Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
Neither. We're all human beings and that means sometimes we're strong and sometimes will have moments of weakness. Religious belief or lack thereof has nothing to do with it.
The agnostic is the most honest since he or she is simply saying they do not know. Neither believer nor atheist really knows either but both claim to know. I don’t know if the most honest is the strongest but the agnostic is not living a lie.
@redredred Not quite how it works, atheistic position is essentially akin to "false until proven true", which is a principle you apply constantly in your everyday life.
See the famous Russell's teapot analogy. If tomorrow I wake up claiming there's a small teapot orbiting earth, too little to be seen by any telescope, you won't necessarily have to accept it as a half truth or even a possibility, only because you can't possibly prove it wrong; the burden of proof would still be on me, for making the assertion.
@Elessar in fact, there was a manhole cover that was the first man made object in space. It was “launched” by a nuclear test. Had I commented to you at the time, your answer above would have been less accurate than simply saying “I don’t know”
I’ve been down this road before. I’ve heard the rationalization. Does Ronald McDonald rule the universe? Unlikely but to assert that no he doesn’t is less honest than simply saying “I don’t know”
Now I could post this meme and ask the same question.
[image/video deleted]
But that’s intellectually dishonest because I know this meme (like the one you posted) might apply to some but can’t be taken as an assessment to all members of either group.
I think the atheists ...I went through several different thoughts on how you measure strength and finally arrived at the non believer, the resin being the religious person lives in hope of winning at the end while the non believer ones there is no winning!
SW-User
It depends, faith seems to give people strength, but a person can also be mentally and emotionally strong and be an atheist. Both can happen..
It all depends how you view god (or your religion), and how one views life.
Plus , there are many forms of mental strength: memory,calculation, imagination, resilience, focus, recognition, analytical, etc.
Just because someone does or does not believe in God, doesn't gauge their mental strength.
Some religions teach curiosity and depth of thought, and some don't.
Some atheists never think, while others continually push themselves to think crucially.
Im not even sure how you came to this question.
Supoosedly God is about belief. Does belief require mental strength?
And if so ....what is the difference between someone who struggles to be good because they fear eternal punishment, and some one who struggles to be good because they believe its the right thing to do ?
Both are mental struggles to achieve the same morals.
Which God and which religion? We've got your old Testament God or the new Testament three in one god. The God of Islam, the numerous Hindu Gods, the Jewish version of God, the Catholic version, the many protestant versions, the Mormon version....? If it's that complicated then something is wrong! I guess I don't know what I don't know so maybe I'm an agnostic agnostic. In the end I have my own religion with no creeds, holy books, or prophets. It's just me and my higher power that is as yet unnamed.
@RedBaron well she asked about belief in God, and so I made the assumption that since jesus taught about godly ways and proclaimed he was the son of God, and he is worshipped as such, and his words and life are taught as religious texts, that it was a logical progression of reasoning belief.
It was just an example.
One could substitute prophets of other religions in here if one preferred to.
