Debating God in NYT

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http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/notes-on-an-unanswerable-question/?_php=true&_type=blogs&module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=The%20Stone&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body&_r=0

[kadame]

It's a very interesting chat, that one. You can tell the interviewee is not an idiot or overly biased on either side. But this particular statement is a zinger!

There are no doubt all sorts of disreputable sources for religious belief, and the same goes for rejections of religion.

Thank you, Antony! (Whoever you are) This hubristic presumption of "I will go ahead and pretend to tell you why you believe in God" is the worst. It comes from this thought process, "Theism is dumb. Since I don't accept it---because as you know, I have this big brain and all--- I will just assume that the only reason intelligent people could accept any faith is if they have a bug implanted in their brain telling them or something. I have no way of discounting their experiences or their own judgments of their experiences, but I will assume they don't know what they are talking about (though, I, of course, do know) and go ahead and tell them how their experiences, which I don't know, are due to the bug in the brain, which I am competent to judge but not them." Contempt from an assumed pedestal masquerading as an attempt at a discussion. How about, I will go ahead and tell YOU exactly why you are an atheist? Lets discuss that for a second, shall we? Hmm?

I also disagree with this here,

I certainly think there are very good reasons to believe in Christian claims over other faiths. Not absolute, but they are good enough for me, who did a bit of "exploration".

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Thank you Little Bella. I also found the debate very interesting from the fact that it brought together such a mixed crowd of participants, and of course, the results of the poll. One would have thought that most philosophers outrightly reject God in favor of the atheist position. It must be remembered though that God does not always use majority rule (Gideon/Jerubbaal defeated Israel's enemies with a heavily diminished force of 300 soldiers - I Kings 6). I haven't read all the debates but certainly will.