How much knowledge should one have (if any) about a religion's texts (bible, Qu'ran etc.) before stating opinions about god?

I kind of get what you mean, but I don’t believe that there should be a requirement to form an opinion about a religion based on what a person knows/don’t know about their religion. They should have the right to state their opinion as much as we should have the right to call bullshit.

I can tell you that Fagin was a pimp, a thief, and an all around child exploiting douche bag without ever having read Oliver Twist or thoroughly studying the works of Dickens.

I’m assuming this applies to other works of fiction, like the Bible, as well.

I think anyone is entitled to discuss or even argue all they want about “their God” and one does not have to recite Gospel chapter and verse in order to convey just how they feel about their God without being “judged” for their beliefs by another Holier-than-thou Bible thumper.

By that logic, one cannot be religious without comprehensive knowledge of ALL religions.

Otherwise, how can you pick one faith over another?

The Greeks gave us the idea that we needed to be more right or win over the next person. In arguing about God and religion, most lose sight of the fact that if there is a God, God is 1) genderless because gender is a human trait 2) omnipotent and 3) incomprehensible. People should argue about things they are capable of understanding, like baseball.

@BarnacleBill Oh yes, the age old debate: Are the yankees great because of skill, or money lol…....

And then there’s that inconvenient Pew survey that showed that atheists and agnostics tend to know more about religion than do believers.

The Abrahamic God? Sure, ok, I try to know what I’m talking about before I say something bad about that particular deity as compared to all other deities. But gods/goddesses in general, the idea that there is a higher power, a creator, and overseer? Or that there’s some set of rules out there that if we just follow them correctly, everything will be ok? Nah, this is a larger issue that stands totally outside and independent of the Abrahamic God and His books.

if there is a God, God is 1) genderless because gender is a human trait 2) omnipotent and 3) incomprehensible

That’s just one view.

“A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.”
—David Hume

I think the important issue is not how much knowledge we should have but rather how much stock we should put in our opinions. We are never fully informed, so we should all be open to reassessing our opinions. That’s what discussions are for.

@jaytkay, it’s actually more than one view…

@BarnacleBill lol conceded lol

“View” is ambiguous here. It could be that the three theses make up one view of what God is. That is, it’s a view of God made up of three sub-views about God. If so, @jaytkay‘s original statement is acceptable.

It seems to me this person’s argument is an artificial requirement probably intended for use as a logical fallacy in debate. If you accept the premise, then the religionist gets to claim you are simply not able to quote quite enough of their religious text, or its ancient Aramaic or Greek original codexes, or whatever to :fully understand” it’s merit. It sets the stage for applying the “No true Scotsman” fallacy to win every debate, no matter how ill formed or indefensible the religionist’s opinion may be.

The claim is also self defeating. If one accepts it as valid, then it is impossible to decide which of the 2,037 Gods man has claimed to be the one true God are the real McCoy without becoming an expert iin the total epistemology of every single one of these religions—something which would take thousands of lifetimes to achieve. And that’s if mankind doesn’t keep inventing new Gods while you are conducting your studies.

I think you should ask the person making that assertion if they’ve ever read the variety of other religious texts in the world. Not just the Big Three.

In my opinion, the religious texts themselves are less important that understand the philosophical principles behind religion and religious ideas.

I read the Bible and I read the Koran. It solidified my doubts more on the existence of God.
I guess that person was saying I misinterpreted what I read and if only I would understand it the way he did then I would know God exists. Anyone could throw the same argument in his face. If he understood it the way an agnostic or an atheist did, then he would know God may not exist or does not at all exist.

Everyday I hear people give their opinion on subjects they know nothing about, so religion shouldn’t be different.

None required. Addressing the issue of God does not require religious knowledge. But it can add spice during debates.