Are atheists implying theists are delusional?

[Yerda]

I posted this in the secular beliefs forum. I thought I'd get a wider range of opinions.

...If someone says that God speaks to them and you still maintain that you see no evidence to believe in God/s, are you implicitly stating that they are delusional?

Do you believe you communicate with/have a sensation of God?

 

[Ryan2065]

Uhh, sure!

 

[Valjean]

No "implicit" about it.

 

[Katzpur]

Uhh, sure!

Gee, I'm not sure whether I'd rather hear a fundamentalist Christian tell me I'm going to burn in Hell or an athiest tell me I'm a nut case. Radicals on either end of the spectrum turn me off. The bottom line is that there are some highly intelligent theists and some downright stupid ones. The same goes for atheists.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

I posted this in the secular beliefs forum. I thought I'd get a wider range of opinions.

...If someone says that God speaks to them and you still maintain that you see no evidence to believe in God/s, are you implicitly stating that they are delusional?

Do you believe you communicate with/have a sensation of God?

This idea has been on my mind a lot (I think because of your post and others), and I kind of realized I've never actually had an experience that I could call a "sensation of God."

I've had some pretty intense moments that certainly seemed religious and divinely inspired, and I suppose that's close. But I can't really place it with God. It's interesting, though, I still feel the urge to pray and talk with with...well, God.

Could it simply be leftover from childhood when talking to imaginary beings like Santa, imaginary friends, or - dare I say God? - was normal and natural? It may be, but I also have realized that I can't reconcile myself to simply accepting logic. There is nothing that absolutely proves God's inexistence. There is only the inexistence of proof that It exists. While it is still irrational to believe so, I need to be honest with myself that I - at this moment anyway - cannot disbelieve in a Divine Being. My description of God therefore is simply the subjective force of the Universe; that keeps it simple and works well with my own reasoning.

None of this is really delusional. I'm sure other theists probably feel the way I do, that their belief in God cannot be broken even if they accept logical and empirical arguments against It. It's irrational, but to reiterate a astatement I've made many times before, rationality is only part of the human experience.

Frubals for making me think!

 

[Feathers in Hair]

I think that if the atheists here on the forums think we theists are delusional, they've been quite nice about it. (Or at least the majority of them are.)

 

[gnostic]

Although this is directed at atheists.

I find that religion, particularly the mythological side of religion to be very fascinating, but that does not necessarily mean I believe in it, thus have faith.
I would like more evidence or proof before I could accept the existence of god or gods...or even goddesses.

Words from scripture only provide evidence of the testimony (from various scriptures, of various religion) of what they believe, but these can hardly be called definitive.

For me, they are more like story or myth, than of actual history. Some may history may be involved, but trying to shift through the real from the imaginary is not an easy task.

I can accept natural miracles, like a person surviving 100-metre fall or that a person are clincally dead, but somehow revived, but not that of the miracles that appeared in the bible or qur'an or other scriptures.

The Genesis' Creation and the Ark lacked real evidence. There are lot of evidences that contradict the Creation. How do we prove that God exist or that there is an afterlife, which some of these religions professed to exist? How do people believe in so called God's books and angelic visitations, accepting the testimony like from Muhammad or Joseph Smith?

I don't think atheists, or that of agnostics like me, are being unreasonable for questioning or criticising the validity of their scriptures or that of the theists' claims of this miracle or that.

I mean the atheists and agnostics are not only the ones who are critical of theists. Theists are critical of religion that they don't believe or follow. Islamic theists believed that Judaism and Christianity have being corrupted, and Christian theists believed that Muhammad is a false prophet. Both of these two religions object to pagan or polytheistic religion. I find theists are being hypocritical when they object to atheists being critical of them, when they are critical of other religions that they follow.

The only difference between atheists and theists is that atheists want more evidence than just faith and their holy scriptures, whereas theists are ready to believe in them because of their faith.

But of course, atheists saying that theists are deluded just because they don't believe, would be considered awfully rude.

 

[Ozzie]

I posted this in the secular beliefs forum. I thought I'd get a wider range of opinions.

