The great and all powerful religion thread!

[genocide roach]

ive come to the conclusion that christianity is un-american. the bible promotes slavery and says women are objects. freedom for men and women of all colors is paramount to american society. therefor, any "american" who is christian isnt really an american. so GTFO! america will become a free thinker's country, the way it was intended to be
~gR~

 

[Life Sucks]

You are such a spaz when it comes to discussion on Christianity.

God is for chumps.

Well, he reacted that way because he's Christian himself. However, Rabid Headbanger did have a point. I must admit that I get annoyed when fanatic Christians try to impose their beliefs on me. It has happened a couple times. Ironically, they were always Christians that adopted their beliefs later in life, as opposed to having been raised with them. One time, there was a pretty good looking chick that liked me, but was a born again Christian, and she lost interest when she couldn't make me a born again Christian. It kind of sucked then, but I realize it was for the better, since it would probably not have worked out.

 

[ThisIsACoolName]

I am Odinist

Oh, Jofa.

 

[CAIRATH]

Actually the problem with the origin of life and the odds against it basically say that it could not have happened on accident. Plus the incredible complexity and intricacy and balance that exists in the universe, and in our world, and even in the most simple living organism speak clearly of design. If you came across anything with even a fraction of that complexity on the ground (say, a computer) you would never assume it was the result of chance. This is enough to warrant the allowance of another theory into the educational system. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad, the lengths that some people will go to deny any sort of creator.

Actually it is funny the lengths people will go through to hold on to beliefs like yours in the face of overwhelming evidence that makes them questionable at the very least and how readily everyone accepts the "if not A then B" logical fallacy (in other words "Hey look, Science has no answer for this so that must mean Religion's answer is correct.")

You make the usual error that every ID/creationism believer looking for a reason to throw out the Darwin theory makes in that you say that the theory of evolution dictates that everything happened "by chance" when evolution based on the principle of natural selection is infact the opposite of chance. There certainly is a chance factor involved (namely in the initial setup in which a large number of preconditions need to be met to make the existence of carbon based lifeforms like the ones on this planet even possible) but the actual evolution itself from that point on has nothing to do with chance.

I recommend you read one or both of the following books to educate yourself on what the theory of evolution actually means because based on what you have said so far it seems that you lack knowledge on even the most basic fundamentals of it.

Charles Darwin - The Origin of Species
Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene

 

[Death Aflame]

That DVD isn't very good. I agree with much of what the guy says but he's bitter about being a Christian for some many years. The film comes across as his revenge on Christianity because he's exposing it for what it really is, and he doesn't do that good a job of it. It's more like a rant than a well reasoned argument.

Yeah that film sucked and was based around lame structuralist arguments iirc.

I grew up a Christian (United Church) but I wouldn't consider myself one now. I still believe in something beyond ourselves though, something that really can't be put into words or explained by our limiting languages. A divine force or energy or something like that from which we all came from and we will all return to upon death.

Or some shit...

 

[thisisaformicatable]

I do not feel that it is right to believe something based upon the outcome rather than the content of that belief.

Why not? The ends justifies the means so long as the pros outweigh the cons. I'd rather have a great society where everyone is brainwashed into behaving well than a ruthless one where everyone is a logical atheist. Not that those are the only options, of course.

Actually, I think you are wrong. I think they wanted it taught as a possible explanation, along side of evolution. Not biblical creationism either. Just the possibility that there was some sort of intelligent designer. This seems reasonable, but the fanatics of the evolution religion cannot stand any explanation that might include a creator.

Your brain is clearly broken, stop using it before you hurt yourself or someone you love.

If there is no God, the only thing that matters is human freedom.

This is the key problem with humanism. When did we decide freedom was the most important part of human existence?

Look at any major 'evil' and you'll see that it has been caused by rigid belief in something, such that its followers lose sight of the bigger picture. And in this respect religion is no different than any other 'ism', be it capitalism, communism, anti-communism, nazism. But I see no tragedies, on a major or minor scale, caused by atheism.

Atheism isn't a belief system comparable to those. You might as well say there haven't been any great tragedies caused by wearing hats or eating cheerios - find a better way to measure the benefits of this concept.

 

[Rabid Headbanger]

I beleive that anyone who doesn't wear a hat is an infidel and must be put to death!

 

[genocide roach]

I beleive that anyone who doesn't wear a hat is an infidel and must be put to death!

just outside? or inside too?
~gR~

 

[cookiecutter]

Yeah that film sucked and was based around lame structuralist arguments iirc.

I grew up a Christian (United Church) but I wouldn't consider myself one now. I still believe in something beyond ourselves though, something that really can't be put into words or explained by our limiting languages. A divine force or energy or something like that from which we all came from and we will all return to upon death.

