Eliminate the word 'believe'..'belief' from the American Lexicon

[patdem]

and replace it with 'I have proof of'...or 'Proof exists of'....

Totally eliminate the word believe and see what happens to religion and the horrors that religion promotes.

There are cultures that do not have a word for 'pain' because they believe it is just a part of life. They do not single out an instance in ones life (that when pain exists) to describe the life of the person...therefore the word 'pain' is not a part of their vocabulary.

I challenge any person here to not use the word 'believe or belief' for 6 months and see if you still think an ivisible man in the sky rules earth.

[MissB]

1. May I suggest something?

Would you consider editing the last paragraph? I'm an Atheist, and I find your last paragraph very inflammatory.

[BeFree]

4. You don't believe..er, have proof?

Do you think you're an atheist, or do you have proof that there is no invisible G.O.D. (Generator and Organizer of Dirt) ? <grin> -- see the grin? That means take that as kidding. Kinda sorta.

The idea of not using 'believe' is a good one. Let there be proof before all society undertakes residing under one belief system. I have mine. I'll be damned if I can prove it to anyone else though.

[quaker bill]

2. Stalin was not particularily religious.

Were his pogroms more pleasant? Was he a better custodian of the environment?

This is an old canard of the irreligious left. While I agree that religion is the source of much conflict, so is simple old fashioned irreligious greed.

The invisible man I think wants to rule the earth is Dick Cheney at his "undisclosed location".

To believe that these men are actually religious, is to be confused. They do work hard at the illusion. It keeps the fundies in line.

[doubleplusgood]

6. Communism was considered a religion

...by many people, such as Bertrand Russell. Except for the meta-physical aspects, it had all of the trappings: infallible "truths", dogmas, "holy" sites (Lenin's tomb, etc.), icons, laws against "heresies", cathechisms for indoctrinating believers with missionary zeal, etc.

[brokensymmetry]

3. Hmm.

Let's see now...I cannot prove (or disprove) superstring theory...or the existence (or lack thereof) of quarks...or the existence (or lack thereof) of gravitons...

For that matter, I cannot prove that a kind word is better than a harsh one; or that helping a poor person is better (or worse) than ignoring them.

I suppose such an approach would cause me to speak much less, and listen much more; which might be a good thing, but wouldn't be very enjoyable for me.

[Philosophy]

5. I totally agree

Belief is not a logically valid epistemological system.

[kiahzero]

7. Aren't tautologies fun?

Seeing as belief is one of several prerequisite for knowledge, of course it alone isn't knowledge. If it were, then knowledge would be belief.

That sentence says nothing.