[ExI] The void left by deleting religion

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 11/05/07, Samantha Atkins <sjatkins at mac.com> wrote:

>    I couldn't manage to believe that God would torment people eternally
> > for
> > one life of not managing to belief "the right stuff" or for being as
> > imperfect as the preachers insisted we were created or doomed to be from
> >
> > birth.   It made no sense and did not square with what my budding
> > mysticism led me too either.
> >
>
> It's funny how people assume intimate knowledge of God's psychological
> states, personality, and behavioural predispositions.
>
>
>
>
True but what does that  have to do with it?  I was being asked to both
imagine such a being and believe that it was all Good and would do such at
the same time.  I had little choice but to do what I could to imagine it.
Unless of course I just "accepted it on faith" which for most people means
just mouthing the formulas they have had crammed into them.   I would not
believe that the universe was an utter madhouse run by the most mad being of
all.

The interesting thing is that the problem is evil is usually taken as being
a choice between a good God and no God at all, leaving out the obvious
possibility for the believer (who after all comes to the table with no
difficulties with the existence of supernatural beings per se) that there
exists a God, but he is bad. It's yet another argument against religious
belief: we'll believe it if we like it, but not if we don't like it. This is
OK for belief in, say, an ideal or a political party, but not for belief in
matters of fact... unless they want to say that God is not a matter of fact.

-- 
Stathis Papaioannou
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