Labrat wrote:humanguy wrote: why does there have to be a god?
Their doesn't HAVE to be. The belief in one persists however because of the following:
#1. Willful ignorance ("I don't need to read Hawking or Sagan. God made everything")
#2. Intellectual dishonesty ("No, it appears snakes can't talk now...but they USED to!")
#3. Personal appeal (of the God figure). i.e. no matter how hard life gets, or how lonely you may feel, you still have someone who loves you and who understands you.
That's it.
LOL
"Why does there have to be tolerance?"
There doesn't HAVE to be. People can and do choose a very different attitude and behavior because of the following:
#1. Willful ignorance. They absurdly insist that only the books and authors that they have read are worth reading and adopt the silliest attitude that people who don't read them just want to be ignorant.
#2. Intellectual dishonesty. "Myside bias" makes people downright stupid because of the selective way in which they apply various criterion like rationality and objectivity.
#3. Personal appeal (of aligning themselves with supposed authority figures like Hawking and Sagan). i.e. no matter how hard life gets, or how lonely you may feel, you can always pretend that at least you understand things better than "those other people".
P. S. Yes this fits many people who call themselves "christian" extremely well. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't also fit other people who call themselves something else.
