Re: OT: Prayer, ritual and magic // was conlang website

Yown Ha Ley wabbi:


> Under some definitions I may be an agnostic.  I believe in
> God.  I also believe it is perfectly possible for that belief
> (along with others) to be incorrect in fact.
This describe my feeling too.  I still confess myself as Catholic, I
do believe in God, but I don't feel I can agree with all the dogma of
the Catholic church... nor any other church (actually not any other
dogma).  I can't help rationalizing, then I'm pretty sure that when I
say "I believe" or "I don't believe" I'm not saying "it is" or "it is
not".

> But based on the knowledge and judgement currently
> at my disposal, I am going with what seems right
> *now.*  (If I waited for definitive evidence on everything
> I suspect I'd be catatonic.)  It doesn't mean I can't be
> proved wrong later, or even wrong, period, sans
> proof (I'm thinking Gödel's incompleteness theorems,
> though I'm not sure how applicable they are to matters
> of faith).  But I believe what I believe, even if it's
> possibly wrong.
Well, faith is faith, you cannot prove or apply Gödel's theorems on
you believing.  About the subject you believe in or not... well, it
could be a good philosophical essay.

> For some reason the above statement either confuses
> or disturbs most Christian friends I've talked to.  They
> are often of the opinion that acknowledging one's own
> belief could be wrong (presuming that greater
> knowledge is available) means one's belief can't be
> all that strong or serious.
Well, that's not the attitude I've found.  People around me would only
be disturbed because "I don't believe".  My fiancee, mainly, is
disturbed by me being "atheist".

> I happen to disagree, mainly because I think Right
> and Wrong are Right and Wrong regardless of
> whether I-in-particular see it.
Right and wrong... actually I believe that Right and Wrong are too
relative terms most of the times... mainly when politics are involved
(but lets not talk about politics... we are already in danger
territory with this offtopic chat on religion... but this is funny)

> My beliefs happen to be the best working model
> I have at a given point in time.
-- Carlos Th