believe out of hope

[Vichy]

She hopes that all the suffering and evil in this Universe aren't the result of blind forces and human ignorance, but rather from the detailed machinations of an omnipotent sadist?  That sort of 'hope' doesn't sit very well with me, and it's rather contrary to the hope that things could ever be better than a life of fear and genocide.
Fantasy and whim-wishing only make things worse, and the contention that this religious crazyness can help someone is ridiculous, like saying that ignoring traffic can make crossing the street better.  You might not be worried about getting hit, but you're still going to.

[Asmodean]

* I'd just like to add that anyone is free to believe unicorns, so long as they don't push to have unicorn biology taught in schools.  

That's the thing. Belief should not be taught as fact. In my opinion, belief should not be taught at all, but if someone absolutely has to teach it, they should present it as a belief, nothing more. I think that's what they call "Calling a spade a spade."

[rick]

Saying "I know there is a God." is a logical fallacy because conclusion requires proof and proof denies faith. Thus, God vanishes in a cloud of his own logic. However, saying "I know there is no God" is also a logical fallacy as an affirmation of a universal negative.

Neither position is supported by logic as I understand it.

[Smarmy Of One]

Saying "I know there is a God." is a logical fallacy because conclusion requires proof and proof denies faith. Thus, God vanishes in a cloud of his own logic. However, saying "I know there is no God" is also a logical fallacy as an affirmation of a universal negative.

Neither position is supported by logic as I understand it.

I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you. Saying "there IS a god" and saying "there is NOT a god" is not the same thing. The only way those two statements could have the same weight is if the person wasn't sure they believed or not.

As an atheist, (similarly to what I stated in a previous post) it is same as saying that there are two sides to the whole santa argument.  

[myleviathan]

Saying "I know there is a God." is a logical fallacy because conclusion requires proof and proof denies faith. Thus, God vanishes in a cloud of his own logic. However, saying "I know there is no God" is also a logical fallacy as an affirmation of a universal negative.

Neither position is supported by logic as I understand it.

I see what you're saying, Rick. Faith and proof don't mix. If there's proof for something, faith is no longer required. Proof expells faith. With faith, however, a conclusion doesn't require proof. The proof step gets skipped entirely. So you're right, it's not logical. The conclusion is made before any proof is demonstrated. In my opinion, faith is more than a logical fallacy, it's a moral fallacy as well.

[Will]

I hope that I find my way into a threesome with Jessica Alba and Natalie Portman, therefore I believe it. Isn't that called denial?

[myleviathan]

I hope that I find my way into a threesome with Jessica Alba and Natalie Portman, therefore I believe it. Isn't that called denial?

I'm pretty sure that's called something else entirely.