Yeah I agree belife and sexual orinatation not really anonlogouse (however you fuckin' spell it).
Yep I think this is what I'm asking. If i under go a change in any of my belifes due to circumstances and enviroment, is such a change an act of my free will, or has it been 'forced' upon me by new data or whatever? Taking on board what you say about your own belifes about faith then, if there was overwhelming evidance to support my ideas on God rather than yours I wonder, what change that would effect in you? Would your dislike for religion generaly make you rebel agianst the 'truth' of the matter? On 20 Jan, 12:02, Ian Pollard <[email protected]> wrote: > 2010/1/20 Lee <[email protected]> > > > > > In my inital post I asked Ian for his input, as if memory serves me > > correctly he used to be somewhat of a theist before 'seeing the > > light' or perhaps 'donning the hood' whichever way you view it I > > guess. > > > I wonder if Ian's change of mind was a choice or did his brain give in > > to overwhelming evidance, can Ian choose to belive in God again? > > Hi Lee, sorry for not replying earlier; I've been out visiting clients for > the early part of the week (up and down the damn country) and am now, > finally, back at my desk. > > I think it's a hard argument to push that faith is comparable to an > immutable human characteristic like sexuality. Hamer has written about the > so-called God gene (VMAT2), but says that despite there probably being a > genetic basis for faith it isn't hardwired. Sam Harris has also done some > interesting work with brain imaging. If we're talking about chemicals in the > brain (dopamine, norepinephrine) then we know that many factors operate on > their levels, so "hardwired" and "immutable" would not be the case. > > From what I've seen in my life, everyone has the capacity to believe or not; > people are most likely to change their mind based on circumstance and > environment. Obviously some people find it more difficult to change their > mind: religion, for example, can be quite controlling, offering harsh and > eternal punishment for non-belief or unimagineable reward for subserviance. > Some people have more invested than others. > > My own perspective as an atheist/empiricist is no less controlling, I > suppose. I would find it very hard to be satisfied by a faith-based argument > for the existence of God. You know that I see faith as a very bad thing: the > lie at any price, etc. Unless this belief changes, I think I cannot change > my mind about all this God talk being rather cute mythology. Not to say it > isn't important or interesting -- it's both. It's just deeply unsatisfying > for me as a basis for how I live my life. > > Ian
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