Problems with this section (Agnosticism)

by Frank Paris , Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 22:42 (5476 days ago) @ George Jelliss

"If this is so then it seems religious belief is purely personal fantasy."-I've explained several times that the way I am using the word, faith, is the way theologians like Tillich, Berdyaev, and Buber do, as being grasped by something ineffable that is life-transforming. You are confusing this sense of faith with religious belief (which even that isn't necessary "purely personal fantasy" but I won't get into that). Faith may stimulate a search for satisfying religious beliefs to account for the faith, but that isn't even necessary. Zen Buddhists often forego all religious beliefs. That doesn't mean that they are not grasped by something ineffable and life-transforming. Fantasy then has nothing to do with it. Sounds like you're just making a value judgment intended to provoke. Well, this response is what you provoked out of me.-"We are talking about the universe as a whole having some sort of "consciousness"."-Speak for yourself. I have no idea what it would mean to say that that universe as a whole has some sort of consciousness. Some processes in the universe exhibit consciousness. That's all I we can say for sure.