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Originally Posted by Halx
Martian, I don't get it. You state yourself that finding or not finding god depends on your perspective. This is like leaving the decision to nuke Cuba to little ol' Mary-Sue Wilkenson from Kentucky.
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That analogy doesn't really hold up. Belief in God doesn't kill people. Sure, followers of religion have done some really shitty things in the past, but atheists can be real assholes too. Mary-Sue Wilkinson might be a real a dick. Maybe she's part of the WBC and is a bad person. Or y'know, maybe she works for the salvation army. Maybe she's dedicated her life to helping those less fortunate (heart to God, hand to man and all that). And if she's a good person, why does it matter what she believes? Hell, for that matter if she's a bad person why does it matter what she believes? Groups like the WBC are a vocal minority and using them as a representation for all followers of all religions is a bit extreme, to say the least.
I'm not saying that you should believe. I don't believe, why would I suggest that anyone else should? All I'm saying is that there are billions of people worldwide who follow various religious doctrines, and to assume that all of those people are mindless sheep is something of a fallacy. Having spoken with a great many followers of different faiths, one thing that I've found is that those whose beliefs are religious in nature tend to have a much higher degree of variation in their exact answers than atheists do. Faith demands that sooner or later anyone who follows it has to ask the same questions as those who don't, and the answers derived are dependent entirely on what assumptions you work with.
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Originally Posted by guyy
Does the question of god lead to more understanding of the world? I'd say no. It's the wrong question.
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I would posit that knowing the answers others have formulated for the question of God leads to greater understanding of those others, and thus does lead to a greater understanding of the world through the people in it.