Where are you in the spectrum of theistic probability - (Collecting statistics)

[We Are The Witches]

I believe this was popularized by Richard Dawkins, and to summarize it, the spectrum of theistic probability is a rough scale in which one's beliefs pertaining to the existence of god are categorized.

As a piece of trivia, I think Dawkins categorized himself as a 6.9 in at least one occasion (which I personally take as made in jest, you don't need to go out of the integer scale).

The scale is as follows:

1. Strong theist. 100% probability of God. In the words of Carl Jung: "I do not believe, I know."
2. De facto theist. Very high probability but short of 100%. "I don't know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there."
3. Leaning towards theism. Higher than 50% but not very high. "I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God."
4. Completely impartial. Exactly 50%. "God's existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable."
5. Leaning towards atheism. Lower than 50% but not very low. "I do not know whether God exists but I'm inclined to be skeptical."
6. De facto atheist. Very low probability, but short of zero. "I don't know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there."
7. Strong atheist. "I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung knows there is one."

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Vote in the poll (hopefully honestly) and add whatever you want in the comments! If someone considers themselves a 1 or a 7, I strongly encourage them to give their reasoning as to why.

 

[libRT]

8. I'm a fuckin King. Fuck you.

 

[Jason Wynn]

I'm an agnostic who slightly leans towards atheist, so a 5 sounds about right. I'd like to believe that something greater than ourselves exists out there, but I can't make that final leap of faith without some kind of concrete proof.

 

[ShamefurDispray]

This is a hard one to answer, I rarely think about Gods. Maybe I'm truly smooth brained but it's not something I find myself thinking about in my day to day.

 

[Insuficiencia renal]

3 But i don't know what god.

 

[generalmeldor]

I feel somewhere between 2 and 3, closer to two. I know something is out there, be it God or not. Though I feel that divine perfection is something that we are unable to interpret because we are imperfect and mortal.

 

[Standardized Profile]

I'm probably a 1. I think it can be proved there must be a first efficient cause. But I have enough self-awareness to know I am no philosopher and my evaluation of these proofs might be wrong. On the other hand, I cannot endorse 2, which refers to an "assumption" that God exists. "Assume God exists" is not a premise in the five ways.

 

[Nicholas II of Russia]

1. I had my phase of being a full-blown atheist in my teen years, but I became a Christian again after going through a terrible and dark period of my life, and it has saved me in more ways than once. So a 1 seems about right for me.

Seeing how the world is in its current state though, would make anyone sane go to religion as a lifesaver.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

3. I think it's reasonably likely that there's a God, but I've never been very sure about any of the big questions.

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

Guess I'm a 6. For every question "God did it" even purports to answer, it creates ten new and infinitely more intractable ones.

 

[Fathomless Eminence]

Grew up a 1, 5 now, wish I could go back but I don't see that happening.

 

[Mesh Gear Fox]

I would be about a 5-6. When I was younger (teens - 20s) I believed in God and an afterlife. The older I've gotten, the less I believe. I really, really want for there to be more than just this, but I've just not seen anything to convince me that's true. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[Carlos Thin]

I believe that the uncertainties of the universe allow for an existence of God. This however leads the nature of God to be uncertain, and as such I do not lead an orthodox life. 3.

 

[Giant Kozaky]

if there is a god it is indifferent at best

 

[eaglesfan665]

Theistic certainty. I exist because God created me and everything around me and, were God to stop existing, it would make no sense for me or anything around me to go on living or existing.

Although "reasoning into" God can often be a foolish endeavor, I like to use Pascal's wager when explaining faith to atheists (for those who don't know, it's like a game theory/logic approach to faith), my description of it may be a significant reduction but it goes something like this:
God either exists or He does not. You can either choose to believe or not believe, but you must choose. If God exists and you believe in Him, you are saved and granted eternal life in the light of the Savior. If God exists and you do not believe in Him, you may well be condemned to spend an eternity outside of His light. Conversely, if God were not to exist and you still believed in Him, you would lose nothing; nor would you gain anything by not believing if God were not to exist. The conclusion is that even if there were no God, to believe would still be the most reasonable option since you stand to gain everything by believing and you stand to lose everything by not believing.

 

[Lithuophile]

Even if Christ weren't real, I would still worship Him.

 

[9gfuwegw9j9]

Obviously there is a God or creator of the universe. The real question is if it is a personal God or not.

 

[The Magnificence]

Theistic certainty. I exist because God created me and everything around me and, were God to stop existing, it would make no sense for me or anything around me to go on living or existing.

Although "reasoning into" God can often be a foolish endeavor, I like to use Pascal's wager when explaining faith to atheists (for those who don't know, it's like a game theory/logic approach to faith), my description of it may be a significant reduction but it goes something like this:
God either exists or He does not. You can either choose to believe or not believe, but you must choose. If God exists and you believe in Him, you are saved and granted eternal life in the light of the Savior. If God exists and you do not believe in Him, you may well be condemned to spend an eternity outside of His light. Conversely, if God were not to exist and you still believed in Him, you would lose nothing; nor would you gain anything by not believing if God were not to exist. The conclusion is that even if there were no God, to believe would still be the most reasonable option since you stand to gain everything by believing and you stand to lose everything by not believing.

7 due to the frankly ridiculous, circular reasoning of believers such as the prime example quoted above - just one step away from the argument that only belief in a god or religion prevents us all from being rampant murderers/rapists/thieves. Maybe you need a sky daddy to compel yourself to behave decently, but I certainly do not.

"Believe or burn in hell forever," says the wet sock, completely oblivious to the fact that such threats are truly meaningless to those who don't believe - and what is the value of faith brokered through threat, anyway?

 

[eaglesfan665]

only belief in a god or religion prevents us all from being rampant murderers/rapists/thieves.

"Believe or burn in hell forever," says the wet sock

I said nothing of the sort for either of these claims. I actually tried to present Pascal as both a man of reason and faith rather than a Church father or a Saint who might have perfect reasoning but could be called a zealot by some less charitable readers. Perhaps I transmitted Pascal's argument incorrectly, so to clarify he doesn't say that people should believe in God out of fear of eternal agony, but rather out of the joy that faith brings.

You may also notice my phrasing specifically avoided any reference to hellfire and unrelenting pain - "you may well be condemned to spend an eternity outside of His light" - although I can see how "condemned" can be interpreted as a loaded word.
The paradox is that ultimately, though God could probably put you in a burning underground dungeon if He willed so, the story of Christ as it has been told from generation to generation indicates that His greatest and preferred power is mercy and universal, maybe even unconditional, forgiveness.

I've talked to people that responded to me similarly to the way you did. The through line seems to be that atheistic people think I, along with many others, have some sort of conniving plan to browbeat and force them into going to church, praying, etc. To clarify - I don't believe I'll get shekels or any other type of brownie points for convincing you to believe in God. The people in your head that tell you to believe or burn in eternal hellfire don't get compensated for converting (or trying to convert) you either. Your reply seems to have some anger behind it, and I have to tell you that it is not nearly as righteous as you may believe.

Please refrain from projecting your personal problems onto my words, especially when I said none of what you claimed.

 

[NaggotFigger]

4. I neither believe nor disbelieve in Gods or deities in general, but this would not really held back about me talking about gods, but that depends on each situations I am in. I never have a religion to start with, but I would not really bash against respectable Kiwis' religions, be it be Christians or Buddhism. Fuck the other retards that uses religion and twisted beliefs to make if they are a messiah.
But even so, I am still uncertain, but sometimes I believe in God without being so overly religious.