General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: So our President gets down on his knees and prays to "God". [View all]Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I'm willing to bet that many Buddhists- who believe in the Buddha-nature, a universal spirit of sorts- would be greatly surprised to hear that they believe in "God".
This is one of the points I'm trying to make in this thread, and for the benefit of the vulgarity-concerned, I'll leave the "fuckings" out of this post. There is this expectation that our politicians pay lip service to the idea of "God", but at the same time there's a real reluctance on the part of anyone- most especially ecumenical-minded religious people- to nail down what the fuck heck* exactly that word means.
The OP tries upthread to make the case about how "Tim Tebow believes in God and is ridiculed. So why not Obama?" Well, aside from the obvious and now backed up by links-n-evidence point that Tim Tebow has made his faith not just a public spectacle but a political one, AND the implication of Jesus in the outcome of football games, I think most people understand, even without a crash course in Korzybski general semantics, that Tebow's God[font size=1] 1[/font] is NOT the same thing as Obama's God[font size=1] 2[/font].
Oh, of course, the fundamentalists are all sure exactly who "he" is, his likes and dislikes, even which apps he's got installed on his facebook page... and likewise they're especially convinced that when the shit finally hits the fan, all the people believing in the "wrong" God will get the boot, or at least a stern talking to from St. Peter. But in the meantime, at least, those folks believe in something more or less approximating the "actual" God, so they can all stay on the team against the unbelievers, the secularists, the wishy-washy liberal believers, etc.
[font color="#ffffff"]remdi95 niyad[/font]
Then add to this the people who say- and this has gotta be one of the most meaningless pieces of gibberish ever floated by anyone, which is probably why, I think, Mitt Romney said it in 2008: "It doesn't matter what you believe.. only that you believe!"
...I mean, seriously. What the fuck heck* is that?
I'll tell you what it is. It's a declaration of war on logic, critical thinking, or even the entire idea not just that we can discern actual objective facts about our reality, but that we should even bother to try... and yet, it's EXACTLY the sort of Oprah-esque meaningless pablum that gets the crowds nodding and going "yes yes, we believe! Most people believe! They don't know what the fuck heck* they believe IN, but THEY BELIEVE!"
...I'll cut to the chase, then. Because I realize that even though Atheists are a mean oppressive majority on DU, in the United States of America it's more likely that an admitted axe murderer would be elected president than someone who uttered the dread words "I don't believe in God".
So, okay: 92% of Adults "Believe in God" (or a "Universal Spirit", but let's leave that part alone now for simplicity's sake).. let me repeat that: According to this poll, 92% of Adults Believe In God.
So WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
In other words, fine. 92% of Adults Believe in God. Great!
Now, Define "God".
I'll wait.
*sorry. Slipped out.