Why faith is evil

[xkatz]

Faith can be used to give hope and comfort. However, and factless overly confident view of the world is in many cases dangerous. False things generally are dangerous even if they sometimes give hope and comfort.

Not all people believe b/c they want hope and comfort. I may believe in G-d, but I don't believe that he can save/protect us (as presented in the stories of Noah and Lot) or that there is necessarily a place we go to after we die (seeing that Heaven and/or Hell is not mentioned much in the Hebrew Bible and I don't interpret a lot of the Hebrew Bible literally). I don't believe in that b/c that makes religion almost a crutch of sorts, on which people rely on b/c they are scared. I wish many people didn't believe to have hope and comfort, but unfortunately a lot do. I think that's a poor excuse to follow a religion IMO.

 

[Meow Mix]

Not all people believe b/c they want hope and comfort. I may believe in G-d, but I don't believe that he can save/protect us (as presented in the stories of Noah and Lot) or that there is necessarily a place we go to after we die (seeing that Heaven and/or Hell is not mentioned much in the Hebrew Bible and I don't interpret a lot of the Hebrew Bible literally). I don't believe in that b/c that makes religion almost a crutch of sorts, on which people rely on b/c they are scared. I wish many people didn't believe to have hope and comfort, but unfortunately a lot do. I think that's a poor excuse to follow a religion IMO.

I agree.

If you don't mind me asking, why do you believe in God?

Also is it considered offensive in Judaism if other, non-Jews type the full word "God?" Just so I know in future conversations to hyphenate it if it's considered more tactful when conversing with a Jew.

 

[xkatz]

If you don't mind me asking, why do you believe in God?

Because I have the freedom to But seriously, it's just based on my observations and experiences of life. Not the most scientific approach, but G-d is not exactly a science

Also is it considered offensive in Judaism if other, non-Jews type the full word "God?" Just so I know in future conversations to hyphenate it if it's considered more tactful when conversing with a Jew.

I do it on behalf of my own personal beliefs, I don't mind if others do not hyphenate His name.

 

[Dan4reason]

Not all people believe b/c they want hope and comfort. I may believe in G-d, but I don't believe that he can save/protect us (as presented in the stories of Noah and Lot) or that there is necessarily a place we go to after we die (seeing that Heaven and/or Hell is not mentioned much in the Hebrew Bible and I don't interpret a lot of the Hebrew Bible literally). I don't believe in that b/c that makes religion almost a crutch of sorts, on which people rely on b/c they are scared. I wish many people didn't believe to have hope and comfort, but unfortunately a lot do. I think that's a poor excuse to follow a religion IMO.

I was mostly addressing Christian beliefs and Christian arguments. Fortunately there are religious people who are a little more rational in their beliefs and many who believe in their religious ideas because of evidence.

I believe what I do because of the evidence. Is this your reason for your beliefs?

 

[Dan4reason]

I think BLIND faith can be evil and dangerous, but faith if backed up by personal experience and if used in a productive manner, can be a potentially good thing.

The question is whether 'personal experience' proves anything.

 

[xkatz]

I believe what I do because of the evidence. Is this your reason for your beliefs?

Yes, I believe based on my own personal experiences.

 

[xkatz]

The question is whether 'personal experience' proves anything.

While not a science, I find it to be meaningful at times.

 

[Dan4reason]

While not a science, I find it to be meaningful at times.

I am not aware of what personal experiences you have had so I will not judge it. Some personal experiences are strong witnesses of truth, however others don't.

Many of my ideas are based in personal experience. What experiences have you had?

 

[xkatz]

What experiences have you had?

Well I don't like sharing experiences, but I guess I can make an exception this time. One of my best experiences was at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. When I went to pray and write down a prayer to G-d, I had the most unusual feelings, I felt very sad and heavy hearted, but something else too; something that I still can't quite comprehend to this day. And this was not only me, but my cousins too I noticed were experiencing sadness (although I am not sure if they felt that "something" that I did). This experience I feel had a profound effect on my view of G-d.

