h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ho....okay, getting back to the original question. Forgive me if I'm wrong and that benjamin was asking for anything more, but what I read isn't 'What does religion do to people all over the world?'! I read the question as 'My life is a bit carp at the moment and did someone (aka God) design this or is it that life, somedays, is just carp!!!!!' (seriously, let me know if I'm wrong in my assumptions) Ben is a regular poster here who knows the difference between posting in Ask and posting in The Forum!

Yes, people do nasty things every day in the name of religion. We see it everyday on the TV, hear it on the radio and absorb it into our lives. I don't wanna get this into a huge 'Forumesque 2600 post discussion'. There are some things we can influence here and some things that we can just hope to improve in our lifetime with regards to religious belief and practices.

Some people believe in God and act as their God will have them believe. Some people don't. There are nice people in the world and there are complete bar stewards who may or may not be religiously motivated!

Life isn't fair. Bad pennies always turn up, the good die young...and all the other cliches, which are sometimes true.

At the moment, there is no solution. You believe what you personally want to. Yes, religion makes people do horrible things, but it sometimes makes people do things in the name of 'good'.

I have no position on believing in religion as I personally don't believe but I am a great believer in that folks should go with their gut instinct. I may personally think that religion encourages folk to act against their own moral standards, but that does not allow me to not acknowledge that other people may have a different opinion.

My on the subject

Folks should go with their gut instinct. Fine, if their gut instinct is to believe a deity wants them to kill people.

Yeah, that was a selective reply. I don't apologise. I refer you to post 14.

Roymondo, I read the link in post 14 which described the murder of those two young men. I personally find the story remarkably disturbing and abhorrent that that occurred in society today. And, to be honest, I agree with you that religious belief should not interfere with life as people choose to live it.

But my understanding of the question in post 1 was 'did God design my present carppy life?' and I answered in the same vein. That is a question that only Ben can answer in himself. If he chooses to believe that God or BoB or some other deity orchestrated the circumstances or whether he believes that they came about just 'cos they did, that is his decision to believe.

I offer no opinions on the existence of a god or the consequences of believing. That is up to each individual to decide within him/herself.

That's legitimate, but, having read the post 14 link, you can understand why I get on my high horse when religion comes up!

Sorry, I'm a bit blinkered on the religion issue.

Maybe I should have been more clear of my question from the outset. Forget my life, crappy, carpy, or otherwise. I am just interested in anyone who thinks they can answer the question- does god exist? Yes or no, just defend your position.
Roymondo- I can see that religion really isn't your thing and I agree that a benevolent God certainly wouldn't ask people to do such things, but that doesn't necessarily mean God doesn't exist. Equally common sense is what many people would use to defend their belief that god does exist, but it's not good as a serious argument for anything.
Fanny, regarding your points. Firstly, I don't want to be too specific for fear of ruling anything out but I think a creator / ruler of the universe type figure. And yes, I know there is a world cup on, and I'd really like to get this question resolved by about 4pm on saturday please.
We all seem to be cynical atheists here. Is there anyone who actually believes in God and is prepared to argue their case? Roymondo may well bite but I'm sure we can treat any minor wounds.

Oh if you mean that sort of God, then the answer's, yes. He's called 'The Laws of Physics'. And no, that's not cynicism. The little I know of science strikes me as truly beautiful!

Yes there is a God, but he's currently away working on a less ambitious project.

"Garden of Eden"ing leave?

Someone here asked the legitimate question of first explaining what God is, before we can say whether or not It exists.

As far as I understand it, the One God of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism and some other major monotheistic religions, are exactly the same God. Individual believers within these faiths may disagree, of course, but they all describe God in much the same way.

One key point to remember is that Hindus describe God as having many different forms, but I still think that Brahman - the overruling Hindu God - is the same as God is the same as Allah is the same as the One.

This God is supposed to be an 'eternal, unchanging, all-knowing, all-seeing' being who created everything. In *this* type of God, I do not believe, and I take Douglas Adams' point of view that the concept of God was invented effectively to try to explain the things that we could not otherwise understand. Gradually, science has filled in those gaps and has pushed God into ever smaller domains.

