Critical/Logical Thinker to Kick believers' ASS?

[stardust]

I am taking Business Law at college, and I am supposed to write a paper about faith. I know it has got nothing to do with actual "law", but my prof want us to use critical thinking skill to justify what I believe. Why do you believe in certain thing? Why is it true? I am an Atheist who is in Christian unversity, and it always annoys me when I have to do assignment like this. They have the program that I want to study, so I am still in the school. I don;t mean to disrespect Christian people, but I think it is human ego. I think that religion works because human beings are weak and selfsh. I don't believe in god at all. Everytime I am feeling down, I find myself asking some sort of higher power for help. I think people tend to find God when they are weak. I think that religion works because many people want to believe that God has a plan for everybody and would somehow take care of us...

I have never really learned "critical thinking", but he explained that we are not supposed to say " I am a Christian because I grew up in Christian household". Instead of that, you have to have logical reasoning to back up your belief. I just want to get you guys help. What would you say if you had to use critical/logical thinking tojustify what you believe in?

Even thoguh I appreciate different point of view, non-believers'/atheists' opinions would help me a lot since that is where I stand. I need to kick my prof's ass because my prof and rest of class is ALL christians. Not everybody, but most of them are really judgemental about people who don't believe in Christian god, and I am not ok with that. Helpme to write a kick ass paper

[BEAKER]

Originally Posted by stardust

Helpme to write a kick ass paper

There's already plenty of great material all over this website. Just browse through what's already been written. Good luck. I must say as a christian - I hope it backfires on you. It wouldn't be the first time that's happened to someone trying to dissprove God.

[Tormod]

Don't worry about kicking people's ass, because it won't get you anywhere.

I doubt that most people in your class will be able to write honestly about their faith. I say this because I frankly don't think most people ever question the reason they have a faith. It is - especially with young people - something they either inherit from home (as you point out) or something they are experimenting with.

Christians don't have logical reasoning to back up their faith. They have *faith*. That cannot be explained by logic. So I predict that a lot of those papers will have a lot of mumbo jumbo about Christianity which has nothing at all to do with why each of the people on your class are religious. Not because they are stupid, but because they cannot explain it better.

So, to the point. Why are you an atheist? Think about it. Try to write down some reasons. I'll try to help you get started with some points, then you can come back and I am sure others will help you out too.

There are also many sources on the web which might help you get ideas for what you can write about. For example http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/

1. Atheism is not a faith. Why?
2. Question the need to have a logical reasoning for a person's belief
3. What is it like to live without a faith? Why does it work for you?
4. What could be the reason you don't have a faith?

Your teacher has an obvious agenda here. How can you give a logical reason for not having a faith if you never had one? It is like explaining the logic behind why you don't have a thousand dollar bill when in fact you never had one.

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by BEAKER

I must say as a christian - I hope it backfires on you. It wouldn't be the first time that's happened to someone trying to dissprove God.

Hm... I see the smiley but this comment sure shows why Spacedust needs some help, if everyone around him has this attitude.

He is not writing a paper on why there is no god. He is to write a paper on why he has his faith - which is a probelm for him because he doesn't have one.

[BEAKER]

Originally Posted by Tormod

Hm... I see the smiley but this comment sure shows why Spacedust needs some help, if everyone around him has this attitude.

He is not writing a paper on why there is no god. He is to write a paper on why he has his faith - which is a probelm for him because he doesn't have one.

OK, OK; - but T.; you know I'm not the only one around here with attuitude. I'm just glad there's so much good information and oppinions for him to draw from here in Hypography, on both sides. (the oppinions of the smiley are not necessisarily the oppinions of the writer. Any connection between the two are soley implied by the reader).

[pgrmdave]

A logical argument for not having faith would, I think, be most logical to come from a standpoint of trying to show that there is no logical argument for God. If there is no God, then it would make the most sense to not have faith.

[rockytriton]

Judging by your attitude, I think you will make an excellent lawyer... I don't know if you would want to take that as a complement or not though

[Turtle]

___Stardust, in your opening statement you seem to allow secular belief, eg. you wrote "Why do you believe in certain thing?" It isn't clear to me if the professor specifically said 'religious belief' or you added that.
___Either way it seems logical (critical thinking) to lay out the scientific method, demonstrate how everyone relys on its results, & then conclude with no similar evidence for religious claims.
___Our beliefs are based on our experiences & our abilitys to use reason to draw correct conclusions. (IMO )

[UncleAl]

Faith is arbitrary. Assemble any fanciful random statement and run with it: "An ant colony by my side door worships me every Wednesday. They pray and erect ant monuments and have live ant sacrifices hoping I will drop off a Tim Horton's donut hole. NEVER!"

Northern Ireland, Palestine, East Timor, India and Pakistan, Hutus and Tootsies... god loves blood sports and mountains of dead bodies.

Show me a religion that has plans for a working flush toilet in its scripture or a proof of Goldbach's conjecture. If a god is in charge, then that god explicitly ought to know something his priests do not know. A psychotic mob is not evolution in action.

[pgrmdave]

UncleAl, your post has nothing to do with the topic. You don't address faith, nor do you build up any kind of logical argument. It is merely a rant against religion.