@tomcapuder

I'm confused why anyone would want "evidence" for God. Isn't faith supposed to be an evidence-free activity?

@futurebird

Exactly, which is a good reason to oppose it.

For instance, in the case of evolution vs. creationism, evidence favors one side, and nothing but imagination is responsible for the other.

Faith is pretending to know things you don't know. And that's never a good basis for decision-making.

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@tomcapuder

Evidence free activities have value. They can help us to understand how our ancestors may have seen the world. They can allow one to experiences a sense of mystery and feel a real connection to the religious traditions of the past.

It's just important to remember that they are "evidence free" and won't be able to really tell you anything useful in the empirical sense.

@futurebird

Why is it necessary to use evidence-free methods to understand how ancestors saw the world? We have enough evidence in writings and archeology to make informed judgements about ancestors' behavior.

I often experience "a sense of mystery" when I contemplate the world and universe. There's nothing wrong with not yet having answers to mysteries. It isn't advisable, however, to provide pat, soothing, imaginary "answers."

We've learned so much as a species that it's no longer necessary to revere religious traditions of the past, none of which have any place in the real world of today, IMO. They should be assigned to the dustheap of discarded mythologies.

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@tomcapuder

Religions provide social cohesion. People like them. They are important to human history. They shouldn't be forgotten or treated as obsolete, but rather, like folk stories practiced and celebrated with awareness of their limitations.

Of course many people won't want anything to do with this, and that's fine too.

@futurebird
One thing the religious have over the non-religious is community. The dark flip side to a religious community is that it almost always devolves into simple tribalism: “us vs. them.” The sense of community religious leaders impart to their flocks requires subservience to *their* interpretation of *other men’s imaginations.”

The idea that religions provide social cohesion is laughable. Look at what Christian Nationalism is doing to this country right now. Does Afghanistan, for example, provide the kind of cohesion that you assume religion provides, and it that a good thing for a thriving humanity?

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