If you pose that question to an atheist, and he suddenly converts, do you think God gets tricked into thinking he’s a true believer all of a sudden?
Careful with this one. You run into ‘then who created God’ pretty quick
Question. If Christians are right and an atheist and Muslim man both die with the same amount of ‘was a good person’ does the Muslim get bonus points for at least believing in A God or are they equally damned?
What is your typical response if you sneeze and someone says “God bless you.”?
Alright, I identify as Jewish as my entire family is Jewish. Most of my family is what one would call “modern orthodox” as they don’t strictly adhere to the rules however they won’t eat certain foods like bacon, milk and meat etc and some will regularly attend synagogue, but we don’t wear kippurs, keep shabbat etc. There are the few members of my family who are very religious and then there are a small few (like me) who aren’t religious at all. I still choose to identify as Jewish because I think of it as a nationality rather than a religion as DNA on a DNA test can prove whether one is jewish, what sect they originate from etc.
With that out the way my opinion on whether there is a god is “I don’t know”, I don’t believe any of the stories told in the bible or the Torah, I believe organised religion and the stories from the bible/Torah/Coran or whatever exist to instill good morals in people (keep in mind, this was biblical times, many things in these books that are now considered barbaric may have been normal back then), however many of the concepts have outlived their value and are outdated (don’t masturbate, don’t eat this or that, stoning people to death, being gay is a sin, don’t have premarital sex etc). Many of the laws in the Torah (don’t kill, respect your parents, don’t steal etc) still have merit today. Some people require faith in order to live a life with purpose, others see through what I percieve to be bullshit and don’t need a higher purpose in order to live life. When it comes to whether god exists, I would say no however i can’t find a scientific explanation as to why the big bang occurred, why is the universe the way it is etc, what existed BEFORE the big bang and then what created THAT? which means to me there is a force or something out there that is beyond my understanding, I don’t ever expect to understand it… whatever it is and quite frankly I don’t think about it.
What I do frequently ponder is the purpose of life, some people live short miserable lives, others suffer in agony and pain, some are healthy, rich and happy while others are ridden with comorbidities and live terrible qualities of life. Why is it that some people have to live out such shit existences and others have it all? Why did the holocaust happen, why were (it was like… 6 million jewish people and another 4 million other people of various religions, sexual orientation and race) allowed to be systematically executed, why are atrocities committed daily, surely if there was this “amazing all powerful god” that supposedly performed miracles to help people back in biblical times, these events would have been stopped. LOOK AT SYRIA, MY GOD, this is one of the biggest “evil wins” type things in history. Speaking of that, why does evil usually triumph over good… The bully usually wins, life isn’t fair DAMMIT the world SUCKS
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I just say thanks. Most people just do it out of habit and mean no offense.
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You have to give stuff up too. Remember, we’re the ones who did away with factional politics…
I’m down to give some stuff up in exchange for removing the subsidation of the religious sector. What did you have in mind?
Subsidies for abortion services is what I want. Then you got a deal.
We’ve already agreed that the tax money of religious people can’t subsidize institutions with practices and teaching contrary to their beliefs.
Heck no. Just abortion? ALL of it.
Haha I’ll take that deal all day every day. Those funding numbers aren’t even in the same equation.
Where do I sign?
Sloth want’s more…
I couldn’t tell what he was saying with ‘all of it’
This here;
Which doesn’t explain the things you want eliminated in exchange for taxing churches to any degree at all.
Unless you want the law to read ‘stopping the subsidation of the religious industry in exchange for what Sloth doesn’t approve of, to be determined at a later date’
Topics. Abortion. Contraception. LGBT, fornication. Any institution that touches upon those subjects (and others)., if it doesn’t comply with our beliefs, we don’t have to be part of subsidizing it.
Subsidization of the religious sector?
Tax exempt status. And medicaid reimbursement for a fellow who received treatment at a Catholic hospital, for example.
So they wouldn’t be 501(c)(3) anymore? What would they be?