They're not the only reasons, but when I've talked to theists in my own life who seem super rational and seem like they're finally going to prove all those mean New Atheists wrong and give me the real reasons why they hold beliefs which seem pretty contrary to the empirical understanding of the world we're currently working from as a species... it seems to come down to wishful thinking, or yes, fear.
Not necessarily fear of death. Sometimes it's fear of becoming somebody with no purpose, no reason to do things or carry on. I exchanged messages via Facebook with a contributer to a religious-studies website just a few days ago who fell into this category.
Sometimes it's fear of losing a community, or fear of losing one's job. I've met some clergy that seem to fall into this latter category, and it's probably one of those that I empathize with most. It would suck to have one's livelihood based on never re-evaluating a certain opinion.
At this point I've just had so many conversations with theists in which I sat down hoping to hear their evidence and/or reasoning and finding out at the end of it that those things never mattered as much as an emotional attachment to a certain idea. If you are the one out of a proverbial hundred who actually has something other than wishful thinking or fear at the bottom of it, then I apologize for making an inference from the 99 other times I've had this conversation.
I am still interested in learning how religious viewpoints look when they're based on evidence and reasoning, but I've gotten so tired of being disappointed by shitty reasoning and appeals to emotion that I don't look as hard for that anymore. I'm tired of digging down through assertions and debate points and rebuttals and counterpoints that all look new and different and hopeful and finding the same irrational core: "I like this idea and I can't let it go or question it too hard."
It's not your job to educate me if you think I'm wrong, but I can tell you at this point that if you're right and you do have something to say about this topic that I have never heard before, you really would be fixing to say something that I have never heard before, and I've looked. I looked back when I was a theist Wiccan, and I didn't even find it then.
no subject
Not necessarily fear of death. Sometimes it's fear of becoming somebody with no purpose, no reason to do things or carry on. I exchanged messages via Facebook with a contributer to a religious-studies website just a few days ago who fell into this category.
Sometimes it's fear of losing a community, or fear of losing one's job. I've met some clergy that seem to fall into this latter category, and it's probably one of those that I empathize with most. It would suck to have one's livelihood based on never re-evaluating a certain opinion.
At this point I've just had so many conversations with theists in which I sat down hoping to hear their evidence and/or reasoning and finding out at the end of it that those things never mattered as much as an emotional attachment to a certain idea. If you are the one out of a proverbial hundred who actually has something other than wishful thinking or fear at the bottom of it, then I apologize for making an inference from the 99 other times I've had this conversation.
I am still interested in learning how religious viewpoints look when they're based on evidence and reasoning, but I've gotten so tired of being disappointed by shitty reasoning and appeals to emotion that I don't look as hard for that anymore. I'm tired of digging down through assertions and debate points and rebuttals and counterpoints that all look new and different and hopeful and finding the same irrational core: "I like this idea and I can't let it go or question it too hard."
It's not your job to educate me if you think I'm wrong, but I can tell you at this point that if you're right and you do have something to say about this topic that I have never heard before, you really would be fixing to say something that I have never heard before, and I've looked. I looked back when I was a theist Wiccan, and I didn't even find it then.