Steven J. Dick - Can Religion Be Explained Without God?

[@mintakan003]

We live in a pluralistic world. With the internet, everyone is aware of everyone else (e.g. popularity of "non-dualism", Echart Tolle, Vedanta, Buddhism, ..., even in the West). Dogma is harder to enforce. Many young people call themselves "spiritual, but not religious". I just saw a video (KZbin), Gavin Hoffman's "The Nature of Ayahuasca", a few days ago. A sense of mystery, connectedness, rather than conceptual dogma, seems to characterize this new "spiritual" attitude. Less conceptual. But more "experientially" meaningful. On the science front, I remember Star Trek, "Who Mourns for Adonis" (The Original Series), in the 1960's. Later, I remember "Who Watches the Watchers" (The Next Generation). The overall theme seems to a species coming into own, into adulthood, into self responsibility, with scientific understanding playing a major role. Ann Druyan (wife of Carl Sagan) also presents a possible positive vision for humanity in the series "Cosmos". First we try to understand the universe with our telescopes. Eventually, humanity will seed the stars. So the absence of "God", in the traditional sense, doesn't have to be negative. "God" becomes a placeholder word for the mystery we are born into.

[@tanned06]

Apparently there are religions such as Buddhism and Jainism that do not subscribe to a creator God to explain the origin of unsatisfactory human conditions as well as executing salfivic and soteriological aims. The laws of nature (Dharma), which include the universal, impersonal law of moral causality, has successfully replaced the role of a personalized God in delivering justice without having to lay any exclusive claim that one owns the authority of the executioner.

[@thskendjeo134]

May I know the source of your knowledge?

[@tanned06]

@@thskendjeo134 you can easily locate it on Wikipedia or any introductory books on these religions.

[@irfanmehmud63]

The problem with eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism etc) is these are forests of different and sometimes mutually contradicting interpretations. Their scriptures are so vague that the everyone does cherry-picking according to his/her personal taste.

[@thskendjeo134]

@@irfanmehmud63 That's very true when just the surface is scratched but deep down it all converges when one does the required hardwork and finds for himself. It is so designed because people believe the words without actually experiencing the truth so it makes you think harder and work harder when everything contradicts then starts the real search. Thank you🙏

[@xspotbox4400]

@@irfanmehmud63 Eastern ideologies and religions opened most doors that lead to expansion of all modern civilizations, they didn't invent any porfect theology, but they discovered incredible amount of ways how it doesn't work.

[@cvsree]

It's like saying can eating be explained without essential nutrition. There is junk food addiction that cries out NO to this question.

[@danielpaulson8838]

I like it. God is the sum of all in existence. Not a personal god. A complete collection of matter and energy. That includes us. (But we are rather small within that process.)

[@coolcat23]

One the one hand, being confronted with intelligent alien life believing in different gods appears to be challenging to some religions. On the other hand, this very confrontation already exists on earth between multiple incompatible religions. Prognosis: Most religious people won't be able to learn from whatever facts they are confronted with.

[@compellingpoint7802]

I am not quite sure what is meant by 'explain religion without god'. If the questioner means to ask about the role of religious beliefs in human society and why they exist, it seems that explanations based on historical or anthropological causal factors may be sufficient. For example, we can explain religions as memes which perpetuate themselves through cultural reproduction. This is not, of course, an explanation in terms of the existence of a 'god', but it could be considered as an alternative to such explanations. Note that this would still require the postulation of some concept which effectively performs the explanatory function attributed to God by religious believers. Alternatively, if the questioner intends to ask about whether religious believers are justified in believing that there is a 'god' which plays an explanatory role in their lives (or some other such derivation), then this seems similar to the problem of justifying one's belief in any kind of abstract entity. For example, Descartes famously argued for his concept of God as a being than which none greater can be conceived, but many philosophers have rejected this on various grounds. If the questioner is referring to particular religious doctrines, such as the existence of a 'god', and asking whether these are true or false, then this could be considered an empirical question. However it would require very extensive investigation into all forms of religion in order to weigh up the evidence for and against each doctrine. Alternatively, the questioner could be asking why it is that human beings have evolved in a way which has led them to believe in this or that kind of 'god'. This might also require investigation into biological evolution. It would seem likely that religious beliefs are adaptive features for humans, as they allow group cohesion and coordination among individuals. But to investigate this fully would require a careful examination of the relationship between religious beliefs and human social structures. This question might be relevant to an investigation into whether or not religion can be explained without God, but it may also have relevance for other questions about religion.

