do people really need to have a god?

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hypothetically speaking if science disproved gods existance would it be better or worse for the world? why?

To which god are you referring? I suppose that's irrelevant. If science could somehow "disprove" the existence of all gods, those individuals who for whatever reason need to believe in gods would continue to do so; just as Creationists today merrily go on thinking that the Universe is only about 6,000 years old.

i was refering to all gods. sry if i didn't make that clear in my earlier message. i apologize. im not very good at putting some of my thoughts in order.... and i don't know if i agree with you there. if science could tip the scales do you really think that religion would just continue to go on as it has? it may take generations but i think it would eventually die out and become nothing but a lesson from the history books.

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Last edited by nat4200 on 19 Apr 2012, 5:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yes. (that's all I have to say)

If people didn't need gods they wouldn't have created them, QED. Drugs work too.

Whether neurological, emotional or whatever else, we all have a need for some kind of sense of order and security, and we find that in whatever we might happen to "worship" or wherever we might happen to place our "faith". Some people "need a god" for that where others worship different things and/or in different ways, but we all live by some kind of "faith", and we all still place our devotion ("worship") in something (even if only in oneself).

This is, once again, a issue of autistic versus nonautistic. Nonautistics need gods. An autistic professing a belief in God is talking about a TOTALLY different process, albeit with the same beard.

Look at things like American Idol and NASCAR.

Prove "god" doesn't exist and people would just invent one.

Can you back this up?

Personally I don't think people need a god or gods, people need answers. We have a need to make sense of our surroundings, the explenation doesn't necessarily have to be factual, only plausible in relation to already existing answers.

Here is a better question: do people get to choose what they believe?

If you think they do, you must also think that the destitute poor choose to be homeless, or that people choose to be bullied by not choosing to stand up for themselves, or that people choose to be bipolar or Aspie, or that people choose to be gay, etc.

When someone converts to atheism through "rational choice," are they really choosing or has the body of evidence irresistably swayed them? I would think the latter.

eople can choose what sect they adhere to, but raw belief: not so much.

I for one, would love to have faith in a deity. Seems pretty darn convenient at times. Sure would've been nice when I was 5 years old, to believe in an afterlife. Sure would've been nice in high school, to believe that altruism served a higher divine purpose. Sure would've been nice in my 20s, to think that there was a meaning or purpose to life.

But I have never had spirituality or faith, and likely never will.

Many people feel more comfortable believing in these things, and that is, of course, their prerogative. I honestly don't think that even conclusive scientific evidence would stop it, though. I mean, let's face it, the case for religion being bulls**t now that science has advanced to the levels it has today is already very strong, yet there are still loads of theists.

I think "Do people need a God?" is the wrong question. A better one would be "Can we realistically expect people to be willing to change the worldview they've been brought up with their entire lives" and the answer is no. And lets face it, no one changes due to solely rational choice but due to emotional significance. Did anyone ever quit smoking just because of the fact they might get cancer or did it take something emotionally significant to happen? Hell, the fact that I don't feel God's presence is the biggest reason I'm atheist.

Mostly experience and observation, but this is relevant: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/obs ... eir-lives/

Interesting, thanks.

I think adaptive strategies would still find enough to grab onto; so technically no, so long as civil society were able to elevate the richness and offerings of cultural atheism as well as bring those on compassionately who've belived all of their lives and don't know anything else (and truthfully I think they'd have a lot to offer in terms of bringing heart to the table).

Then again, lol, I wonder how many current cultural atheists would feel about, all of a sudden, being outnumbered by conservatives and realizing that the debate over cultural issues still didn't go away once all possible gods were removed.