This is the last thing I'm going to say in this thread...
It is stupid to believe something is true merely because a lot of other people believe it is true. It almost as stupid to believe it as evidence of truth. For whatever reasons a person may believe that a god or gods exist, this is the worst possible reason. The fact that a majority of the world believes in a god is irrelevant as to whether god actually exists. For a long time the majority of the world thought the Earth revolved around the Sun - and they were wrong. I'm sure it's nice to be in the majority, but belonging to a majority may be a reason why a lot of people believe in god in the first place.
And the differences between believing in one god or multiple gods is not "purely academic." This is a huge difference that contradicts the heart of your argument. You can't just throw it aside. Not everyone believes in the "exact same thing at the exact same time." Your argument would be more plausible, although still incoherent, if everyone had the same concept of a monolithic god. But they don't. The beliefs of Native Americans and African tribes (who weren't brutally slaughtered for not accepting Christ) are completely different than those of most Europeans. The beliefs of Hindus and Buddhists (who may not necessarily accept a god as true), who existed long before Christians and Muslims, are also completely different.
But even if everyone did agree, it still wouldn't make it true.
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Originally Posted by alyasa
I just want to point out that true it may be that not all cultures believe in one God and the same God, but that is purely academic. Approximately 3.4 billion people believe in the judeo-christian-islamic God. There are approximately 6.5 billion people in this world right now. More than half of the population of this planet apparently believe in more or less the exact same thing at the more or less the exact same time. Granted there are still disagreements and wars and hate and hypocrisy and judgemental mentalities and lies, but to get even one whole Sonic Youth message board to agree on one thing is difficult. And we all are Sonic Youth fans. This belief that there is a God, a divine, greater being has apparently had more than half the planet in agreement. Those are numbers that should set a person thinking about the sheer tenacity of a truth like God. Because, at that level of saturation, it's probably going to stick around for a long time to come...
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