[@jeffamos9854]

Can my cat be explained without god ?. My cat is good without god because my cat sits on gods throne.

[@ferdinandkraft857]

Can Religion Be Explained Without Money?

[@johnbrzykcy3076]

Maybe that's why our money ( in the US ) says "In God we trust."

[@ferdinandkraft857]

@@johnbrzykcy3076 If you actually did you wouldn't even need money in the first place; God can provide for all your needs.

[@kallianpublico7517]

Life is a balance. Without balance war is the norm. War that leads to destruction, and possibly annihilation, but eventually a result that is part of a new balance. I think this tug between balance and imbalance is what we call God. Because it seems both impersonal and personal. We seem to be at its mercy and also in control. We choose how to deal with it. I think when we are at peace God can seem absent. It is when war comes that God becomes immanent. Not because he reaches his hand out to save us but because he doesn't. The time to prepare for war is not when war comes. Morality is preparation for war. The preparation that survives the war, whether we win or lose, is God. Without this story God is a luxury or a figment. Religion is this story of balance. Without God Religion has no plot, no history, its just an instruction manual on mental and physical exercises. With God Religion is an adventure that motivates us on how to interact with others: it requires mental and physical toughness. But, not always of the kind in fashion at the time. Not always what you might expect. Survival is, sometimes, not for the inflexible.

[@uremove]

Before the aliens arrive, we need a synthesis of East and Western religions. The Abrahamic traditions bring the relational, where the Eastern traditions bring transcendental awareness. Aliens will surely mock us for limiting our ontology to only what we can touch and measure. Religion speaks in allegory to the ineffable holistic “Id” of our Psyche, beyond conscious awareness and in the language of metaphor. “Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths” -Joseph Campbell

[@xspotbox4400]

All religions were very strict with limits of human abilities, this is why word divine was invented, because there were things beyond their small village. Imagine somebody tempering with force of thunder before any knowledge of electricity was gathered, perhaps he was standing on a mountain top made from iron ore during a thunderstorm, when lightning struck suddenly and instantly vaporized him. Nobody could explain what's happened, so they called that place and force divine. Thunders killed many people and animals before invention of grounding wires, people were aware this force doesn't attack selectively but pick random and exposed objects. But thunders doesn't occur the same at all parts of the world, they are very rare in some places because of climate. So they attributed divine force of lightning to certain lands, like that energetic phenomena was attached to desecrated grounds somehow. Dirt in the grounds was special, so first cooper and later iron tools and weapons were invented. One thing never happened to our ancestors, nobody could touch the sky and see how sunlight looks like above our atmosphere, when floating in that cold and empty, endless void. Nothing from outside ever reached human consciousness, except meteorites, comets and northern lights, and perhaps some other rare phenomena. That revelation came in 50', when Russian cosmonaut was floating in space and return to tell a tale. This was the very first time any human have seen a world that is not an integral part of our biological sphere. This means incredible and bizarre things exist that doesn't relate to any human, animal or plant directly, they are a part of divine dimension from where everything that exist came from. Space does something with time, can even cause human brain to change physically, because weightlessness make body fluids exert less pressure to tissue, those change the rate of chemical processes that keep body alive and our minds to function. This is how true divinity is like, it changes a person physically and mentally, just by being there. This means no religion is right, that's not consciousness or spirit but an abomination. Space doesn't make humans better or more powerful, it can completely mutilate a person, destroying very essence of his being. It's because we are not meant to be there, there's nothing to adopt to, except technology we must carry with us at all times. Technology that doesn't exist, to be more precise, every little thing, like every molecule of air must come from Earth, not a single thing can be used from space environment. Except sunlight, could burn a person if exposed to light without any protection and froze his back near absolute zero, both at once, in just a few minutes. If living creature is exposed to vacuum of nothing, it's insides want to became outsides, so to speak. And this is only mechanical physics, when a person start to move around very fast, than a real magic starts to happen, even time itself became a divine force. Space program is an ultimate test to human kind, perhaps universe can't be explained without God.

