If belief is not a choice -
Why are you here (if not for providing Christians for other options - possibilities. Then your just causing trouble)
Just because belief is not a choice, doesn't mean that people can't honestly hold to a false belief.
People can end up holding false beliefs because of a wide variety of reasons: incomplete data, false data, misunderstanding of data, faulty reasoning,...
I don't think anyone will knowingly hold on to beliefs they know are false.
Some might pretend though, if they feel they get an advantage out of it.
A con man, a charlatan, a sect leader drunk on power,...
But for the most part, I think people are sincere. Sincerely mistaken, but sincere nonetheless.
If belief is not a choice -
Why are there so many religions -
If not a choice - there would only be one - or none...
This again has the same problem as the previous paragraphes.
People believe false things all the time for a variety of reasons.
That doesn't mean that what you'll believe is an arbitrary choice like choosing to fried eat chicken for dinner instead of a cheese sandwich.
Belief is basically the result of the logical structure of an argument...
You'll have some premises and you'll bring it to a conclusion that sounds reasonable to you.
And if you think the premises are accurate, then you'll assume the conclusion. And you will not have a choice in that. You'll be
compelled to come to the conclusion, since it's the data you think to have at your disposal that leads you to that conclusion. It's a COMPULSION, not a choice.
However, this data, those premises,.... they
could be wrong. They could be incomplete. They could be misunderstood. And if any of the above,
they'll lead to a false conclusion.
And you'ld be honestly mistaken.
Because it's based on a misunderstanding of what we are saying.
Here, ironically, we have a very fine example of what we are saying...
You believe "the math doesn't add up". You didn't
choose to believe that, right?
Nope. You
logically deduced it, from your premises stated above (why are there many religions and blabla). So you feel
compelled to reach the conclusion you reached.
The problem: your premisses ... are wrong. They are strawmen of what is actually being said.
Once you understand this and accept correct premises, you'll in turn feel
compelled to reach another conclusion, which will then be logically deduced from the upgraded, corrected, premises.
Besides -who are you to tell me I have no choice?
I reserve the right as a human - to choose what I want - that includes believing.
I'm saying you physically can't.
Go ahead: "choose" right here, right now, to HONESTLY and SINCERELY believe in the norse gods and whalhalla. And believe it as honestly as you believe that you'll get hurt when jumping from the 3rd floor unto the concrete ground. You can not. Because belief is not a choice. It is a compulsion, based on a whole bunch of factors that are not really under your control. The only thing under your control, at best, is how open minded you are (which deals with how open you are to honestly evaluate new evidence which might disprove your beliefs).
I chose to believe - no matter what
You chose to not believe - no matter what
No.
If you say that you really do only "choose" to believe in your religion.
Then I can only conclude that you don't
really believe in your religion.
Just like you could say that you "choose" to believe in the norse gods, in fact you won't
really believe in the norse gods.