secularmerlin

Saying an unexplainable force is responsible is the opposite of an explanation. 

Rick and morty.

I beg to differ. People deny truth routinely. 

That's what you believe can I get a why?

Altruism equals survival of our species so we exhibit altruism. 

Then you understand how easy it is to mistake a natural occurrence for a purposefull design with intelligence behind it.

Are you aware of the SETI program and their role in discovering the first pulsars?

Statistically speaking sooner or later I would get trapped somehow and spend eternity as a prisoner slowly going mad.

Janesix: Because humans are immoral. They chose to make thier own rules that goes against true morals.

Then how do we determine what is moral? Is it moral to abdicate one's moral judgement to another being no matter how perfect?

Janesix: I don't know wha the laws of spain were back then. As for todays American values, there is both good and bad. Good as in no slavery etc, bad as in abortion is OK and legal.

You believe that both slavery and abortion are wrong. This is what do you believe and why. What objectively makes them wrong? Do you just "feel" that they are wrong?

Don't get me wrong I feel that slavery is wrong too but that is entirely subjective to the fact that as a potential slave (Which all humans are technically if we are to recognize what slavery is) it is in my best interest to foster a society in which there is no slavery. Altruism equals survival of our species so we exhibit altruism.

Same for selfish or cruel behavior. Under the right circumstances these may also constitute survival behaviors but only for the individual. So we exhibit these behaviors as well but they are less conducive to a cooperative society and so frowned upon.

Are we including the ownership of animals under the heading of slavery? Why or why not?

PS just wanted to say I love talking to you glad we both found the site.

What do you think is the source of your extreme ananaphobia?

Then why do human morals evolve and change based on the whims of a society? Indeed why do so many people throughout history who claim that their morals come directly from a god disagree about what is and is not moral?

Do you feel that your societies laws are more or less moral than the laws of theocracies from the past? For example the laws of Spain between, I don't know, let's say between 1478 and 1834.

I could easily remedy that by making a fruit pizza and adding pineapple. 

You aren't sure but you think so?

I do agree that many religions were created specifically to deceive and or control people. This would be equally true of religions inspired or created by actual gods unless it was not the intention of the god in question to control or deceive. I think satire religions may be an exception however. It's hard to claim they are trying to deceive if they are obvious about the fact that their religion is nonsense.

Do you feel that this god had the same moral standards that you do?

If it was your personal morality why did you need a god to show you?

I'm honestly not sure how unless we have both experienced a similar brain state. Why so you think what you did was wrong? Wrong by what standard?

The actual subject is what you believe and why. You've shared what you believe aboit pineapple on pizza now how about a why.

What do you believe are suitable pizza toppings and why?

A different state of conciousness. Different how?

That doesn't sound very nice. How did this hypothetical god go about showing you all this?

Do you bite your thumb at smithereens?

Good to hear from you janesix. What leads you to believe that god cares about our morals or that his ideas of morality coincide in any way with ours?

How can we be certain in that case that some of these undiscovered gods do not correspond to the gids you consider made up or fictional? 

By making a claim you have shouldered a burden of proof.

In your initial post you clearly onky say that you believe something and that it only "makes more sense" to you. That is not a claim and requires no burden of proof in and of itself though it does beg the question why how you have assigned this probability.

This statement is different.

You have claimed that it is a reality that we are first a concious being and that we then inhabit a material form. Do you have any proof that we exist before we are born or that we continue to exist after we die or did you mean to say that you believe these things and that it would "make more sense" to you?

How exactly do we assign a likelihood to either of those possibilities?

What reason is there to believe that some god(s) exist, especially if the god(s) in question are disinterested enpigh in the universe at large that it is not discernibly different from our perspective than if there were no god at all?

Ok fair enough.

Moving on do you believe that any god(s) exist that humanity has never experienced and had no knowledge of?

So there is no reason to believe that any god(s) exist?

How does a disinterested god differ from no god when viewed from our perspective 

So we cannot actually determin objectively if any god(s) outside our personal experience really exist unless we are prepared to accept anecdotal testimony from individuals who are arguably being effected by strong emotional states?

Really it depends on which god is under discussion. Many gods have a very definite origin story (for example Zeus wad the son of chronos and his mother fed chronos a stone in swaddling in order to prevent the infant god from being devoured). 

I'm sorry but did you mean to say that there is no reas9n to believe that any god(s) exist?

Ok so there are those religions that seem obviousmy made up but how can we be certain that some of the religions that are not as obviously fictional are not made up? 

I am skeptical of the multimeter hypothesis but if it is credible then there must be one universe with an fsm and if he exists in one universe then he may well exist in all universes.

How do you tell the difference between genuine deities and those which are made up?

Which god are we discussing?

Amen. Preach it brother .

I may be remembering incorrectly but I thought we had discussed at least one hypothetical deity that you do not believe in. 

Has that changed?

Do you believe in a literalist view on the bible or more as a collection of helpful allegory?

Perhaps with ddo in the shape it is in the process won't be quite so slow.

I find that a good place to start is finding out what you believe.

I always find that a good place to start is finding out what you believe.