or imagination (two closely related psychological functions). It's rather that belief in, or imagining, a narrative/mythology/worldview results in these types of experiences. — Galuchat
I'd deny that there's a single Christian who doesn't believe in God. I consider that contradictory.So you're denying that there are millions of atheistic Buddhists and liberal Christians that don't believe in God? — Sivad
I'd deny that there's a single Christian who doesn't believe in God. I consider that contradictory — Terrapin Station
True enough. And yet you have a belief system (or worldview) of some sort; even if it consists of unbelief, such as Scientism.I don't have those sorts of beliefs, and so I don't interpret anything as those sorts of experiences, which reinforces or strengthens that I don't have those sorts of beliefs. — Terrapin Station
Then you would probably be interested in the fact that The Pew Research Center on Religion & Public Life has been publishing The Changing Global Religious Landscape since at least 2010.When it comes to making claims that are about what masses of persons' beliefs are, I'm only interested in pretty rigorous data about that. — Terrapin Station
True enough. And yet you have a belief system (or worldview) of some sort; even if it consists of unbelief, such as Scientism. — Galuchat
I think your self-report suffices in this respect. — Galuchat
I agree with that, but as someone who doesn't have those sorts of experiences, that contributes to not being prone to those sorts of beliefs. — Terrapin Station
There is a common human experience. I've had it, many others have had it. Apparently you have not, or at least you aren't aware of it. Or maybe you use different words. Some people call it "God." Although I am not what you would call it a theist, I can understand that. For many of us, there is a fundamental feeling of gratitude for what we have been given. That feeling of gratitude leads us to want to thank someone, something.
I think there is a naturalistic, reasonable argument that it makes sense to grant personhood to the world we live in. My vision of how that might work won't be satisfying to monotheists, but I think my way of thinking and theirs grow out of that common experience. — T Clark
Buddhists are more complicated. I'd agree that there are some who don't believe in God. But plenty do. I have no idea what the numbers would be. That's why we'd need a good survey of that. — Terrapin Station
Of course it is already obvious that it is correct in your opinion, so that unsupported comment seems redundant, and hence pointless. — John
There are no Buddhists who believe in God the Creator of Everything in the Abrahamic, or even God in the Hinduistic sense. — John
Almost as pointless as pointing out that it's one explanation or that's it's very fashionable, which is blindingly obvious and utterly irrelevant, respectively. — Sapientia
I only said it because it certainly didn't seem as though it was obvious to you that you were doing nothing more than trotting out an unsupported, fashionable opinion; it rather seemed as though you thought you were expressing an infallible truth. — John
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