The Religion Debate Thread

[ephiroll]

I normally stay out of religion discussions. I was made to go to church when I was a kid, and by the time I was 10 I'd already decided for myself that it was a bunch of nonsense.

Basically, I beleive that religon is a refugee for the weakminded and insecure who are unable to deal with life's problems on their own, and lack the ability to be their own master.

I'm a firm believer that science is mankinds salvation, not religion, which has been responsible for more death and destruction then ANYTHING else on earth or in mankinds history all rolled together.

The world would be a happier place without any kind of religon, and religon has ALWAYS proved to be wrong when compared to real science. Religon is nothing more then a relic carried over from a more ignorant and superstitious time in human history.

I perssonally find it hard to believe that church's can continue to grow in our world of mass media with people having so much knowledge at their fingertips, I actually feel pity for people who choose to waste their lives chasing a myth that will never do them any more good then what they can do for themselves.

But that's my two cents.

[rklenseth]

Hasn't science killed as much people as religion?

And you should really read The General Scholium by Sir Issac Newton.

And some of the greatest scientists who ever lived believed in God. One being Sir Issac Newton.

[ephiroll]

Hasn't science killed as much people as religion?

And you should really read The General Scholium by Sir Issac Newton.

And some of the greatest scientists who ever lived believed in God. One being Sir Issac Newton.

Yes, science has killed people, but more likly then not the guidance behind the hand using the science is religon. For example, in the middle east they're blowing each other up with weapons, but it's not the weapons killing people, it's the beliefs that created the violence that is killing the people, and those belief's are based in religon. And religion kills in more gruesome ways in my opinion, and in that I'm thinking of and referring to the Spanish Inquisition and the children's crusades, science would never have lead to such things, they were products of blind ignorant faith just like the current war that Islam seems to be waging against the west.

I'll try to find that book, but Newton lived a while ago, alot more people believed in God then.

[mrsE]

I was christened as a child and belonged to the church of Sweden until I was old enough to leave it of my on accord.
I am an atheist, bordering on agnostic.

In my work I meet a lot of different types of people from different types of churches and congregations. I have recently finished a series of articles about different christian groups (churches). I must say the there is a wide range of goofs out there. I do respect the individual that has a belief but organised religion is the worst con there is.

The worst ones are the cults. They take peoples money end let them think they have friends in the congregation but as sson as they question things they're on their own. All to "serve a higher purpose".

[ephiroll]

I do respect the individual that has a belief but organised religion is the worst con there is.

Exactly. I know one lady who has to give 10% of every paycheck to her church or she gets "kicked out". Then every where you look new churches are being built, many of the ones I've seen that probly run way more then a million dollars (I know for a fact several I'm done cabinets in cost alot more) yet churches claim to be there for the people when it's obvious that they aren't.

And I'm not even going to get into the child molestation that's been in the news the last few years and the vaticans reply, or lack of one...yet through all of it the people just look the other way, they know better, but they get so sucked into the church's BS that they are unwilling to fight it.

Alot of good people have been ruined by religion and tricked into doing things and putting up with things that they would otherwise have never thought about, all because they aren't willing ot believe that what they see around them is all there is and that they only have one try at life in this plane or any other.

[Bran-Muffin]

My mother didnt have me baptized, she wanted me to pick my own religion (if i was going to) instead of one being forced upon me. I believe there is a god of some sort but i also agree with jerry and the science thing. Where would that leave me eh?

[mrsE]

My mother didnt have me baptized, she wanted me to pick my own religion (if i was going to) instead of one being forced upon me. I believe there is a god of some sort but i also agree with jerry and the science thing. Where would that leave me eh?

I'd say you are agnostic. You don't deny there could be a god but you don't have any specific beliefs either...

[new.vogue.nightmare]

I'm basically a Catholic to begin with, but I don't believe that any single religion has all the answers. I was an atheist for a while, but I ended up nearly committing suicide and found religion again and then I went through the whole militant fanatic phase for a while, and now I'm all mellow. Sorta.

