Religion is a emotional based system

[Eko]

I feel, I believe, I have faith. Atheism is a logic based system, there is no proof available. Decisions based on emotion tend to lead to bad decisions, decisions on logic tend to not. When you use a logic or emotion system for your beliefs you reinforce those for other things in your life, like global warming or politics. While most atheists will look for evidence in things such as global warming and politics most religious people will go with what they feel or believe is correct and that is true no matter the evidence. Reinforcing an emotional based belief system over a logic based system is what is killing us.

[violetpastille]

1. Okay.

As a thought exercise,

How many logic based decisions can you come up with that sucked? That were totally devoid of emotion but nonetheless sucked?

(p.s. atheism has plenty of emotion behind it too. And there is nothing wrong with that.)

(p.p.s. emotions aren't bad.)

[Eko]

3. What kind of emotion is behind

there is no proof of a god?

[violetpastille]

5. I don't know, love.

You tell me?

The world is proof enough for me.

Tell me about your emotions.

[Eko]

6. No idea of what you are asking me.

Please clarify.

[violetpastille]

7. It's okay

You asked:

What kind of emotion is behind

there is no proof of a god?


And I said, I don't know. Tell me.

What is your emotion behind there is no proof of god?

(It is OK to have emotion)

[Major Nikon]

10. Your assertion: " atheism has plenty of emotion behind it"

When asked what specific emotion you are referring to your answer is you don't know. That doesn't do much to support your assertion.

[Eko]

14. Robert Plutchik's theory says that the eight basic emotions are

Fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, surprise,trust, and anticipation. Thinking "there is no proof of a god" is of course a statement just like "that apple is red". They are both declarative statements and don't need an emotion. Might as well ask me what kind of emotion is behind stating that 2+2=4. Of course its ok to have emotions, its not ok to let emotions tell you what is right and wrong and what the nature of the world is. First with the head then with the heart. Emotions are a very powerful thing, they can easily take over rational thought and push you to make rash and bad decisions. When your belief system is emotional based you reinforce that to the point that reality is not reality anymore but what you believe. This is playing out in our current politics to a massive degree. It is not a coincidence that the entire republican parties platform is fear based. It is also not a coincidence that religious people voted overwhelmingly for dump.

[Pope George Ringo II]

11. You've got it backwards.

In my experience, atheism isn't driven by emotion--but it often drives emotion. There's usually quite a bit of frustration involved once you realize how religion screws up the world.

[Major Nikon]

12. The bad decisions I've made based on logic and reason were because I didn't have enough information

It wasn't due to a failure of that method. The bad decisions people make because of emotion are inevitably due to the inherent flaw of using that method.

Emotions themselves aren't bad, but they can lead to bad decisions. Demagoguery is the process of tapping into base emotions in order to influence people, often toward making bad decisions. That's exactly why Trump is president. This is one example of the inherent flaw of allowing emotion to influence the decision making process.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. It is definitely a non rational system.

It can be perfectly okay to have faith in something non rational. But it's important to understand that it's non rational and not try to project it on others as if it's a rational system.

[Eko]

4. Modern history

and history in itself shows that using this non rational processes has been detrimental to us all.

[violetpastille]

8. +1

We are rational. We are emotional. We are OK.

[Comatose Sphagetti]

9. Yep

Religion is but a warped interpretation/expression of the emotion/feeling of humility.

[guillaumeb]

13. We all feel that we use logic to arrive at conclusions.

And, because your position is itself unprovable, perhaps there is only the illusion of a logical foundation to it.

[MineralMan]

15. Irony is a funny thing...

[Mariana]

16. Be more consistent please, Gil.

You've told us over and over again that your belief in The Creator™ is based entirely on faith, and has nothing whatsoever to do with logic or reason.

[guillaumeb]

17. Which is missing my actual point.

And that concerns self awareness.

And an awareness of when cognitive bias can deceive us into thinking that we are being logical.

[guillaumeb]

18. Prove both claims.

You made a declarative statement.

[Eko]

19. I will happily do so when you prove that

Mao, Stalin and Kim are atheists. If you get to make a claim without backing it up, well, the goose is good for the gander buddy.

[guillaumeb]

20. So you admit that I am correct?

Thank you.

[Eko]

21. In no way, whatsoever, at any time, in any universe

did I say that. Just it is the height of hypocrisy for you to come back telling me I need to prove something moments after saying you had to prove nothing. Reflect. https://democraticunderground.com/1218302561#post44

[gtar100]

22. I don't come to the same conclusion.

Belief systems - religious or not - are based on experience filled with both logical thinking and emotion. I hear it a lot..."emotion bad, logic good"? You want to cut yourself into pieces and pretend not to use the parts you don't like? Sorry, humans don't do pure logic devoid of emotion. Emotion is what makes our thoughts and actions real, personal and powerful. For good or ill. Mind and heart cannot be separated as far as I can tell.

[Eko]

23. See post 14.

From your name I would guess you play guitar, I have a Gibson SG, you?

[gtar100]

24. Thank you, Eko, for the reply.

I apologize for the delayed response. Fascinating study on emotions and beliefs. Fear seems to be the real killer of rationality. Still, emotion and thought can only be divided by thought experiment. I have yet to see myself or anyone say anything without emotional content. So much could be said about this but I'll keep this short.

I would probably expand on that list of basic emotions (fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, surprise, trust, and anticipation) and include reverence or love as emotions and probably others...still working on that in myself. But wouldn't you say that the desire to act out of rationality is driven by powerful emotions, namely trust in the process of rationality and anticipation of getting better outcomes through its employment. But also out of deep respect and appreciation for truth and our mind's precarious relationship to it. Not that I believe I know the truth any more than others, I'm working with what I got as does anyone. It's fun to explore.

Yes! I've got an Ibenez Artcore AS73, which is like a Gibson ES335... only it's not, but it's not bad for $300. Still waiting on the big bucks to get a PRS Just having fun with it for now though I had fancied myself being a musician at one time. Love to play around with effects to get all sorts of interesting and colorful sounds. Kind of the opposite of all the acoustic music I love listening to. And I've actually mostly been playing a mandolin lately that I picked up a few years ago in SF. What about you?