Isn't beleif in God overrated?

Bellator

Bellator

Catholic. Formerly StarshipEnterprise
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what I mean by this is that beleif in God is just one issue in religion. When people ask me what religion I am, I reply "I'm agnostic" this describes my veiws on the existense of God, but it doesn't describe my religion as a whole. I think the west has taken this one religious issue and blown it out of porportion. There are some "atheist" religions in the east like buddhism and taoism, and some westerners say "how can that be a religion if it dosen't beleive in God?" I think other issues are more important, like morals.

Anyone else think this way?
 
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StarshipEnterprise said:
what I mean by this is that beleif in God is just one issue in religion. When people ask me what religion I am, I reply "I'm agnostic" this describes my veiws on the existense of God, but it doesn't describe my religion as a whole. I think the west has taken this one religious issue and blown it out of porportion. There are some "atheist" religions in the east like buddhism and taoism, and some westerners say "how can that be a religion if it dosen't beleive in God?" I think other issues are more important, like morals.

Anyone else think this way?
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I haven't heard of Taoism and Buddhism described as "atheist religions" and I really doubt they can be summed up that easily.... It may be though they are from some Western theistic perspective. The Buddha distanced Himself from the materialists of his day who were atheistic.

But I think we're seeing more communication and interfacing between east and west and better understanding, at least i hope so.

- Art
 
Yes and no. I do think that belief in God is one defining attribute of certain religions, so it's an important question (at least socially). Mostly, people are trying to figure out the category to which you belong when they ask that question. However, like you, I find that many people are rather ignorant about religious difference, and there are many more interesting questions to ask someone about their religion- morality, the nature of Reality/the All, how one learns spiritually, what the point of life is, etc.

Plus, the question about believing in God, without going into detail about one's beliefs about God, is not very useful for understanding people's religion. Maybe amongst monotheists, the question makes some internal sense and is based on shared beliefs (though when you speak to folks in detail you find a lot of diversity in every religion about what/who God is). But try asking the "Do you believe in God?" question to a neo-Pagan... "Which god? And what about goddess(es)?" Very different way of looking at things...

So, it's not that I think the question is necessarily overrated, at least as a conversation-starter, but rather that I'd hope any conversation continues on for a while to get to the details and interesting stuff.
 
When I first felt myself undergoing spiritual transformation, I was still very hesitant to use the word "God", especially because I wanted to avoid confusion with common religious preconceptions of what God is or may be - which seemed far removed from the infinitely complex form I considered myself becoming familiar with.

Oddly enough, once I accepted that using the word "God" was fine and better communicated something of the Concept, people were generally able to relate to it.
 
Belief in God has had a big influence on religions we are most familiar with (Christianity), but I think I'm trying to say that some people think of it as a universal concept relating to everyone everywhere. This is shown in statements like "one God, many religions" and "we are all unified by our belief in God". Taoism has the concept of the Tao, which is like God in a way, but has a different nature, a force rather than a being. This goes along with what path of one was saying about how people don't talk enough about the nature of God.



Maybe I'm just babbling :eek:



btw: I may not be able to check on this thread for the next two weeks as I will be on vacation
 
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sorry to be the party pooper here.:cool:

i think God is underrated & people overrate themselves.
 
I like your answer, path of one. It makes sense.

I do think Buddhism is technically atheistic, arthra. Here's an explanation from the BBC religion and ethics site:

"No one saves us but ourselves,
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path,
But Buddhas clearly show the way."
The Dhammapada, 165.

"Buddhism is a religion without God.

"The Buddha did not claim to be in any way divine, nor does Buddhism involve the idea of a personal god."

Here's a link to the full article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/types/buddhism.shtml

I think sometimes in the West, people think spirituality requires some kind of belief in a god, or that theism is the same as spiritualism. Buddhism is clearly spiritual with no need of a god. And believing there are no gods, by definition, is atheism.
 
I wholeheatedly agree with Mr Enterprise.

