What can God never see?

[DylPickle]

Religions serve many useful purposes. Yes, they are not perfect, but nothing in this world is. Without religion, I think atrocities would in fact be increasing, and the world would be ruled by tyrants.

If you briefly consider the history of Europe, you'll find your argument to be false. Practically every autocracy was justified before the 20th century was justified by direct lineage to God, and it was the people's faith in God and religion that kept totalitarian kings in power. Hell, that even goes back to the ancient ages where noble families would claim heredity to various Greco-Roman gods, Egyptian gods, etc.

Revolutionary times such as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the French revolution were fueled by a very large number of people whose faith in religious explanations was consistently dwindling.

The only example of a tyrant before the 1900s who was definately atheist would be Napoleon, but even he consistently used religion to justify his rule, and found catholicism to be an especially useful tool to indoctrinate children in his schools.

If anything, religious churches symbolize nothing more than totalitarianism. Just look at the catholic church and the modern day regimes in the middle-east.

[dingo]

Why speak of 'him' in terms of gender?

Not sure if this was answered before, but...

I believe we are predisposed to calling the Christian God a He or Him because if God created Adam in his image than doesn't that suggest that God has the apperance of ,what we perceive to be, a male.

He then makes Eve as a way for the human rac to procreate and so Adam may have some company. I'm not saying females are only there for the children or that men are superior in any way. In fact I'd say the women are superior because they DO have the children its just that in a warrior society in early times it was the men, people saw as important and it takes a lot to shake that view that anyone HAS to be superior for any reason.

Just clarifying before someone flames me.

And because people see males as superior then the most supreme being must by logic be male as well.

I rather liked Greek Gods myself. Different Gods and Godesses. God and Godess of War. God of Wine. Goddess of Fertility etc

[dingo]

Did you know that a Jihad is in fact a Holy War against Infidels. Its the Islamic version of a Holy Crusade basically.

Different religious views act as a social buffer between people causing conflict and discrimination. Its another way for people to be different and to see themselves as superior thereby driving a wedge between people.

[Chris]

Why speak of 'him' in terms of gender?

Not sure if this was answered before, but...

I believe we are predisposed to calling the Christian God a He or Him because if God created Adam in his image than doesn't that suggest that God has the apperance of ,what we perceive to be, a male.

Yahweh was the Hebrew war god. He was a national god first, long before he was reconceived as a universal god. Why was Yahweh thought to be male? You'd have to ask the ancient Hebrews. I think that most war gods are male, as war is a mostly male pursuit.

Why do modern Jews, Christians, and Muslims think of God as male? Tradition. They look back toward the past to find out about their God. Most of them don't realize that people create gods, not the other way around. If you crave a living and active God, and all you get is silence, you look toward the past when the stories say that he was living and active.

[Chris]

Did you know that a Jihad is in fact a Holy War against Infidels. Its the Islamic version of a Holy Crusade basically.

Jihad means "struggle to fulfill God's will," and holy war is only one kind of jihad. Resisting personal temptations like drugs and illicit sex is also jihad. Gandhi's nonviolent independence movement in India is considered an example of jihad.

[Pie]

Religions serve many useful purposes. Yes, they are not perfect, but nothing in this world is. Without religion, I think atrocities would in fact be increasing, and the world would be ruled by tyrants.

If you briefly consider the history of Europe, you'll find your argument to be false. Practically every autocracy was justified before the 20th century was justified by direct lineage to God, and it was the people's faith in God and religion that kept totalitarian kings in power. Hell, that even goes back to the ancient ages where noble families would claim heredity to various Greco-Roman gods, Egyptian gods, etc.

Revolutionary times such as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the French revolution were fueled by a very large number of people whose faith in religious explanations was consistently dwindling.

The only example of a tyrant before the 1900s who was definately atheist would be Napoleon, but even he consistently used religion to justify his rule, and found catholicism to be an especially useful tool to indoctrinate children in his schools.

If anything, religious churches symbolize nothing more than totalitarianism. Just look at the catholic church and the modern day regimes in the middle-east.

aaahah! hah! noo, nooooooo you...

well you're wrong. I've been wanting to say this for a while...

Religion may have 'caused the crusades, but evolution (and hence, atheism) caused the holocaust. (have you -read- darwins "downfall of man" book?)

and the french revolution was atheist. It turned out HORRIBLE! Oh, and stalin was Atheist. sure he was after the 1900's, but really. and all of those other rusian despots after the zcare was killed. and did I even mention hitler? well technically he was an arian, a cult of shoot of christianity.

you know, lets just leave it at this. Every beliefe has it's downfall. and that is that people are horrible people. "a person is very smart, but people? no, people aren't." - from men in black. well kinda. people belive so strongly in something that it becomes and absolute truth and anyone else who believes in something else slightly differen't fly off the wire. It isn't just religion, as the soviat union has proved.

also, yes we -ALL- know that early catholasism was stupid, and got into the affairs of state waay to often. and we still feel the effects that the inquisition had upon humanity (before then, same sex couples were often married in the catholic church. and a whole bunch of other stuff, that changed really quick after the inquisition) such as racism, sexism, homophobia, religioufobia, and a whole bunch of other bad stuff. And I do agree that religion has turned into a MOSNTER, and has few benefitial things (you know, begiotry is often istilled into people becaus of the church) but it's not religion. It's PEOPLE.

so lets not blame the gun, allright? it's just an inanimate object, it can't controll what the person in controll is doing.

(did you see the symbolism?)

[dingo]

The Jihad I'm talking about is just the common one Western people think of.