Religion and scuba

[dlofting]

Heres my problem with that assumption, if that were true then most older people in the south would have come to this realization as well instead of becoming more founded in religion which is the primary case.

But as I'm looking, I'm noticing that the transition is more prevalent in divers.

A lot of divers travel to pursue the sport and come in contact with other cultures/religions. Maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[doctormike]

OK, this is VERY unscientific, with a huge selection bias, but I thought that I would look at this thread to get an estimate for the breakdown originally asked by the OP. Obviously, to do this I have had to infer people's "status" from their posts, and I might be off base for any one of these people.


As the old joke goes, how do you tell if someone is an atheist? Don't worry, they will tell you!


But in actuality, I find this not to be the case. Atheists have a pretty poor public image, and most of us don't really want to get into public debates about it unless there is an overriding political issue (like church and state stuff).


Maybe atheists are more likely to respond to a thread like this? Maybe most Christians don't like to proselytize as much as we think?


Anyway, this is what I got:


Theist posters: 7 (20%)


Atheist, agnostic or anti-theist posters: 17 (50%)


Unclear / off topic responders: 10 (30%)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

God is omniscient, but he chooses to avoid the comment section of YouTube and Scubaboard (except for the BP/W threads).

With over 100 billion galaxies in the known universe ... some containing more than a trillion stars just within that one galaxy ... I'd say God's got more important things to do than read the internet.

He does, according to some, decide who goes to the Superbowl, however ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[redacted]

With over 100 billion galaxies in the known universe ... some containing more than a trillion stars just within that one galaxy ... I'd say God's got more important things to do than read the internet.

He does, according to some, decide who goes to the Superbowl, however ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

If Santa can deliver presents to almost 2 billion children in one night, what is a few more zeros when you have a lot more time to work with?

 

[agilis]

If Santa can deliver presents to almost 2 billion children in one night, what is a few more zeros when you have a lot more time to work with?

Back when there were a lot fewer kids Santa used to bring me Lionel electric trains and Daisy BB guns. These days I'm lucky to get a Barnes and Noble gift certificate.

God has the cosmic advantage of space -time continuum physics.

 

[AdivingBel]

In my observation using the small sample of people in my area, it seems that most people are raised Christian and begin diving as a Christian but alot of divers I know who have been diving for a long time and who have a huge amount of dives have transitioned to agnostic or deist. I'm trying to figure out, based on my small sample, if there was something that occured to people after a point in diving that they might change their beliefs.

Might be their dive travels took them outside of that "neck of the woods," and exposed them to a broader world and other social cultures. Just a thought...

LOL...I see this point has already been made. I knew I should have read to the end of the thread before posting....

 

[dfx]

With over 100 billion galaxies in the known universe ... some containing more than a trillion stars just within that one galaxy ... I'd say God's got more important things to do than read the internet.

Ah, but you forget that the entire universe was created just for us! So we would have something to look at, I suppose.

 

[JohnN]

With over 100 billion galaxies in the known universe ... some containing more than a trillion stars just within that one galaxy ... I'd say God's got more important things to do than read the internet.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Watching FOX news keeps her occupied full time

 

[mdb]

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1301/1301.1656.pdf

 

[drrich2]

... and hence the whole point of religion isn't to promote a theology so much as it is to use the threat of eternal damnation to promote a social order.

What the whole point is depends upon who's point it is. For some that may be the goal. For many of us, no.

...crap, I did not expect 10 pages in 2 days.

I'm surprised you're surprised. Religion is one of a set of topics, such as abortion (& a recent thread on gender issues), that is almost guaranteed to quickly set off dueling opinions. It's foundational to our perceived identity and that of other people & the world/universe, our values, etc… Whatever one's believe system happens to be.

Richard.