Why you believe what you believe I

[Rían]

OK, the candy sale madness at the kids' school is dying down, and my mind is free to turn to more philosophical subjects than how many cases of candy so-and-so sold, and did she qualify for the big barbeque or not, and things of that ilk, so I am finally starting the thread that I've thought about starting for a long time, and kind of half-started in other threads - the Why you believe what you believe thread.

If anyone's interested, let's go at it! If not, then it will die a quiet death at the bottom of the GMs, because unlike Gandalf, I don't like talking to myself!

SO - what I was thinking of was that different people can take turns in the "hot seat" and field questions from others on their general worldview beliefs, and their reasons behind holding those beliefs, and what sub-beliefs can be derived from their worldview beliefs, and so on. I'd like this to be really vigorous, no-holds-barred discussion, but polite and considerate. We've tackled some hot issues before in this manner, so it can be done! ANY question is valid, as long as it's framed in a considerate way.

Mainly what I'm thinking about are what I would call, I guess, "top-level" worldview beliefs, which would be things like Christianity, Buddhism (I'm hoping to lure Ñólendil here ), atheism, agnosticism, and things like that, because from what I can tell, our beliefs on most issues are based on what worldview belief we hold. So I would like to discuss why people hold these top-level worldview beliefs.

Anyone interested? I'll volunteer to go first, if no one else wants to. I never am bothered by sincere questions, and I'll tackle any question anyone wants to throw at me, and give it an honest answer (and BTW, "I don't know" is certainly a valid answer, if it's true). And I'm hoping others will do the same. (Altho I would also like to say that people are free to just ask questions and not answer them if they don't want to, but I'm hoping for lots of volunteers to sit in the hot seat).

EDIT - one more note - I do NOT want this to be some silly debate - I hate the idea of debate for the sake of debating! I would like this to be a really open, truthful discussion, with the intent of finding things out and exploring thoughts and ideas and being willing to be totally openminded and honest and have your own worldview challenged and examined by others and being able to explain your own worldview. That's how I'm gonna handle it, and I hope everyone else will, too