Finally a Muslim with the guts to say it

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Except, rkzen, that as a practical matter people behave better if they credit an afterlife -- one with a connection to this life.

That's not a reason to believe. That's a reason to trick people you don't trust into believing. If you use that reason for yourself, you are trying to trick yourself into believing.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

That's not a reason to believe. That's a reason to trick people you don't trust into believing. If you use that reason for yourself, you are trying to trick yourself into believing.

Whattaya mean, trick? Why would I try and trick myself, do you think? Do you really think I have to? Frankly, I never worry about whether other people have religious faith or not -- though their behavior can certainly give me a clue. My motivation here is utilitarian. The people who credit an afterlife tend to be better behaved, and are taking a larger perspective rather than staying rooted deep in selfishness. Try looking at it from that viewpoint and see if I ain't right on this one, too.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

The people who credit an afterlife tend to be better behaved, and are taking a larger perspective rather than staying rooted deep in selfishness. Try looking at it from that viewpoint and see if I ain't right on this one, too.

How did you get to this, I'm curious?

I have found people who believe in an afterlife and people who don't believe in an afterlife to be perfectly equal morally.

[yesman065]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

How did you get to this, I'm curious?

The movie First Knight (1995) with Sean Connery and Richard Gere.
Little antiquated, but...

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

I have found people who believe in an afterlife and people who don't believe in an afterlife to be perfectly equal morally.

In their youth, there's less difference between the two -- in the middle of the population bell-curve, that is. The extremes are always readily distinguishable, though, viz. the religious-nerd contrasted with the gangbanger.

The difference becomes easier to see later in life, in the thirties and forties, again in the middle of the bell curve. The afterlifers try harder to avoid being jerks or worse. That, at any rate, is my observation.

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

The afterlifers try harder to avoid being jerks or worse. That, at any rate, is my observation.

And there are people like me who just don't know either way, and we avoid being "jerks or worse" just in case.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

In their youth, there's less difference between the two -- in the middle of the population bell-curve, that is. The extremes are always readily distinguishable, though, viz. the religious-nerd contrasted with the gangbanger.

The difference becomes easier to see later in life, in the thirties and forties, again in the middle of the bell curve. The afterlifers try harder to avoid being jerks or worse. That, at any rate, is my observation.

And you, in your typical tautological fashion, are the exception that proves the rule. That's just ducky.

So, now that I've can you tell us if I'm a believer or not? Can you tell us *why* I believe what I believe? Can you tell us *why* I act the way I do?

I didn't think so. Your simplistic attempts to generalize the reasons for people's behavior are comically pompous. Not only is your logic fatally flawed, you manage to insult the believers and those still searching in the same breath. Can't I be good because I find that the best thing to be? Why does it have to be dependent on my spiritual beliefs? What of the Muslim fundamentalists against whom you rail? Their faith and belief in an afterlife is widely agreed upon, yet so many are "jerks or worse". Is that because of or in spite of their belief in an afterlife? I find your remarks disgusting, dripping as they are with their fecal afterbirth.