I’ve now decided to regularly attend church services of the Mormon variety (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). I aim to attend church every Sunday over the summer, unless I’m travelling for an event that weekend.
I currently lean towards atheism. I think the idea of God is mostly humans inventing concepts to explain the world and give life meaning. I’ve argued with theists at length for many years and have not found their claims convincing. That said, I am open to being persuaded and I intend to approach this with an open mind.
This market resolves YES if, before 23 September 2025 (i.e. before the end of astronomical summer), I would sincerely self-describe as believing in the truth of Christianity.
Belief means genuinely holding that key Christian claims (e.g. that Jesus is the Son of God, that God exists, that the Christian story is fundamentally true) are true. It does not require baptism, church membership, or total theological certainty—just honest belief.
It resolves NO if I do not sincerely hold such beliefs by that date.
I will not bet in this market.
@TheAllMemeingEye apologies I meant to say something like I am open to being persuaded rather than I am actively seeking persuasion. I had a missionary come up to me and ask me to attend the Mormon church on Sunday.
@GauravYadav is there any component where being part of a community like the Mormons is attractive to you and that's part of the motivation?
@AlexanderTheGreater yes. I crave for community and feeling like I belong as part of something. I also in some ways do notice myself wanting to find god so that I can be calmer and feel less weight about what’s happening in the world. I think this was a classic way I coped with anxiety as a kid - I used to believe in god in my teens so that I could stop worrying.
Of course I may find community with church but not believe the ideas are true - though I don’t how long such a thing would be welcome for.
@GauravYadav some alternative ideas for quasi-religious / philosophical / ideological communities to join that don't involve so severely sacrificing truth-seeking:
LessWrong Rationalism https://www.lesswrong.com/
Effective Altruism https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/
Unitarian Universalism https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe
The Satanic Temple https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/about-us
@TheAllMemeingEye I’m pretty involved with the first two. I’ve been meaning to investigate Unitarian Univeralism.