In liberal interpretations of religion, however, there are also ways of referring to God that describe him in a much less tangible and more spiritual way - that He is a final hope for people in need, that He acts as a soul or life-force or conscience that keeps you going, that He provides purpose and direction in what would otherwise be a completely meaningless existence.

In that God, I also don't believe, but I think this interpretation of God has some merit. It may be a false hope, but if it's the only hope you've got, and if it helps you, then it can make you happy in a time when you might otherwise just feel like killing yourself.

Notably, some branches of Buddhism believe that gods may exist - including the God of the other religions - but they ascribe no special significance to It, and even if Gods are more powerful than humans, they still see them as being subject to the same suffering.

From a scientific standpoint, this correlates to the belief in higher-dimensional beings. It is a perfect scientific possibility (meaning that scientists have actually considered it) that this universe was created by intelligent beings in another universe. These beings may or may not be from a higher dimension, which adequately explains how such beings could be seen as omnipresent and omniscient, and I believe that some Churches have come to see the scientific concept of hyperspace as a good way of explaining Heaven.

So, to summarise, you can believe in God because:
a) You have faith (i.e. for traditional religious reasons)
b) It's scientifically viable that a god-like being created the universe
c) It helps you get through difficult times in life.

Obviously, even if you choose option b), that doesn't explain everything about the universe. You still need to explain how these higher-dimensional beings came into being.

Blimey Charlie- what a thread! To the original posting- well, i don't really know! it would be quite nice if there was a God for real, but then again, a bit crap cos of all the rubbish stuff done in his name. If there is a God, I'll ask him/her what he /she thinks about it when i get to the alleged pearly gates. I'm quite happy in the meantime just going for the "be nice to folk in hope they are nice to you, try and say a few words of thanks (to whoever) when you are having a good time/ out in lovely countryside,etc, and don't be an arse." When your life is a bit crap, ask for help (even though you're probably just asking yourself). Sorry if I sound like Bill and Ted- though they do offer good philosophy!!! Hur Hur!!

You know, in the bad old times not to believe in God was a taboo. These days we've covered a long way, evolved a lot, and finally replaced it with the taboo of believing in God.

Anhybody ever believes in God because of a debate? It's rather a personal, internal thought experiment. It's ugly to argue for God as if God needs an advocate; and it's ignorant to argue against God in absolute surety.

I agree that it is as arrogant to be certain of God's non-existence now as it ever was to be certain that he existed. I still don't see that we have cast iron proof one way or the other. I czn't accept the notion that proof of the existence of God should be above or beyond the realms of reason or logic. The idea that arguing for the existence of God is ugly stems, I think, from the idea that we need to have faith in God and that rational argument negates faith. To me this is erroneous- I have faith in my wife, not because I have reason to doubt her existence but because I cannot be certain of how our future will be. Establishing proof of God does not mean an end to faith, because I still need to have faith, or not, in his wisdom, his judgement and his divinity. Without that, knowledge of his existence is of no more value than knowledge of the existence of The Queen. Deified by many but still to demonstrate any real value.

Does the existence of God change anything?

Will we live longer, happier, more productive lives?
Or will it make our lives shorter, more miserable and pointless?

Should we be tying ourselves up in knots over this?

Is there a God ?

If yes, I'm about to have a relaxing weekend and go into work on Monday.

If no, I'm about to have a relaxing weekend and go into work on Monday.

Will God put money in my pay-packet? Will God put food on the table, cure my piles, fix my wife's feet, stop the dog from across the road barking at 5am?

If he doesn't exist, then nothing will happen.
If he does exist, nothing will happen 'cos he *must* have better things to do.

SWL

Agree, nothing changes if there is a god or isnt a god, only thing i can see if there isnt a god, is that there would be less deaths through religious wars

re: religious wars

The people that start "religious wars" would just invent a God as an excuse.

Disagree, the people that start religious wars havent invented their god, it has already been drummed into their brains from their forefathers

They've got four fathers

I think I'm beginning to see what the problem is

If god exists he certainly has no interest in the human race. We are too
trivial a being in the vastness of the universe.

Sez Who?

I don't remember reading *that* in the handbook!