If I were asked that question, I would respond by asking another question: "What do you mean by the word 'god.'"

If the person gave me his/her definition/understanding of that word, then I would say, "No, I do not believe in god, if that is what you mean by that word."

There is no human-created definition of the word that I would say, "Yes" to.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2011 09:02PM by DeAnn.

Nope.

I am quoting so much stuff lately, but here's my favorite on this topic:

"Next to ‘God’, ‘love’ is the word most mangled in every language."

--Richard Bach

Yes!

I was staggered recently to read in TIME magazine that 92% of the people in this country (USA) say, yes, they believe in god.

Doesn't a person who says yes mean that she believes in her own definition of god? In other words, each person believes in the god that she has created for herself.

Actually, that is one thing that is so cool about Alcoholics Anonymous. They encourage their folks to believe in a god "of their own understanding." At least they are upfront about the fact the man creates god and not the other way around.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2011 12:55PM by DeAnn.

Words mean things. If you think it doesn't, then you're probably a cultist...

If I were to go around asking that question, then yes it is.
Who would ask that question?

stormy

It's usually in this conversation:

I think Mormonism is a bunch of nonsense JS made up from whole cloth.

How can you say that?

Easy, I just examined the evidence.

Well, you still believe in God, don't you?
----------------------------------------

The details vary, but that's the basic framework.

The subtext whenever anyone asks that question is this - "Do you believe in (my) God?" They could care less if you now believe in, say, a Hindu god, or Odin, or Diana. In fact, they would find that laughable. But not their god. He's serious juju.

But of course you believe in their god! He's the only proper way to believe in a god there is! You misguided soul, you.

Got it..no one around here would ever ask that to anyone..but I forgot about when I lived in utah..i did near that question...and at the time thought why would anyone ask me if I believed in god..now I know

stormy

... but I get asked by christians all the time. It's like they don't have anything else to talk about.

...I don't believe in any gods. Or, I don't believe anything but what we have right here. Or, I don't believe in any supernatural existence.

I generally respond with "which god?" Theists hate that. When they define their god I don't answer with a yes or no, I just say "I'm not superstitious."

I think you make a very good point. Whenever I tell people I don't believe in God, I generally get one of a few canned responses:

1 - "Even Einstein believed!" Well, not really, but everybody thinks he did.

2 - "I've had experiences that I can't explain otherwise..." But if you can get them to tell you the experience, it turns out not to be all that impressive.

3 - "95% of the people on Earth believe in a God." But when you consider that the idea of a monotheistic God didn't exist at all until 2600 years ago, then you realize that belief in a monotheistic God definitely isn't an in-born trait.

Religious people use a very broad definition of God for points 1 and 3, to "prove" his existence, and then assume a very different and more specific definition of a monotheistic omnipotent yet personal God who answers prayers to link him to their religion. So pointing out the need for consistency is important.

I usually ask 'which god?'

by the same token, if someone tells me they're a christian (and I'm feeling belligerent) I ask which of the 34,000 mutually exclusive denominations they belong to.