Looking for religious information, especially Christian

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TwilightPrincess
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27 Dec 2023, 11:37 am

This data is from 2010:

Quote:
[B]y definition, all religious people believe in the miracle that there is a God: a supernatural entity that is all-seeing, all-knowing, and omnipotent. The Encyclopedia Brittanica states, “Belief in miraculous happenings is a feature of practically all religions."

A survey by the Pew Forum on Religion found that 79% of the people surveyed believe in miracles such as the Biblical parting of the Red Sea, guardian angels, or Jesus walking on water. At least 22 people have claimed to have seen Jesus in their food. The Pew survey found that 65% believe in miracles having nothing to do with God, such as ghosts, voices from the dead, or reincarnation.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... iracle?amp

From what I’ve seen, people who are in a lower socioeconomic bracket are more likely to believe in faith healing.


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blitzkrieg
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28 Dec 2023, 11:35 pm

TwilightPrincess wrote:
This data is from 2010:
Quote:
[B]y definition, all religious people believe in the miracle that there is a God: a supernatural entity that is all-seeing, all-knowing, and omnipotent. The Encyclopedia Brittanica states, “Belief in miraculous happenings is a feature of practically all religions."

A survey by the Pew Forum on Religion found that 79% of the people surveyed believe in miracles such as the Biblical parting of the Red Sea, guardian angels, or Jesus walking on water. At least 22 people have claimed to have seen Jesus in their food. The Pew survey found that 65% believe in miracles having nothing to do with God, such as ghosts, voices from the dead, or reincarnation.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... iracle?amp

From what I’ve seen, people who are in a lower socioeconomic bracket are more likely to believe in faith healing.


Please don't make generalized assumptions about people in a lower socioeconomic bracket. It's not true for all of those people, that they would believe in faith healing.



blitzkrieg
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28 Dec 2023, 11:38 pm

TwilightPrincess wrote:
colliegrace wrote:
Well I'm talking about many multiple experiences that convinced me, not one that I expect to convince everyone else. I am allowed to come to my own conclusions.

I wasn’t meaning to imply that you aren’t allowed to draw your own conclusions. I was just expressing my personal stance when it comes to supernatural experiences and beliefs.

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” - Richard Dawkins

I’ve known quite a few people who have had demon experiences because that was normal for my previous belief system. None of the experiences couldn’t be explained by something else. I knew one person who thought that a demon was trying to strangle him in his sleep. It turned out that he had sleep apnea.

At any rate, I think the fact that so many people have experiences based on their beliefs (or the beliefs of their culture) demonstrates how strong the power of suggestion can be and that people are prone to magical thinking. Many people I grew up with were more likely to jump to a supernatural cause rather than look for a more mundane explanation for their experiences.


Which people seem to be prone to magical thinking?

This seems like a negative generalisation of religious folk.



belijojo
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29 Dec 2023, 12:01 am

blitzkrieg wrote:
This seems like a negative generalisation of religious folk.

Yes, agreed. Do you have any information on this phenomenon? Website or something.


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TwilightPrincess
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29 Dec 2023, 12:28 am

blitzkrieg wrote:
TwilightPrincess wrote:
This data is from 2010:
Quote:
[B]y definition, all religious people believe in the miracle that there is a God: a supernatural entity that is all-seeing, all-knowing, and omnipotent. The Encyclopedia Brittanica states, “Belief in miraculous happenings is a feature of practically all religions."

A survey by the Pew Forum on Religion found that 79% of the people surveyed believe in miracles such as the Biblical parting of the Red Sea, guardian angels, or Jesus walking on water. At least 22 people have claimed to have seen Jesus in their food. The Pew survey found that 65% believe in miracles having nothing to do with God, such as ghosts, voices from the dead, or reincarnation.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... iracle?amp

From what I’ve seen, people who are in a lower socioeconomic bracket are more likely to believe in faith healing.


Please don't make generalized assumptions about people in a lower socioeconomic bracket. It's not true for all of those people, that they would believe in faith healing.


Read what I posted carefully. I never claimed that it was true for ALL people in a lower socioeconomic bracket.

I am free to discuss any topic I want to as long as doing so doesn't break the rules.

blitzkrieg wrote:
TwilightPrincess wrote:
colliegrace wrote:
Well I'm talking about many multiple experiences that convinced me, not one that I expect to convince everyone else. I am allowed to come to my own conclusions.

I wasn’t meaning to imply that you aren’t allowed to draw your own conclusions. I was just expressing my personal stance when it comes to supernatural experiences and beliefs.

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.” - Richard Dawkins

I’ve known quite a few people who have had demon experiences because that was normal for my previous belief system. None of the experiences couldn’t be explained by something else. I knew one person who thought that a demon was trying to strangle him in his sleep. It turned out that he had sleep apnea.

At any rate, I think the fact that so many people have experiences based on their beliefs (or the beliefs of their culture) demonstrates how strong the power of suggestion can be and that people are prone to magical thinking. Many people I grew up with were more likely to jump to a supernatural cause rather than look for a more mundane explanation for their experiences.


Which people seem to be prone to magical thinking?

This seems like a negative generalisation of religious folk.

I wasn't referring to religious people in general. Instead, I was alluding to those who've had supposed supernatural experiences. Some people quickly assume that their experiences are supernatural rather than consider more mundane possibilities.


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Last edited by TwilightPrincess on 29 Dec 2023, 1:37 am, edited 2 times in total.

TwilightPrincess
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29 Dec 2023, 12:32 am

belijojo wrote:
blitzkrieg wrote:
This seems like a negative generalisation of religious folk.

Yes, agreed. Do you have any information on this phenomenon? Website or something.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basi ... l-thinking
Quote:
Most people don't believe in magic, but they may still wish for a good outcome by knocking on wood. Magical thinking—the need to believe that one’s hopes and desires can have an effect on how the world turns—is everywhere. Spirits, ghosts, patterns, and signs seem to be everywhere, especially if you look for them. People tend to make connections between mystical thinking and real-life events, even when it’s not rational. Of course, some of this is animistic thinking, with the belief that the supernatural is everywhere and has some power over what happens in people's lives. There is some comfort in thinking that someone or something is pulling all the cosmic strings. It gives us the permission to relax a little.

Is religion a form of magical thinking?
For some people, religion is filled with magical thinking. For the religious, the world is filled with spirits and ghosts and disembodied souls, and they want their higher power to hear their prayers. While atheists wonder how all that praying is working out for everyone, even atheists themselves practice habits of magical thinking, many do knock on wood just to avoid a jinx and possible catastrophe and mayhem.
Many people engage in some form of magical thinking. It's easy to see how basing one's beliefs on feelings, faith, and subjective experiences could lead one to engage in magical thinking. People are susceptible to it in general given our evolutionary tendency to see patterns where there aren't any and our need for meaning, purpose, and, especially, control in a chaotic world.


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Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. – Satan and TwilightPrincess