So, in short, my statement wasn't "plain and simple crap." Actually, to say that it was such is.
My apologies for the stridency of my response. I posted back to you in a bit of heat (and on another thread as well). Thanks for tolerating my outburst. Actually, I'm rather firmly on your end of the spectrum here. It is, as you say, simply a matter of facing the facts in hand. Even if there is a God (as I believe there is), he/she/it has chosen to remain essentially incommunicado for millenia (assuming, of course that God has ever really communicated with humankind at all). That being the case, I have no choice but to live my life as if God does not exist, even while indulging myself in a "faith" that there is a God. I owe it to myself, and thence to others, to be realistic. That pretty much classifies me as an agnostic, eh? Funny thing about that: I don't feel guilty. 40+ years of die-hard Biblical theism, and now I find myself in a position I would never have imagined. If and when God wants to set me straight...I'll be listening. fwiw, much of why I now feel this way is also why I took such strong exception to your suggestion of a "default" position. In the strictest existential and epistemological sense, we can't absolutely "know" anything, and therefore there is no default position except insofar as we set one for ourself (of course, a purely subjective act). Ahh, how I wish the world was objective! LOL Respects, Craig
I have not read the 8 pages of this thread, but when belief in God is put in a post it usually ends up in a debate on who is right or wrong on the existence of God.
So much animosity has been perpetrated in the name of defending an entity who is the center of the universe for so many who call themselves Christains. So much blood has been shed by those who defend the entity who apparently has the power to end all bloodshed with so much as a thought. I could throw away all logic, like I did when I was a JW, and lean on my faith to try to excuse this entity from all responsibility to his followers, but I can not do this. IF God does exist, it is logical at this point to assume that he is a entity that has left his followers to themselves to save the human race from extinction. This thought is a depressing one for me, but one that I have come to believe. I have come to a conclusion that is not only logical to me, but gives me responsibility for my own fate and it is this.......Something doesn't come from nothing, so an entity (God?) was there to create the beginning of our existence, but it is up to ourselves to build our future, whatever that may be. I feel that if the world could think like this, and not believe that some help is coming from above to come to the rescue, then maybe we could get past religious differences that only harbour distrust and promote hatred. I do not have a book (bible) to back up my beliefs, but this is what I feel in my heart, makes sense to me, and gives me a peace of mind that I haven't felt in a long time.
Looks like Hamster missed the point. So close, yet so far.
The fact that your beliefs depend on your environment is strong evidence, might I even say proof, that the default belief for anything is null until you learn about it.