I believe that religion does have a place....science explains how the universe works, and religion attempts to explain why it exists in the first place. Which is why I'm trusting that science can fix my filmy eye, and God can help keep me sane until that can be done.

[Tolomus]

I'm kinda a Protestant, but I don't really go for an exact phrase like that, lets just say I'm Christian. I believe in God, or at least some force of goodness that may as well be called God. I have never really gone for religious explanations of things, i.e. I think that one day the creating of the universe will be explained by science. However, I like to think that religion is a good idea to base your morals and feelings on, though that has been twisted at times in the past.

I don't actually go to Church, but I like to think that I have been good in my lifetime. That's what I think really counts in this sorta thing.

Just my two cents.

(By the way in my college philosophy class, we have these discussions all the time, I find them very interesting)

[mrsE]

I'm kinda a Protestant, but I don't really go for an exact phrase like that, lets just say I'm Christian. I believe in God, or at least some force of goodness that may as well be called God.

But that to me sounds like you are not christian. Being christian means believing in Jesus as gods son. What you are describing sounds more like a loose deistic notion.

[Tolomus]

But that to me sounds like you are not christian. Being christian means believing in Jesus as gods son. What you are describing sounds more like a loose deistic notion.

Perhaps, technically, but I still consider myself Christian. I consider someone Christian if that is how they describe themselves, or if they believe in God.

Sorry to change direction, but what do people think about miracles? Do they exist or happen?

Personally, I instinctively don't like the concept of miracles, to me it implies an inequality of people, if only a select few are 'chosen' to recieve/witness/etc them.

Just wondering what other people thought.

[The Hunter]

"lLoose deistic notion" Wow... Nicely said.

My situation: I don't believe anythin, but neither I do not exclude anything, so the term "atheist" isn't correct either.
Both sides of my family are quite religious, from my mothers side even to the extreme. For the Dutch readers: "Zwartekousenkerk". Extremely protestant. No working or traveling on sunday's and in extreme cases, no bloodtransfusions or vaccinations, that kind kind of people.

I was raised as a christian but never baptised. My parents gave me a choice too. But, as Tolomus said, Christion is a way of life and a culture aswell as a religion.

Don't believe in miracles either, although winning the lottery jackpot seems one to me. Hmmm... Well, life on this planet... That's kind of a miracle, yeah. I'm a Darwinis tho.

[quidit]

I beleive in God and his son, Jesus.

I dont follow any type of rituals or practices to beleive this is true, I just feel it deep down in my soul and kown that it is.

I feel this because there is one thing that science cannot explain to me, and that is "Love", true, deep down, unconditional love. Yes you can say things about electrical current in the brain and nuerons and stuff like that but....Those moments when I look at my wife and she is doing something simple and for some reason I fall in love all over again, those moments when you feel that incredible strong pull and you get butterflies in your stomache you..you ..well you cant explain that to me except in God and Jesus. The times I sit down and think about God and Jesus and Pray to them, I will get that same feeling and that is how I explain it.


I wish I could write and explain myself better but I hope you get the point Im trying to make.

[mrsE]

I consider someone Christian if that is how they describe themselves, or if they believe in God.

So a jewish person is also a christian then?

Sorry to change direction, but what do people think about miracles? Do they exist or happen?

Personally, I instinctively don't like the concept of miracles, to me it implies an inequality of people, if only a select few are 'chosen' to recieve/witness/etc them.

Just wondering what other people thought.

I do not believe in miracles. I think there are things we can yet not theoretisize, like we once didn't know about the sun and the planets, but I do not belive in miracles as such.

[Lone Wolf]

I don't believe any religion has gotten it right yet. I put my faith in my God and that is it. If another person doesn't want to beleive in God thats fine, I'm not going to try and convert them, If God wants them he can get them, sooner or later.

I believe we all have the right to believe in what we want


By the way Science has killed many people without being based on religion. Look at the attack on Pearl Harbor in WWII. That was based on the oil being cut off to Japan not religon, and then the bombs fell, and killed many many people.