I am a buddhist, and while I do accept the existence of Gods I consider myself also to be Atheist.

This is a paradox, I know, let me explain.

I believe that there are beings in the universe who are greater than Humans who can perceive the Universe more clearly than we do, who we are only slightly aware of and have great difficulty perciving directly and that through accumulating good Karma it is possible to achieve rebirth as such a God being.

I do not believe in the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent omni-omni-omni-omni-omni God of the Monotheistic religions who created us to act out a predetermined series of events which he watches intently even though he already knows what is going to happen. Who's actions can only be explained as being "Mysterious"

And yes, Belief in God is overrated (although possibly not the wording I would have chosen), monotheists in my experience tend to be an egocentric bunch (with the exception of most here at CR) who so easily forget that not all religions are the same as theirs.

I once told a Catholic girl that I was a buddhist and she said it didnt matter what I call him, be it Buddha, Jehova or Allah it is still Jesus I am talking about. Unbelievable arrogance.
 
You explained it better than me! many monotheist are so simple minded that they don't see how anyone can have morals or religion without a beleif similar to theirs. They don't realize that God is not a universal concept. This is more of what I meant. (monotheists don't take offense, I wasn't directing this at anyone inparticular)

A little bit of off topic: just curious about what your name refers to, Awaiting the fifth.
 
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StarshipEnterprise said:
A little bit of off topic: just curious about what your name refers to, Awaiting the fifth.
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Awaiting the manifestation of Maitreya, the Fifth of the thousand buddhas of the fortunate eaon. Im afraid it wont be for many lifetimes yet
 
Thanks, awaiting. It looks like it will be a lot longer before the thousanth!

Since there are no new posts, I will comment on one more thing. I think monotheists see God as the only way to humility, because knowing that God is there and is always more powerful, that is very humbling. It is also very reasurring because that all powerful God loves you so much. They get in this mindset, and they don't see any other way of being humble (and therefore having moral values) and of finding security in though times. This closes their mind to seeing other ways of having moral values, and there certainly are other ways, just look at buddhists.
 
Doesn't the answer depend on the definition of God?

Some use the term to represent a personality; others a force; still others the universe -- creation itself.

Believing in a personal God is easy to comprehend, since we are accustomed to believing in people.

Believing in a force -- well, we tend to acknowledge the existence of a force, let's say, like electromagnetism, but most don't describe that acknowledgement to be like believing in someone.

Believing in the universe? Most wouldn't say they believe in it, I think.

Or would they?

To believe in somene is to trust them. "I believe in you, Mary" means "I'm willing to trust you." At least to me it does, all variations and exceptions taken into account.

As said above, people don't generally believe in non-personal things. So the question presupposes a personal God.

I guess I'm rambling. But the point I'm going for is that it isn't belief in God that's overrated; it's that believing a particular understanding of God is better than another is overrated.
 
Yes, I agree very much with your understanding of God, if he/she/it exists, I beleive that would be what he is like. But I still think beleif in any supreme being/force is overrated because I don't think that beleif is nessessary for leading a moral life. Also, it could be false, and if it is false, that would be a lot of wasted energy to force an issue that ended up having no value.
 
Blaise Pascal said that the safe bet is on God.

If you believe and it's false, you haven't done yourself any harm.

If you don't believe and you're wrong, you're in a world of hurt.

So, Pascal says, it's safer to believe in God.

This bothers absolutists of every stripe, who say that that's a terrible reason for believing in God. "You should believe in Him because" -- He loves you, or It's true, or some other reason like that.

All circular thinking, it seems to me.
 
If you don't believe and you're wrong, you're in a world of hurt.
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I disagree. Good-hearted atheists who live compassionately and are altogether seen as good people should have no problem accepting God if they see him "face-to-face". I think you are thinking of militant atheists who are so extreme in their views they find themselvs hating God. In their case they would be in a world of hurt, but so would any theist who led an immoral life.

My overall point in the last part of my last post was that The God issue should not be stressed, living morally should.
 
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