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The Belief Spectrum
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| Esiotrat |
One of my birthday presents was Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion which I just picked up this morning. It's a fascinating and stirring defense of atheism by one of my favorite scientists.
Anyhow, this isn't meant to be a debate though it will probably end up as one... Just to conduct my own little survey, I've decided to pose a poll... In his book, Dawkins creates something like a 7-Point belief scale with 1 being absolute knowing belief in God and 7 being absolute knowing disbelief in God. I'm asking you, as well, to 'justify' your answer to the best of your ability along with stating the option with which you LEAST agree or are most likely to take issue... I'm taking the poll verbatim from his text..to give credit where it's due.
As for myself, I'm a #6. I can't prove the nonexistence of God (nor would I try), but I do see the probability as swinging towards there not being a God. If I'm proven wrong one day, that's fine.. but I don't see any reason to believe in God at the moment just like I see no reason to believe in the Easter Bunny... I'm most likely to take offense with options #1 and 7 because I strongly dislike and disagree with absolutes.
What about you?
Poll: Pick whichever option most closely resmembles your belief:
1. Strong theist. 100% probability of God. In the words of C.G. Jung, 'I do not believe, I know.'
2. Very high probability but short of 100%. De facto theist. 'I cannot know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there.'
3. Higher than 50% but not very high. Technically agnostic but leaning towards theism. 'I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God.'
4. Exactly 50%. Completely impartial agnostic. 'God's existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable.'
5. Lower than 50% but not very low. Technically agnostic but leaning towards atheism. 'I don't know whether God exists but I'm inclined to be sceptical.'
6. Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. 'I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.'
7. Strong atheist. 'I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung "knows" there is one.' |
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| Acton |
| I'll post my believes after this Saturdays lottery draw. |
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| gazelles |
| Probably havarti or provolone |
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| Moral Hazard |
| I think that Dawkin's scale is incredibly flawed as the "spectrum" of belief is far more complex then could be categorized in that scale. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| im with you, #6. there is absolutely no evidence to support any belief in the supernatural et al. the more extraordinary the claim, the greater the evidence to support that claim there must be. "god exists" is a rather extraordinary claim. |
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| nchs09 |
| I m #4.... i just dont care or bother thinking about the existence of a god. |
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| Joss Weatherby |
| 7, but not militant lesbian style atheist... I think all decisions should be based on the sound reasoning of science. |
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