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Originally Posted by DiscoDan  I do not attempt to imply a cause-and-effect relationship between belief in a personal god and belief in non-violence. However, I fail to see why believing in a personal god (even to the point of declaring existence of said god to be absolutely true) detracts from any religion's value, so long as the god of this religion does not advocate killing in his name. |
It doesn't detract from any religion's value, in the same way that believing in Hobbits doesn't detract from The Lord of the Rings value.
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Originally Posted by DiscoDan Let's go back to the case of the suicidal man. However, let's modify the situation so that, instead of god sentencing the man to eternity in hell if he commits suicide, the god in this religion is said to profess his absolute faith in this man's worth, no matter what the circumstance. Would it not be better for this man to be absolutely sure in the existence of this god, rather than take the sceptic approach and disbelieve? |
I'm really not interested in theorizing about the psychological benefits of a certain belief.