Or some shit...

Why do you believe in this divine energy?

 

[unknown]

Actually it is funny the lengths people will go through to hold on to beliefs like yours in the face of overwhelming evidence that makes them questionable at the very least and how readily everyone accepts the "if not A then B" logical fallacy (in other words "Hey look, Science has no answer for this so that must mean Religion's answer is correct.")

You make the usual error that every ID/creationism believer looking for a reason to throw out the Darwin theory makes in that you say that the theory of evolution dictates that everything happened "by chance" when evolution based on the principle of natural selection is infact the opposite of chance. There certainly is a chance factor involved (namely in the initial setup in which a large number of preconditions need to be met to make the existence of carbon based lifeforms like the ones on this planet even possible) but the actual evolution itself from that point on has nothing to do with chance.

I recommend you read one or both of the following books to educate yourself on what the theory of evolution actually means because based on what you have said so far it seems that you lack knowledge on even the most basic fundamentals of it.

Charles Darwin - The Origin of Species
Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene

pwned

 

[Skepticism]

I myself am more an agnostic than anything really. Though I do believe strongly in dualism, soul dualism and the like. It's not really a faith, more of a concept of things.

 

[Ender Rises]

I believe in dualism as well. Read my sig.

 

[Evil?]

Why not? The ends justifies the means so long as the pros outweigh the cons. I'd rather have a great society where everyone is brainwashed into behaving well than a ruthless one where everyone is a logical atheist.

I feel the opposite. Freedom of thought is pretty high on my lisdt of cool things.


I ponder how many religious people would feel the way they do had they not been raised with it. I have a feeling many many of them just don't know any different.

 

[Ender Rises]

I seriously doubt that religion would survive in these times without family.

 

[Pessimism]

Mahayana Buddhism

Fixed for extra kickassness.

 

[Ender Rises]

 

[Rabid Headbanger]

Jesus Slaves.

 

[CaGeD iN]

a waste of time and money paid to people who molest kids and think that their god still loves him. and wtf about moses walking in the desert for 40 years, you could walk way the fuck more than from one side of egypt to the other. and parting the red sea... its 70 miles wide and he was supposed to have gotten to the other side before the people on horsebacks were chasing him... i doubt moses and his buddies outran horses for 70 miles...



i am somewhere between agnostic and atheist

 

[Ender Rises]

Seems like this thread, as well as the political thread, is just about played out.

 

[Blue_Jay]

Just because you said that, I'm listening to Dark Funeral. Right now.

So they dugged up a bible? Give me the exact news story in which they dugged up this bible.

Also, there are also stories from the same time of those eras that describes Jesus humping Mary Magdalene. And stories of him as a kid... all curiously left out of the modern bible...

Don't have it, a friend told me, it was very recent to. The archeologists have digged it up and it's predated about a thousand years after Jesus's death.

Dark Funeral sucks and they're singing about Satan. God made them suck it's so obvious like wow.

And the Jeuss humping Mary thing is a big stupid lie, nice try dumbass.

Dude you are so dumb... first even if there was a biblical text from that era that matched word for word with our current text that would not mean that the CONTENT of those texts was therefore true. Secondly I assume you are talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls... in which case you are wrong. The DSS only contain portions of the Old Testament as well as numerous apocryphal texts. And even those portions differ in some areas with the Masoretic text. The earliest fragment of the New Testament we have is from John 18 and it dates to 125AD! Nearly 100 years after Jesus' life. Stop blabbing inane christian apologetics and learn some critical thinking skills.

Wtf. I don't even know what content means but if the bible matches word for word who cares.

Never read the Dead Sea Scroll so far on the bible. Only read through the books of Moses and Matthew so far @ Chapter 9 of Mark right now. Only had the bible for a lil while been reading it every day.

The bibles wasn't found during 125AD.

Don't worry... Blue Jay can fill in for you...

How about shut the fuck up and die you insignificant piece of shit.

This is the second time I've heard this, this week. Where do you get this, in church? I don't know of any religious scholar that would make such an obviously false claim.

You just believe it's false cause that's what your heart wants you to say.

It couldn't match word for word because the original texts weren't written in English. But that aside, what are you calling a "modern" bible? The King James Authorized Version? That too was written in English and came out in 1611, which is just a few years after the events it portrays. Further, King James had several stipulations that were taken into account for the translation, so it was modified from the texts it was translated from. This might lead one to ask why a new version of the bible was necessary when there were already 3 widely accepted versions (The Great Bible, The Bishops Bible, and The Geneva Bible) available. But that's a question of controlling a population and we're discussing how the bible has never changed, so I'll leave that for another rant.

The bible is edited just to make the book more clearer, also, the general idea about the book is still pretty much the same.