Well, kids, what did we learn today?
Well, I'll start off.
The religious debates of atheism versus belief are steeped in history. Most likely (even there were no real records at that time) even our distant ancestors repeated this same question over and over again. Most likely they shouted, argued, punched each other, started scuffles, etc. etc. etc. In the end, maybe one or two of them died. Nothing big.
In time people spread out, making the world theirs. From bitter Siberia to the tip of Chile, people traveled and prospered. In the meantime, however, the debates continued. The ancient Egyptians had their religion mishmashed into a shadow of its former self, with alternate interpretations of gods and multiple gods doing the same thing; in a different time, the Jewish people were pushed out of their homeland of Israel. The Middle-East suffered under crusades put out by Europe intended to spread Christianity, and Europe itself was ravaged by witch hunts and plagues (which further spread blame and caused more witch hunts).
I'm no expert on this subject, but plenty of times many religions have come under siege by opposition. The shamanistic beliefs of Africa still continue, wispily, to drift about; Christianity prospers; Shinto is still very popular in Japan; Islam is gaining momentum; Buddhism, Hinduism, Native American nature spirits, and any that I have missed are still around. Atheism, too, is beginning to become a larger contender. Mythology is dead, yes; but it mostly died after the countries it was in were conquered or otherwise dehabilitated.
I see a trend: throughout history (with the possible exception of the Vikings, who converted to Christianity due to a bribe), many religious wars have been made. Many deaths due to religion have come into play. But what have they changed? The Crusades were largely unsuccessful; shamanism was essentially forced out of African hands (thus, was it really Christianity, a peace-loving religion, they were spreading?); Islamic and Jewish faiths still abound across the world; Buddhism and Hinduism still flourish in Asia and other sections of the globe.
Simply put, nothing really has changed with all this. It is still the same groups of people that worship the same things, and those that did change their minds were usually forced to by sword, gun, knife, or cannon. Unless there is action, nobody remains convinced. It is meaningless to argue with these kinds of things:nothing ever changes, and the only way they do - by war - is an idiotic thing because that's exactly what the religions (for the most part) are trying to AVOID. Speech has been unsuccessful on all modern fronts; a very evident source of that is in the forums on this very thread. Countless debates have been made; none of them have done a thing, and these kinds of scuffles still flare up.
Yes, I do know it's in your hearts to make people think the RIGHT thing, YOUR way, the way you've been taught and KNOW to be true. But this is going against the very heart of the goal of religion: peace. If you can't accept others for who they are - a selfish motive - what makes you say that you're any better than anyone else because your way is best? It's contradictory: if you like to worship something, then pat yourself on the back. If you don't, do likewise. Because raining hate and loathing on all the heretics/believers/barbaric horde (select appropriate) is only going to end up defeating the whole reason you worship.
Of course, nobody will learn to just be quiet and stop arguing because they're never going to get anything done. We wouldn't have had religious wars if that had been true. It's just that everyone thinks they're right and they worship the only true god and they have the best, most morally just system in the entire universe. It's selfish to be trying to push your faith on everyone else. It really is. And I don't know why I'm arguing this right now: of course I'm not going to change anything. I'm not deluding myself. Keep believing in whatever you believe in, but saying everyone else is wrong and you are right... once again, selfish.
Technically I don't fit into any of these categories - I'm agnostic - but I can say that we all just need to settle down and accept people for who they are.
So, did we find out the answer? What we learned from this thread? I'd say I did: throughout the hundreds and hundreds of posts, very little progress (in any direction) was made. It's - to be frank - pointless to say that you did anything. Because, overall, you could possibly have influenced one entire person.
I'd wish the arguments would stop, but even I'm not that naive. Seeing so much energy and vigor dedicated to one pointless subject when it can be channeled elsewhere with a thousand times the effectiveness is... saddening.
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Topic: Atheists (Read 394983 times)