[@mustafaelbahi7979]

The nervous system operates with a reward system, so religiosity can be explained away from religiosity.

[@xspotbox4400]

@@mustafaelbahi7979 People form a very strong self identity sometimes, following your own vision could be just as strong as hunger or sex drive.

[@mustafaelbahi7979]

@@xspotbox4400 Thanks I hope so

[@xspotbox4400]

@@mustafaelbahi7979 You know what those jackasses used to said, if you want to be dumb, you better be tough.

[@atuljhaveri3377]

If God is made, everything becomes permitted

[@Bucjones]

The aliens have already arrived and have given us a pass for our ignorance .

[@purezentity6582]

this is a good component to be part of the spectrum. wish I can explain this to you guys. there is a graph and a system to explain all this.

[@onestepaway3232]

Let’s be clear, there is nothing spirit without God. Jesus clearly says God is spirit. So I have no idea why these two divide between eastern and western both our consistent that we are spiritual beings, where they differ is to the nature of God and his relationship with the universe and humanity

[@ronjohnson4566]

ah yes, the supernatural dealing with history. In the past, since the beginning of life, all living things have died. That is the history. That eliminates supernatural. Problem solved.

[@BradHolkesvig]

Everything visible and invisible came from the thoughts known as our CREATOR. His first creation was HIS IMAGE and VOICE known as the Word of God which is very similar to an AI system that speaks. With that system, our CREATOR spoke everything into existence but only as frequencies ( vibrations ) that cannot be observed until those vibrations are processed by HIS IMAGE to create the MINDS of MEN ( male and female ) and all their life experiences. However, the vibrations known as Lucifer ( Satan, Devil, Serpent, the World, etc. ) are processed into visible images not built with human hands. The information known as the Beast is what is used to form images in various minds of men along with languages, etc. to be added to the visible world by human hands. The language of mathematics was necessary to build those images from earthen materials so all the mathematics came from the Beast along with all other thoughts needed to build false gods with human hands. Now that human hands have built the computer technology, virtual reality games and movies along with the AI systems that speak, I have the last bit of information to know exactly what I AM as the IMAGE and VOICE of our CREATOR.

[@martinchitembo1883]

Most religions are Godless or don't have a God head.

[@2010sunshine]

Very nice discussion again. All the videos I have seen on this channel produced by Mr Kuhn are thought provoking, interesting and authentic. 👍👌 By the way, Buddhism does not have God. I understand that even re-birth was also not one of the concepts in the original teachings of Gautam Buddha, but this concept was brought in later.

[@xspotbox4400]

Buddhism is most fundamental of all world religions, they never call it God.

[@John-bf7ny]

BS , Buddha believed in reincarnation, he even remembered his previous lives.

[@DavidSmith-wp2zb]

Most people do not believe in god. That is a false statement. Most people, like yourself, are LED to believe in god, but like yourself, do not, at least entirely! Most children believe in santa claus...can christmas be explained without Santa?

[@xspotbox4400]

At first kids are thought to believe in dwarfs, religion comes when they get older.

[@jamesruscheinski8602]

Not true religion.

[@devekhande9204]

First