...If someone says that God speaks to them and you still maintain that you see no evidence to believe in God/s, are you implicitly stating that they are delusional?

Do you believe you communicate with/have a sensation of God?

No the theist implicitly judges the atheist for not believing them. The theist just does not believe the atheist does not believe him. The athiest just does not believe. Seem like a lot of screwy second-guessing going on? What we need is a good public manifestation of God. Then we could settle the issue

 

[Mathematician]

It depends what they mean by "speaks to them". If they have voices in their heads saying something I might suggest finding help...

If it's just signs they see in daily living, that's different.

 

[Mr. Hair]

...If someone says that God speaks to them and you still maintain that you see no evidence to believe in God/s, are you implicitly stating that they are delusional?

Well, perhaps; but it would depend on how one approached the concept of personal truth. In this case I would probably see such divinely sourced voices as an illusion, but an illusion can be truly real. 'God' is, in my opinion, inherently subjective.

Besides, I'm hardly all-knowing on such subjects. *smiles*

 

[Yerda]

Gee, I'm not sure whether I'd rather hear a fundamentalist Christian tell me I'm going to burn in Hell or an athiest tell me I'm a nut case.

I don't imagine you or any other person would revel in being called a nut.

Do you 'sense' God, Katzpur?

 

[darkpenguin]

i'd be straight up and say i thought that they were illogical!

 

[Yerda]

I think that if the atheists here on the forums think we theists are delusional, they've been quite nice about it. (Or at least the majority of them are.)

Some theists are delusional, some atheists are delusional. I wouldn't say that the majority of theists qualify under the description of the question.

 

[Yerda]

Frubals for making me think!

You're welcome. Thanks for your post.

Thank you to everyone else who responded.

 

[d.]

absolutely; if a delusion is defined as "a fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact" but being 'delusional' doesn't make one a 'nut'.

i certainly don't think of myself as not being in any way delusional.

 

[Ryan2065]

Gee, I'm not sure whether I'd rather hear a fundamentalist Christian tell me I'm going to burn in Hell or an athiest tell me I'm a nut case. Radicals on either end of the spectrum turn me off. The bottom line is that there are some highly intelligent theists and some downright stupid ones. The same goes for atheists.

Delusional means you have a false belief... How exactly does this equate to you being a nutjob?

Psycharicts describe someone as delusional if they have some form of belief that is very hard to change with facts and reason and evidence. Just because its many times associated with someone who say, thinks they are Roosevelt, does not mean it does not apply to anything else. I do not believe there is a god, therefore all the god like feelings people get and the resistance to change they display when they do believe in god would lend credit to the idea that they are delusional.

Its just a word... And those people who do actually have delusions would love knowing they are considered "nut jobs" .

 

[Jaymes]

...If someone says that God speaks to them and you still maintain that you see no evidence to believe in God/s, are you implicitly stating that they are delusional?

Short answer? Yes.

However I suspect I'd be singing a different tune if I had a deity speak to me.

The way I look at it, it's like seeing shapes in clouds. I might see a bunny, someone else might see a shoe, someone else might just see a mass of frozen water particles. Is any one interpretation more right than the other?

 

[Yerda]

Is any one interpretation more right than the other?

Either there is a God communicating with you or there isn't.

 

[Katzpur]

Do you 'sense' God, Katzpur?

Absolutely. It would be difficult for me to explain how I sense Him, but it's just an incredibly strong feeling that He exists and is constantly aware of me. It's something that I've consciously tried to convince myself is merely delusional, but I simply can't do it. I was taught about God as a child, but never in a forceful way. Still, I almost feel as if I was born believing in Him -- not necessarily the Christian God, but at least a Higher Power.

 

[Katzpur]

Delusional means you have a false belief... How exactly does this equate to you being a nutjob?

You're right, but I was thinking of the word more as it is used in psychiatry, and in psychiatry, delusions are often considered to be symptoms of mental illness. I am just bothered by athiests who try to imply that a belief in a higher being is somehow crazy. I certainly don't think they're crazy for not believing, but I'm one of those people who tends to think that our spiritual sensitivity is inborn and not taught.