When i was a kid (or when i was in Nepal), i used to believe in God. I did however have reservations on religion but i still believed in God. Its been a year in US now and having met people from other cultures, the existence of a supreme being doesnt make sense anymore. 

I think that believeing in GOd instills in a person faith, confidence and positivity to get through good times and be appreciative of the bad ones. I want my children to have these qualities so i dont want to tell them that GOd doesnt exist. Moreover, i cant imagine what my parents/relatives will make of me when i talk to them about this. It isnt going to be pretty. 

It does give me great discomfort to think about all this. I must admit i feel less confident and more pessimistic these days. I want to believe in God but my logic doesnt give in anymore. In fact, i get irritated when i hear things like "God COMMANDED you to.." "GOd will PUNISH you if..", "We are SERVANTS in from of Him" "(on Christianity): "Jesus died on the cross for you"(THere are many who have made a similar magnitude of sacrifice). 

I think that God and religion are ancient theories that havent been discarded yet. And it hasnt due to the fear in people of what might happen if they didnt. One of my teachers once said "if there is no god and you believe in god, there is no harm but if there is god and you dont believe in god, there is harm". i feel this and cultural and social stigmas lead people to be religious and not question their beliefs. 

I wanna know what you guys make of this.

San,

Though I agree the spirit of what Babal is saying, I differ in some of the details.

There are different types of conversations.

Some conversations are open-ended and exploratory. Sajha is great for such discussions. Like there is a very healthy discussion of homosexuality going on on different threads in sajha right now. I think it is wonderful that sajha has these open discussions.

Then there are other types of discussions where a more moderated and disciplined approach produces a better quality of conversation. This particular thread we are on is an example of that.

Budmash is right in painting this thread like a game of chess. Intellectual and Philosophical discussions are a very strict discipline. And as such, it requies all participants willing to engage in such a discussion to agree on certain ground rules. When you open the forum up and let everybody rush in and say whatever they want when they want, it ruins the quality of conversation for everyone.

So maybe I was wrong in saying that you, San, needed to moderate this thread better. Perhaps it was Pinpoint who needed to.

But I understand that Pinpoint started this thread not have a philosophical discussion...but rather as 'reaching out in an attempt to self-help.'

So in summary, the solution is for someone who is interested in having philosophical discussions to create their own threads and to explain the ground rules and scope of the discussion before hand. And these people need to moderate their own discussions and kick out any one in the thread who they feel are being delliberately disruptive.

There is a big difference between being deliberately disruptive and having a different philosophical stance. I'm sure you all agree with that, right?

Not everyone needs to agree on god, religion, athiesm or agnosticism. But, everyone needs to know the basics of having an intellectual and philosophical conversation, if they want to contribute to the quality of conversation.

Everybody is allowed to play basketball. But you are not going to send the person who is holding a basketball for the first time in their life to the NBA, right?

So in summary, the solution to this thread, is to start a new fresh thread with fresh new rules and have a healthy discussion.

The thing is that whatever philosophical stance you take, you should be very passionate in defending your position. This is very healthy and is along the rules of debate. This provides a great experience for both the debator and the audience.

The problem is that not everyone is used to this style of confrontational educational entertainment. So some people who are not used to it, or are immature, take this type of interaction very personally. They get offended. And instead of defending their existential stance passionately in a humorous or intellectual manner, they get personal and start to insult the people they are debating with. This is unproductive for everyone and ruins the mood.

This is what I was explaining to bittertruth a few posts above.

Do you guys have any suggestions?

Back after a few days hiatus and sad to see that the main topic of discussion has been changed because few believers are crying foul over freedom of expression.

GrgDai,

If you're that enthusiastic to discuss it, there is an open Facebook group called: 'Hindu Apologetics' explicitly there to argue with people like you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologetics

Best of luck to you.

"with people like you."

Homeyji I love people like you who  take the higher ground and condemn others who don't support your philosophies.

If you had to ask albert einstein if he believes in god and religion, this is what you get to hear:

I do not see a reason to believe in religion. I think life is wonderful as it is. To think that the very constituent of life, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are manufactured when a star dies, crushing the hydrogen and helium and spitting heavier elements out of a supernova makes me feel special. That we are all part of the universe, and all of us are 13.1 billion years old and a star had to die so we can be alive and we can be conscious. That's the truth and it's wonderful and if there is God, he would want us to explore the truth. This video sums up a lot of atheist perspective in a nice way.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6w2M50_Xdk>

FF
 

FF bro,

How beautifully put. We're all made up of stars (and so are all the living beings). That is as supernatural as we can get and we're all part of it. To evoke that only "humans" have a special purpose and godly blessing is nothing but sheer arrogance.

 BitterTruth. That's the same guy I remembered commenting about how god made the Banana. Now I can question the IQ of the guy who make such claims. 
Anyways, if there were any god then Einstein and other Scientists would literally be the sun of God since they made actual contributions to humanity through science than mere religious propagandas for example "Earth is flat" and "Man walked with Dinosaurs".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq7LXn4KSrM

lol

loonies!! god did not just make a banana, he made banana, naaspati, banana and naaspati and lahurey dai ko sampati. people even worship this banana and nashpati calling it pashupati....it makes perfect sense.

 
I have been following this thread closely, but I just didn't want to sign in on to Sajha to comment. Now that I found something relevant to the discussion here, I thought I'd finally sign in and scribble something.

These two articles may interest some of you here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/13/higgs-boson-cern-god-particle_n_1145593.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100123765/how-the-god-particle-got-its-name/

--------------------------------------------
<b>Rethink</b> wrote:

\"Even then there are many things man cannot fathom such as how the world came to be how things got created. So man is afraid of this unknown. In order to cope with the unexplained fear they start to pray to the unknown giving it a name of God.

Religion is just an escapist mentality whereby you want to escape reality to create a supposedly better mental outlook by believing in different supernatural explanations.

I am merely observing and making a conjecture since obviously the unknown stays unknown, and I am not going to personify the unknown and follow the escapist mentality."

Wow!!! That is just so brilliant, intelligent, and eloquent. Please keep it up. :) 

k bhanchin yini :D

 Amazing thread from the past, but the thoughts are still fresh and I'm loving it. 

wonton, thanks for reviving it :D 
here is a latest update

 Just because a neroscientist has had a spiritual afterlife experience does not mean that this can be taken as evidence for afterlife or god. People have all kinds of vivid experiences during medical conditions, phychedelic drugs, etc.

God/religion is there to guide people through life. I don't follow any religion. You don't need religion/god to be good. There has not been any concrete evidence ever that god exists.

Yes if you believe and No if you don't ; it all comes down in Faith.Faith creates reality and brings things you wish to see.I haven't seen the One but certainly there is magic.From tiny ants walking in a st.line like a good school children to the rockets that goes up,up and up,the meticulous Nature that surrounds us always give me vibes that there is something which people have decided to call God.As people have created many Gods  time and again with many alias,its obvious that people get confused and leave the subject which is so fluid.Books teaches us who is God,how to praise him,what he like but not what is God?.Religion is just a community..a big club with alike members and lifestyle with mutual beliefs,it acts like a helpful material to those who seek.While theist might praise his Lord when something grand happen and atheist his luck; it all comes down to what you are atttuned and aligned into.Yes I do believe in my own version of God--the Supreme-- and Master will present himself when the student is ready.

Human beings are full of hope and this hope has been used and abused since time immemorial. Let's keep hoping for the best.

Believing in god is part of meditation or a path to self-disciplining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXNTq0k9NEk