Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Fenrir]

Is theism not the belief in a god or deity? How is that NOT a religion?

What would you define faith as?

Thinking that there is a sapient being that created everything does not necessarily imply worship.

Riddle me this: if theism is a religion, doesn’t that mean that Christianity, Islam, and Asatru are all the same religion? Or does that mean that Christianity, Islam, Asatru, and Theism are all religions? Which is the more popular religion, Christianity or Theism?

The word faith is used to mean a great trust or belief. As I said, “faith-based belief” is a belief that eschews logic and evidence completely and sustains itself with only trust.

[Micro102]

Is theism not the belief in a god or deity? How is that NOT a religion?

What would you define faith as?

Thinking that there is a sapient being that created everything does not necessarily imply worship.

Riddle me this: if theism is a religion, doesn’t that mean that Christianity, Islam, and Asatru are all the same religion? Or does that mean that Christianity, Islam, Asatru, and Theism are all religions? Which is the more popular religion, Christianity or Theism?

The word faith is used to mean a great trust or belief. As I said, “faith-based belief” is a belief that eschews logic and evidence completely and sustains itself with only trust.

Sorry, I didn't mean theism itself was a religion, but simply believing in a god is a religion. But I don't understand how that means that theism is "not a faith-based belief"

[penguify]

Is theism not the belief in a god or deity? How is that NOT a religion?

What would you define faith as?

Thinking that there is a sapient being that created everything does not necessarily imply worship.

Riddle me this: if theism is a religion, doesn’t that mean that Christianity, Islam, and Asatru are all the same religion? Or does that mean that Christianity, Islam, Asatru, and Theism are all religions? Which is the more popular religion, Christianity or Theism?

The word faith is used to mean a great trust or belief. As I said, “faith-based belief” is a belief that eschews logic and evidence completely and sustains itself with only trust.

Sorry, I didn't mean theism itself was a religion, but simply believing in a god is a religion. But I don't understand how that means that theism is "not a faith-based belief"

If you had sufficient evidence, it wouldn't be faith based. And different people may have different ideas of 'sufficient'.

Also, if you put your faith/trust in a different entity, such as a priest, and only believed because they told you it was the truth. It would still qualify as 'faith-based', but only if you used a very loose definition of faith.

[Max White]

Why do I get the feeling that a lot of arguments here are based more on the lines of "Well this is far too philosophical to be debated properly! I win!" rather than "Well that doesn't address this point, your ideas are inconsistent!"

If you are debating to try and be the winner, you are doing it wrong.

Either that or some people are just bad at reading and interpreting others posts... Seriously, " if theism is a religion, doesn’t that mean that Christianity, Islam, and Asatru are all the same religion?" How do you even misread that poorly?

[Fenrir]

While I could agree that the sentence was a little muddled, I think it a little unfair to accuse me of arguing to “win”.

And I don’t misread poorly at all. I misread just fine, thank you.

Sorry, I didn't mean theism itself was a religion, but simply believing in a god is a religion.

Unless you and I are using the term “belief” differently, this looks like a contradiction, as theism is believing in a god.

Sorry, I didn't mean theism itself was a religion, but simply believing in a god is a religion.
But I don't understand how that means that theism is "not a faith-based belief"

It doesn’t; it was a separate point.

[Grek]

Protip: When a debate is not going anywhere and you and the person you are debating with seem to be going in circles around definitions, try debating without using the problematic words. Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to explain what it is you mean without using the following words:

-faith
-faith-based
-religion
-theism
-atheism
-evidence
-proof
-belief
-sufficient
-trust
-philosophical
-sapient
-adultery
-murder
-god
-deity
-any name of any specific religion
-any synonym of the above

[Deathworks]

Hello!

I want to apologize and inform Max White and all the others who have taken the time and invested the effort to read my posts and respond to them, that I am opting out of this thread.

I don't have enough time to act appropriately in this thread.

I am also obviously not skilled enough to express my views correctly enough to live up to the high standards of the discussion here.

Therefore, please do not be surprised and forgive me if I will no longer respond in this thread. Thank you for being willing to discuss things with me, and I hope to talk with you in other threads on these boards.

Yours,
Deathworks

[Micro102]

Sorry, I didn't mean theism itself was a religion, but simply believing in a god is a religion.

Unless you and I are using the term “belief” differently, this looks like a contradiction, as theism is believing in a god.

Sorry, I didn't mean theism itself was a religion, but simply believing in a god is a religion.
But I don't understand how that means that theism is "not a faith-based belief"

It doesn’t; it was a separate point.

Hrm, ok, lets try reaching an agreement on a definition of theism. "The belief in a god, which can be a category religions fall under"

If you had sufficient evidence, it wouldn't be faith based. And different people may have different ideas of 'sufficient'.

There is almost 0 evidence for an existence of a god aside from personal experiences, but alien abductees have been convinced they have been abducted by aliens as well.

[Frumple]

I'd probably go with "belief in the divine" more than strictly a god... or even gods. There's some omnipresence related stuff I'd probably call theistic, but the divine stuff they talk about isn't... well, singular. Or plural, per se. S'a bit weird. Hindu stuff can skirt that, yeah, just as an example.

'Course, then you have to figure out what you mean by "divine" and, well. Just like "god" it's something that can vary by system.

"Which can be a category religions fall under" is kinda' a useless addendum, though. What isn't?

[Siquo]

There is almost 0 evidence for an existence of a <anything> aside from personal experiences.

FTFY, Now it's an argument usable by anyone for everything

[Owlbread]

A creator of the universe/deity/whatever could exist. He could also not exist. Why then would I automatically assume that he does exist, and not only that, he is the god of the bible or qu'ran or torah or guru granth sahib? Why not something else entirely?

[Micro102]

There is almost 0 evidence for an existence of a <anything> aside from personal experiences.

FTFY, Now it's an argument usable by anyone for everything

How? I can put a piece of wood up to fire and watch it burn, and demonstrate to others that the wood can catch fire, and that it turns black. And this can also be replicated by other people.

[kaijyuu]

A creator of the universe/deity/whatever could exist. He could also not exist. Why then would I automatically assume that he does exist, and not only that, he is the god of the bible or qu'ran or torah or guru granth sahib? Why not something else entirely?

Personally, I think if a deity exists, he's likely a total jerkass with less empathy toward us than we have toward our dwarves in dwarf fortress.

[10ebbor10]

There is almost 0 evidence for an existence of a <anything> aside from personal experiences.

FTFY, Now it's an argument usable by anyone for everything

How? I can put a piece of wood up to fire and watch it burn, and demonstrate to others that the wood can catch fire, and that it turns black. And this can also be replicated by other people.

How are certain these real people exist? What leads you to believe that there's someone who's writing this post. What if this is actually a hallucination, or a simulation, or a dream.

Besides, why is everything so focused on the question wherether or not God exists? Does it matter? It doesn't for me.

[Micro102]

There is almost 0 evidence for an existence of a <anything> aside from personal experiences.

FTFY, Now it's an argument usable by anyone for everything

How? I can put a piece of wood up to fire and watch it burn, and demonstrate to others that the wood can catch fire, and that it turns black. And this can also be replicated by other people.

How are certain these real people exist? What leads you to believe that there's someone who's writing this post. What if this is actually a hallucination, or a simulation, or a dream.

It could be, but what is the evidence for that? I can touch people, see people. Evidence is gotten from the senses, therefore I believe that this isn't a virtual world.