Can a belief in God be justified on a rational basis?

[Thought Criminal]

Many theists will tell you that their belief in God is based on faith, or on something equally nonrational or irrational, such as a special feeling they have, or their unshakable trust in their parents, or an ineffable experience.

Fine, but none of this carries any weight for me because, as a secular humanist, I have a commitment to believe only what is rationally justified, what a logical analysis of the evidence compels me to believe. It's possible that I might miss out on some truths this way, but I do avoid many, many falsehoods. Of course, I do want to believe whatever's true, so I'm always open to evidence.

Anyhow, this leads me to the obvious question: Can a belief in God be justified on a rational basis? If so, how?

TC

[Evales]

Religions were/ are used generally to answer things that we don't know.

That doesn't imply in any way, shape or form that religion itself is rational, it's simply an invented explanation.

I am not saying that religion is rational, but a belief in it is. Let me explain:
It is not rational to say that the sun revolves around us.
It is rational to believe it if you have been taught it all your life.

Now you say its not rational to believe something you have been taught your whole life even if there is no evidence to prove otherwise (what other evidence is there that a higher being did not create the Big Bang)

But this does not mean that belief in a God is not rational, because there are still things that cannot be explained.

Yes it does because there isn't a shred of objective evidence, nor any rational reason whatsoever, to think that God actually exists. It's a made up answer to a question you don't have an immediate answer to. Why is this true? I don't know, therefore I'm just going to assert, without evidence, that some imaginary god did it. It's no more rational than claiming that invisible gnomes living on your shoulder did it. There is nothing rational about God and there won't be until people can come up with objective evidence to support the factual existence thereof.

What evidence do you have that a God is not the source of that immense energy that started the Big Bang? It is the only thing is any human record that could explain energy coming from nothing. Like I said perhaps the LHC will tell us more but at the present moment this is all we know, or 'assert'.

We don't know what started it, somehow there was a large amount of energy which created mass.

Actually, we have some pretty good ideas.

Mind sharing some? (I'm genuinely interested kinda a science nerd : P)

Since we don't know how or why that energy was there it is rational to assume that this energy was God because religion tells us that he just is.

It's no more rational to assume that said energy was God than it is to assume that it was Zeus or the Easter Bunny. Religion *ASSERTS* that God is, religion makes a claim with no support. There's no reason whatsoever to think religion is valid and lots of reasons to think it's a load of horse, well, you know.

First I would like to correct myself I should have said a higher being or a God the thing is if you believe the Easter Bunny has the power to create all life it doesn't matter what name you give it, it is still the higher being/ beings that I am talking about.

You want to know the rational response to your question? You want to know what rational people do when faced with a question they cannot immediately answer? They say "WE DON'T KNOW" and then go looking for answers. They don't just make something up because it's more comforting than admitting your own ignorance.

Once again,

Religion may not be rational. But the question was not if religion was rational.
It was if a belief in religion is rational.

[Evales]

How is this different from the God of the Gaps fallacy?

I am not saying that we do not know what provided the energy for the Big Bang therefore it was a God.

I am saying since we do not know exactly what provided the energy for the Big Bang it is rational for someone to believe it was a God.

It is not rational to say as fact it was a God.

It is rational to believe within your heart that it was the God you love.

Because that is how you have been taught to think.

[Confused]

Exactly what part of this post encourages civil debate?

Sorry, no offense, but are you actually under the assumption that any debate, civil or otherwise, goes on here? Theists simply assert things without evidence and ignore anything that disagrees with their preconceived beliefs. That's not debate, it's just the reality of this site.

MODERATOR NOTE:

And you are under the assumption that I want your opinion posted in the threads. I do not. If you have comments, address them in PM's. A major roadblock to civil debating is a closed mind. If you don't feel the posts are worthy of your contributions here, then don't derail threads or be rude to posters just to waste our time. Just don't contribute.

[Confused]

MODERATOR ACTION:

As this thread continues to generate more reports and violations than any one thread should, it is being locked.

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