Not a cop out it’s just not black and white. You seem to really be struggling with the fact someone could be in a state between believing in God and not.
You’d be surprised how many Christians will tell you they struggle with believing from time to time. The ones who will admit it at least. Many do and to many God is different from one to the next.
The assertion "I believe in God" is true or false. It cannot be anything else.
Right but what is God? There’s a myriad of different answers to that and most religions a God is not a being as much an idea or force.
This is where it not being black and white comes into play. Answering that question with True of False means you believe my god is what you believe God to be. That’s likely not the case.
Nonsense. Belief in a god is a binary proposition.
Life isn’t black and white. Neither is religion, at least not a religion I’d follow. Those who make it black and white are we have hatred and division.
No such thing. Any ideology based and unprovable and unverified claims is a mistake by definition.
Given that religion is the root of past major civilizations which we are built on I’d say we wouldn’t have science without it. Hardly a mistake in my opinion. We might still be beating each other in the head with rocks without religion.
You're mistaken on both counts, I'm afraid. Please see http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CI/CI001.html and subsequent pages.
This doesn’t disprove intelligent design. People still argue we are a simulation within science. That’s a form of intelligent design. As is sending a spacecraft that terraforms the beginning of the world and steers throughout history. There are plenty of ways in which a god could have formed us.
Science has not found meaning. I cannot point to any scientific discovery that tells why we exist or what our purpose is.
It does provide meaning to some on a small scale who devote themselves to science.
Both statements can be true. Science can provide meaning on a small scale without ever finding it.
Science has and will continue to provide a lot of things that improve our lives. I only argue it has failed to deliver a sense of meaning on the scale of religion thus far.
If we believe in evolution then we must also believe that religion is an evolved advantage to our ancestors because it has formed over and over in all great civilizations past. It must have played and likely still plays some important role in the ability for humans to work together, live happily, and to be something bigger than the individual.
I don’t think forced religion is good people should have freedom of choice to include atheism. I also think it should be considered that it has had its place in history and probably still fills an important role.
What helps you would make some people very depressed. It’s great that you don’t need it and can provide your own path through life and death but many others need help.
There’s actual scientific evidence of it helping with depression and lower rates of mental health problems. If you google it you will find not one but many dozen articles discussing links between religion and improved mental health.
Not everyone who needs can work at an amusement park but anyone can find a religion to suit them even in the US.
Having a reason to live, a reason to do the right thing is a good thing. Religion done right accepts that the world is tough, they accept each other for their mistakes, teach one another how to get through life without anger and they forgive. It’s something very hard to get in day to day America. Until someone comes up with a better way to do this religion will still have a place.
But ultimately belief in a God isn’t deluded, intelligent design is still a real possibility.
Didn’t say it was the only thing that provided meaning but you’ll find in a church depression is less prevalent likely due to the sense of meaning and purpose attendees have.
That sense of meaning is something all attendees can achieve because they are taught to. Science doesn’t teach a person how to be okay with their purpose in life, in fact some of the answers science finds may push people further from purpose.
A dog is a real tangible thing. Easy to say yes. You’d have to be delusional not to believe it.
God isn’t a person or thing, you can’t touch it, and the evidence is old written and many translated texts. However there is an obvious gap in our understanding of how and why we are here. So is God involved, was there a guiding hand can totally be a question that hasn’t fully resolved itself in my mind.