Let’s disregard “Afterlife” as a reason for belief and focus why belief in God has value and is a worthwhile pursuit in this life.
Alternately, people can present why someone should not believe in God, and from this question I would like to eliminate, “No evidence” from the equation.
So–if we can–in this thread we eliminate the afterlife and lack of evidence as discussion points to present better and different reasons for belief or non-belief.
I don’t think reasons matter. No reasons outside of actual scientific proof could make me suspend my disbelief in order to choose to believe in God. So there is no way I could ever start believing again. Once upon a time I did but I was young and had been indoctrinated into it by my mother and grandparents but as I got older and able to to look at all the evidence I realized that its utterly impossible for me to believe.
If you’re the sort of person that needs divine commanded rules to live by in order to stop from raping and pillaging your way through life, please continue believing in God.
I believe there is a “God” but IT is far different than what western religions describe, so much so that the word “God” just causes unnecessary confusion. It’s a lazy term.
The first Commandment presents an ideal of love and perfection, which is our description of God. We are directed to put love and perfection (God) above all else. I have no problem with people thinking that the ideals of love and perfection were personified into a being we call God. If there is a non-belief in such a being, can one still believe in putting the ideals of love and perfection above all else? Can love of self and love of one’s fellow man be an ideal one lives by? Why or why not?