...this neatly avoids the real question at hand, which is not whether Religion is good or not, but whether it is correct or not.
I think I'm seeing a pattern here. I'd say over half of this thread has been to discuss the effects of (a lack of) Religion. It's impossible to say whether or not it's correct. Is there an effect of God? Yes. He created humans. But atheists say that humans were created from evolution. But modern religionists say that God 'created' them by evolving them. But atheists say you don't need a God to evolve things.
Well, there, you can't really prove it either way. You can twist facts to support your view. Or.. you could personally attack people and their beliefs. That's the easy way.
The bible in near ancient times was a book of nice fictive stories written by someone who wanted power. The fact that during Europe’s dark ages the pope was more important as he was the hand of god than a king or queen proves my case beyond reasonable doubt and what better way to gain power then by slowly brainwashing the masses with stories about an almighty entity in a expensive looking building.
Now to get back on your quote. It is very nice of you to say that twisting facts or personally attacking some ones believe is the easy way, but to be very honest… Apart from the fact that so-called heathens during the dark ages were either forced to believe in the Christian God or be killed/banned/tortured/ [insert your own punishment] (also see the Spanish Inquisition as the best possible example). The humans on this world have never been kind to people who think differently then themselves:
1. See the mayor religions and their intolerable attitude towards each other in various time periods throughout history.
2. See the European nations who conquered the American continent in the name of God and at the same time nearly diminishing the native population by either disease or bullets.
3. See the US nearly finishing that job in the name of expansion to the west by dumping them in reservations as if the Native Americans were cattle to keep safe from the outside world.
Throughout history things have been done in the name of god that should not have been tolerated by the almighty god.
Even if he was to think that it was too far beneath him to answer every common prayer I cannot believe that if he existed he would have condoned that mass extermination of the Native Americans in his name. Not to mention the mass extermination of the Jews during WW2.
To end my other donated 2c (damn soon I will be broke)
In my personal opinion at the moment that someone cannot have a normal discussion about in this case his/her religion without feeling personally insulted about the arguments the other person places on the table that insulted person is way to committed to his belief and almost borderline fanatic. This is the same problem with Muslims today 1 stupid drawing in Denmark and the entire muslim population on this freaking planet is ready for war.
Although I at least try to respect people’s beliefs, but I still believe that some religions that exist today can as a whole be counted as a mayor root of evil in the world today.
All right I am ready for the flaming… [non-believer heatshield on!]
Once again, you're getting lost in irrelevancy. It doesn't matter if people who were religious did bad things. If there was a God, and he really did want them to do those things, then it was absolutely right for them to do it. The question is not whether or not it is bad, but whether or not it is true.
Now, addressing Muz directly, as he was responding to me.
No, Atheists do not say that humans were created from evolution. I am an atheist in the same way your TV remote is an atheist. Your TV remote certainly does not believe in god, or anything else for that matter.
If a person came up to me and told me that fairies exist, and they believe in them absolutely, I would laugh. I would not begin living my life under the assumption that fairies exist just because some person or people believe they do.
If a person came up to me and told me that the Tooth Fairy exists, and they believe in it absolutely, I would laugh. I would not begin living my life under the assumption that the Tooth Fairy exists because some person or persons believe that it does.
Likewise, if someone comes up to me and tells me that there is a God that created the universe, and they believe in it absolutely, I laugh. I do not begin living my life under the assumption that God exists just because some person or persons believe it does.
That is, until any one of the above people or persons provides me evidence that they are correct. If they can do that, I will not only believe it, but scream it from the damn mountaintops, because it would be the most important thing ever, ever.
But it is not my responsibility to disprove anything, I can't. There is a principle that says that the Non-falsifiability of a hypothesis makes it useless.
I'm not saying that I KNOW god does not exist, no one knows whether or not god exists, not even the most devout Christian. The question is about BELIEF. I don't. The evidence is not sufficient for me to believe, and I feel that it isn't sufficient for anyone to believe.
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Topic: Atheists (Read 405600 times)