Hadron wrote:
Anubis wrote:
Anubis wrote:
One problem that I see is that Atheists are just too uptight about things like this. "Oh no, religion is wrong because it's illogical!"
"Wrong wrong wrong!"
Have you ever thought of what religion does for some people? Even if it's in vain, it works as a good mental placebo. People can reassure themselves that their chosen deity will protect them, and that attitude may make them sure of themselves, increase their will to live, and relax and comfort them. Religions also ensure that moral fibre remains in society, including a respect for human life the way it should be.
I know that I may be sounding biased towards the theists, but I feel that religion is getting kicked about unfairly.
I don't really think that you can have Creationist Scientists, the term is almost an oxymoron. You mean blind fools who follow the bible to every last word, but don't review the facts. The mainstream view amongst many religions today is that science explains the universe created by God, as it were. Perhaps some religious people believe that science will one day find God in whichever dimension he resides. Or find the explanation for God. God is a rather general term, it could mean simply mean the laws of the universe which we don't know yet, a supernatural deity, or an actual force which affects everyone. That would be the ultimate scientific achievement, in a way. Perhaps even better, to obtain an ultimate level of power over the universe that would rival a God's.
How philosophy has become much more complicated over the years.
The facts remain that religion does help people on an individual level, helps them cope with the vast, cold, unforgiving, uncompromising universe whether there is a God or not. That's the way many humans work.
Could you cope with the information that everything is futile in the end? Wouldn't you want to escape from that and be happy?
Of course, there are other ways to cope, but you have to be pretty strong willed and determined to cope with that, or just keep your mind off it, which itself can be difficult.
Ask yourself this: Would you rather believe that you had an eternal soul, or believe in total mental/spiritual death in the end based on only that which has been proven by science?
Let's just state a fact that everyone should know-
Just because science can't prove it, doesn't mean it's there. You have to have faith and imagination in order to percieve that a certain force could exist.
Also, some people call themselves open minded yet they aren't open to the possiblility that a God, in whatever form, might just exist. Who's the open minded one? The person who believes and has that faith in their religion of choice, yet is open and tolerant?
Or the complete atheist who says "hey, God isn't real you stupid £@X$%! !! I can't tolerate religious people, they need to shut the hell up and stop believing! WHAT, IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE? OMG YOU STUPID MORMON, all you have to do is convince yourself that it isn't real! OMG!! ! Religion brings no benefits because people don't acknowledge that there is no God! I don't care about humanitarian Christians, all that matters is that religious people get a brain and stop believing in God because it's not rational!! !"
So, please stop being so hypocritical, everybody.
Ok, I hope my rant got through to a few people.
BUMP
Time to give little Anubis some attention then:
I am well aware of what religion can do for people. It does a mix of good and bad, possibly more bad than good.
Not going to argue with the creationist scientists bit.
You might want to notice religious teaching keeps changing to accomodate scientific facts. In the far future it will have nowhere to run to.
Really? Essential Bible doctrines of conservative Christians change with the times? Hmmm. Name one. The Bible has never been revised, not even to accomodate a scientific discovery. Yet billions believe it, and it's still been the best-selling book since the Gutenberg printing press was invented in order to print it.
By contrast, the Koran has undergone numerous revisions, hundreds of years apart, and the old versions destroyed. No one even knows how many, because it's a secret best kept buried. Catholic doctrines, which merely tip their hat in the general direction of the Bible, change constantly -- even though one of their
central claims is that they never change.
Also, the Book of Mormon has been revised several times to avoid statements which, in modern times, have become extremely embarassing.
The
newest part of the Bible is nearly 2,000 years old. Therefore, if the Bible were thought up by man, much of it would
very likely have been disproven and laughed to scorn long ago. No one's THAT good a writer, and prognosticator. I mean, Israel was dispersed throughout the entire world shortly after the New Testament was written -- and then, they were regathered back into their homeland from all corners of the globe to form one single, solid nation once again. Besides this being completely unprecedented in history for any other people, it was a direct fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies which were
well over 2,000 years old. (See Ezekiel 37.)
_________________
Christianity is different than Judaism only in people's minds -- not in the Bible.
Last edited by Ragtime on 27 Aug 2007, 8:07 pm, edited 4 times in total.