What Happens When You Remove Faith

Good topic, Jazzns! If it could somehow be proven to me that God did not exist, my world view would obviously undergo some major transformations.Why?First off, I believe that I would still do my volunteer work with the inner city youth, since I want so much to empower and educate them to succeed in life. My message to them would still be for them to get an education and find a wider variety of people to associate with who can help them.A Christian world view can mean many things to many different Christians, but essentially the fundamentalist mindset would say that their concept of morality and purpose would originate from the God whom they believe is in their heart.Were there no God, The Greatest Commandment(s) would drop from two to one.No longer would we be commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We would simply be commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves.As you point out, you need no commandment, religion, or leader to tell you to do this....you feel it to be a natural expression of your human spirit.I would then ask how it was possible for humans to collectively have such an inner goodness without a Creator. But then again, that would get us into the philosophical question of whether humans are basically born altruistically good or whether we were born basically selfish.

Exclusivity finally gets a soapbox! So does that mean that without God, we would torture cats and shoot more rabbits? Would Bambi be in danger??I think that the core question of this thread is that if our intellects were wiped clean of God, would our inner transformation that we believe so strongly in also get wiped clean?I think not.I also think that this inner transformation is not just limited to those who say the sinners prayer, take communion, or belong to an organized religion.

There are many who profess belief in God who still behave as if there were no God.

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I read once where an observation was made that deathbed conversions are essentially a glorified myth. The way that a person believes and behaves throughout their life is essentially the way that they leave this life.

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In other words, fear should never be a motivation to believe, nor should unbelief ever be a motivation to misbehave. IMHO anyway.

Good question. Do we?This topic allows me to have some moments of introspection so bear with me...my answers are subject to revision as my understanding unfolds. As far as the unknown goes, God is, IMHO, not needed to explain the outer unknown. The far reaches of the galaxies and the depths of the soils and environments of the earth can be explored and studied by atheist and evangelist alike.I am less certain of the territory between my ears. I biologically may not "need" God...although I heard that they were attempting to link faith to genetic predisposition.Psychologically, it is comforting to me to believe that an all knowing Creator cares so much about each of us individually and collectively. But the thought occurs to me:Were He not to exist, would my own inner spirit continue to strive towards carrying on the work and the meaning of such a universal communion? And I don't see any reason why not!

Good point.I suppose what I am saying is that even if god didnt exist, I believe that my inner spirit still exists. Perhaps I attribute this internal goodness to an impartation from a monotheistic Omnipotent source...so in essence, even if God didn't exist, I do.If an uncaused first cause and source of all goodness is taken out of the equation after the fact, the effects of that initial cause still exist.

all that we have is an observation of morality (through whatever means) in secular cultures since time began. This has nothing to do with God, apart from the premise that He foreknew everyone.Perhaps we need to focus on what faith is and whether the idea of removing God is more than a choice.Faith can be an acrostic:
Forsaking
All
I
Trust
HimThats one version.What about this version, however?
Finding
Answers
I
Test
HypothesisWhats the common denominator between the two acrostics?I

A Christian fundamentalist may say that society is basically bad and needs salvationA secular humanist may say that society is basically good and needs to abandon religion and exclusivism.What does Taz say?

I'm assuming that they do care. I'm just curious as to what they attribute the behavior to! IOW why do people do such things?