 

[Dan4reason]

Well I don't like sharing experiences, but I guess I can make an exception this time. One of my best experiences was at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. When I went to pray and write down a prayer to G-d, I had the most unusual feelings, I felt very sad and heavy hearted, but something else too; something that I still can't quite comprehend to this day. And this was not only me, but my cousins too I noticed were experiencing sadness (although I am not sure if they felt that "something" that I did). This experience I feel had a profound effect on my view of G-d.

I find that intriguing. How did your experience affect your view of God?

 

[xkatz]

I find that intriguing. How did your experience affect your view of God?

Well in two ways, one it made me a more firm believer in G-d for some time (until I "slumped" religiously speaking for some time) and it also changed my views about Him. You see, I actually used to despise and hate G-d, I thought of him as a tyrant; however, this experience made me change my attitude towards G-d, I no longer felt anger, but compassion and happiness towards Him. Part of why I stopped being a seeker and stuck is Judaism is b/c me remembering that experience.

 

[Autodidact]

Belief without evidence may be irrational, but I don't think you can make the case that it's immoral. For example, there could be someone who's only open to faith-based beliefs that are conducive to moral behavior. You might however say that the type of personality that has a tendency to believe based on faith is potentially more dangerous than one that believes based on evidence.

For me, there are two core concepts to morality: compassion, or kindness, or reducing suffering, and honesty. Here I am talking about the second one.

 

[LuisDantas]

I totally disagree; faith is not evil, it is not immoral. If you you guys don't want theists to tell you are immoral just because you don't believe, why do you think we are any different- why would you think we want to hear that we are immoral just because we do believe? Sounds to me like a double standard.

I can only assume you didn't read the definition of faith that the OP uses.

THAT kind of faith is indeed immoral and evil. To say nothing of silly.

 

[Autodidact]

Honesty is moral; dishonesty is immoral. In addition to telling the truth as best we know it, honesty includes an obligation to be careful about what we decide is true.

If I convince myself that you are a pedophile, with no evidentiary basis, and proceed to act on that belief, despite the lack of evidence for it, that is not honest, and not moral.

In general, being willing to believe things and act on that belief without evidentiary basis is immoral. Unsurprisingly, it often leads to harmful actions.

 

[jmvizanko]

That's not faith, that's fundamentalism. The classic mistake of the anti-religionist. By the same argument, we could say that science is just evil, because it permits the manufacture of horrifying weapons, and look at all those arms merchants and mercenaries and murderers out there using weapons to kill people.

And of course, we all know that argument is ridiculous. Horrifying weapons are what happens when science is used for evil purposes. Anything can be used for evil purposes. But it is the specific use that is evil, not the idea, the knowledge, the entirety of the area of thought.

The difference being that there is no sentence in science that says you should use nuclear weapons, or against whom. And science has no such requirement that any idea be held true without evidence.

And fundamentalism is a type of faith, not something we can direct all criticism of faith toward.

 

[Man of Faith]

If you use this argument then atheists are evil because there is no evidence that there isn't a God, which means they have to not believe in God by faith.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Here's the key phrase for me: believing in something in the absence of evidence.

So far I am on the same page as you and agree.

IMO the only responsible thing to base your beliefs on is evidence.

But then it would not be a belief anymore, it would be a fact backed by evidence.

Correct me if I am wrong, what you are basically saying is, there should be no such thing as blind faith in something?

We might as well throw the first amendment out the window then, right?

 

[McBell]

There is no absence of evidence, just presence of lies!

What lies?

The lies have been introduced over time. They have been inserted into all aspects of life! All this Idiotic talk about there being no God. You fool God is the energy that caused all of this to be. You know this thing called life!

And here we see faith in all its glory.

 

[McBell]

We might as well throw the first amendment out the window then, right?

I am still trying to figure out wtf the first amendment has to do with it.....

 

[McBell]

If you use this argument then atheists are evil because there is no evidence that there isn't a God, which means they have to not believe in God by faith.

Still whipping that dead horse I see.
Hey, whatever it takes to keep your faith, right?