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* as in the doctrine or belief that there is only one Supreme Almighty Creator God.Atheism believing something came from nothing and went on to make itself everything. Irrational nonsense.
i) Polytheism believing in more than one god, a rational supposition that there is intelligent life superior to our own somewhere;
ii) Polytheism worshipping anyone other than the supreme Almighty God and creator. A risky, possibly wasteful endeavour based on guesswork.
Pantheism Confusing the writer with the book; and then ignoring the book.
Monotheism* a logical conclusion based on a rational anaysis of the best sources of relevant informaton available.
You forgot "panentheism".Zzyzx wrote: .
To be more inclusive, let’s add
Pantheism
Agnosticism
Ignosticism
Google the terms if unfamiliar.
But sure, let's add those. I'll edit the OP to included those choices. Agnosticism Philosophy of Gaps otherwise known as "The Swiss Cheese" worldview.
Gnosticism An ancient version of "House of thrones"
Deism Confusing the writer with the book; and then ignoring the book.
Trinitarianism Disbelief in math.
Ignosticism Disbelief in language
Are babies athieists?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 764#951764
Which of the millions of gods is the best?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 368#991368
A world outlook should not affect how a person behaves. If it does, then they aren't behaving as themselves, but instead they are behaving in accordance with how they think the world might be.Elijah John wrote: Which outlook/worldview is best, most likely to be real, and helpful to everyday life? And why?
Some of the most passionate invective on this forum comes from agnostics and agnostic atheists. So rather than any inherent emotional superiority of agnosticism, it would seem that essentially what you are saying is that "If everyone would confess to the 'truth' of [my view] we'd have no reason to disagree." But of course that's a claim which literally anyone with any belief system can make. For a given level of specificity, of course; two people who fall under the broad term 'agnostic' (such as you and I) can disagree just as easily as two people under the broad term 'Christian' can.Divine Insight wrote: Not only do we see different religions fighting with each other in passionate disagreement, but we even see religions fighting internally against each other with even more hatred and passion.
If everyone would confess to the truth of agnosticism there would be no religious animosity and hatred, and the world would finally be free from the curse of worshiping imaginary Gods that no one can demonstrate to even exist.
Who said anything about knowing? A person could hold the view that their religion is socially, morally and existentially useful and highly likely to be true, without claiming to 'know' it for a fact. The OP specifically uses the phrase "most likely to be real." As a mere epistemic description I'd guess that we're all more or less agnostic, even those who think they do 'know' one way or the other, but as an epistemic standard - suggesting as you seem to that one's religious/theistic position should be determined based on either the presence or absence of 'knowledge' (as opposed to mere plausibility, usefulness etc.) - agnosticism becomes highly questionable.The one you left off the list is the most real.
Agnosticism.
It's the only worldview that any human can truly know, anything less is a guess. Also anything less is a lie. The only truth is agnosticism.
Helpful in everyday life?
Why should a person need to lean on a crutch of pretending to know something they cannot know in order to get through life, or obtain any "help" in that endeavor?
Unless you actually know that a God exists agnosticism is your truth too.Mithrae wrote: "If everyone would confess to the 'truth' of [my view] we'd have no reason to disagree." But of course that's a claim which literally anyone with any belief system can make.
You say, "But of course that's a claim which literally anyone with any belief system can make."Mithrae wrote: "If everyone would confess to the 'truth' of [my view] we'd have no reason to disagree." But of course that's a claim which literally anyone with any belief system can make.
So what? If they can't say that they know it's true then they are still Agnostic whether they like it or not. Proclaiming that it's "highly likely to be true" represents nothing more than an unsubstantiated opinion. That's just an Agnostic who has a high degree of confidence in their own wishful thinking. The bottom line is that they still can't know. So why not confess to this TRUTH?Mithrae wrote: Who said anything about knowing? A person could hold the view that their religion is socially, morally and existentially useful and highly likely to be true, without claiming to 'know' it for a fact.
So what? Agnosticism is still most likely to be real.Mithrae wrote: The OP specifically uses the phrase "most likely to be real."
And unless you actually know that nothing greater than humans exist then theism is your truth too.Divine Insight wrote:Unless you actually know that a God exists agnosticism is your truth too.Mithrae wrote: "If everyone would confess to the 'truth' of [my view] we'd have no reason to disagree." But of course that's a claim which literally anyone with any belief system can make.
How many theists are capable of owning up to the truth?
Agnosticism is truth. Period. Anyone who denies this is delusional.
Not necessarily; if God had personally revealed himself to that person and their friends, their profession of uncertainty would simply be wilful self-delusion. On what basis do you profess to know that this scenario never occurs?Divine Insight wrote:You say, "But of course that's a claim which literally anyone with any belief system can make."Mithrae wrote: "If everyone would confess to the 'truth' of [my view] we'd have no reason to disagree." But of course that's a claim which literally anyone with any belief system can make.
No it's not.
When an agnostic says that they don't know what the true nature of reality is or whether there may or may not be a God they are speaking the TRUTH.
Unless that God had personally revealed herself to him and his friends. On what basis do you profess to know that this scenario never occurs? Speaking as a nominal agnostic myself, I submit that a True Agnostic (TM) would acknowledge that they can never know whether another person's knowledge of God is legitimate or not. By declaring the opposite you are committing agnostic heresy!Divine Insight wrote: If a theists proclaims that they know a God exists, they are speaking a falsehood.
More to the point, you are asserting as fact something which can never be proven in online debate.Some might say that string theory is "highly likely to be true": Using a simplistic binary approach to 'knowledge' as your basis for dismissing that professed likelihood as "nothing more than an unsubstantiated opinion" and "wishful thinking" would be obviously and laughably fallacious. Virtually all reasonable people accept usefulness/utility (eg. Newtonian mechanics) and uncertainty/theorizing (eg. almost all scientific theories) as reasonable steps on the approach towards what philosophers might call 'true knowledge;' but you seem to be advocating a position which rejects both utility and plausibility/approximation as worthless. As far as I can tell you are not advocating "TRUTH," you are advocating an extremist dogma.Divine Insight wrote:So what? If they can't say that they know it's true then they are still Agnostic whether they like it or not. Proclaiming that it's "highly likely to be true" represents nothing more than an unsubstantiated opinion. That's just an Agnostic who has a high degree of confidence in their own wishful thinking. The bottom line is that they still can't know. So why not confess to this TRUTH?Mithrae wrote: Who said anything about knowing? A person could hold the view that their religion is socially, morally and existentially useful and highly likely to be true, without claiming to 'know' it for a fact.
Many are heavily emotionally invested in the dogma with which they were indoctrinated (usually as children). After constructing a life around what 'God wants', it can be traumatic to cast that aside and do the hard work of deciding on courses of action without imagined 'guidance from above'.Divine Insight wrote: Why are so many people afraid of the TRUTH?
