“So, yeah. I believe in God. I figure my particular beliefs are a little irrelevant at this point.”
I think the particulars of your beliefs are important, because they reveal how irrational you might be. Most people get away with God belief because it isn’t immediately contradicted by experience. If you merely believe a special force permeates the universe, that’s not testable and doesn’t affect your life, really. However, if you believe this force is intelligent and interacts with the world (causes miracles, led the Israelites out of Egypt, etc.), these are testable and falsifiable claims (the Exodus should have left evidence of a large semitic migration through the Sinai, but none exists, for example), and believing them in light of disconfirmatory evidence makes you more irrational.
Because of this lack of testability, it’s much easier to believe in vague gods than, for example, that your next lottery ticket will be a winner.
“So, yeah. I believe in God. I figure my particular beliefs are a little irrelevant at this point.”
I think the particulars of your beliefs are important, because they reveal how irrational you might be. Most people get away with God belief because it isn’t immediately contradicted by experience. If you merely believe a special force permeates the universe, that’s not testable and doesn’t affect your life, really. However, if you believe this force is intelligent and interacts with the world (causes miracles, led the Israelites out of Egypt, etc.), these are testable and falsifiable claims (the Exodus should have left evidence of a large semitic migration through the Sinai, but none exists, for example), and believing them in light of disconfirmatory evidence makes you more irrational.
Because of this lack of testability, it’s much easier to believe in vague gods than, for example, that your next lottery ticket will be a winner.