Originally posted by Grand_Moff_Gav
I think the " it's not only possible but a liberating and enlightening experience to come out from under the religious veil." was a generalization.
It was a personal anecdote. And I believe it to be true. Meaning can and is found on either side of the fence, and nothing in my words suggested otherwise.
But you're just being frustratingly absolutist in telling me what I was and wasn't saying. You're taking my words and trying to apply them to the conversation at large when all I was clearly doing is responding to Atlantis' flawed and smug comment. So. I...uh...wasn't trying to generalize. For the 3rd time. So....yeah.
Originally posted by Grand_Moff_Gav
So, we are now in agreement that every persons quality of life is different and that all atheists are not happier than all theists or vice versa?
Huh? This is a tangent. We weren't even talking about this, let alone agreeing upon it.
Originally posted by DigiMark007
Precisely. So with no evidence of ANY sort, how is it that you can agree upon a conclusion? Sometimes "we don't know" is as far as one can truthfully say.
Well I think thats where Common Sense takes over, we know that in every group of people there are those who are happy, and those who are not. We must assume that in the religious group the majority are happy or else they would not be in that group.
Originally posted by Grand_Moff_Gav
Well I think thats where Common Sense takes over, we know that in every group of people there are those who are happy, and those who are not. We must assume that in the religious group the majority are happy or else they would not be in that group.
There are various reasons one would remain a member of a group despite his unhappiness, e.g. apathy, complacency, fear, etc.
Originally posted by Grand_Moff_Gav
Well I think thats where Common Sense takes over, we know that in every group of people there are those who are happy, and those who are not. We must assume that in the religious group the majority are happy or else they would not be in that group.
I think people believe what they do because of inheritance from their parents (more often than not). It's my own feeling that happiness, or lack thereof, has more to due with a person's disposition regardless of their religious position and sect. My guess is that if we were to gauge it formally, we'd see a wide variance of "happiness" for any religious group. Suggesting that religion itself has little to do with it. They're happy with their religion, sure. It's why they don't leave. But being happy with one's beliefs and being happy are spearate matters.
And as before, common sense is well and good, but a case like this has multiple "common sense" answers (both yours and mine included). Neither has more merits than the others (because there are certainly others besides these two), so I would again defer to ignorance....not as a default position for all matters (which you seemed to suggest in another thread while quoting me) but only in those situations where we don't know enough to make valid conclusions.