The great and all powerful religion thread!

[zoidberg]

I think that even if Christianity (or any religion, really) was proven by science beyond a shadow of a doubt, very few people would convert

bull shit, if you KNEW God existed, i dont think you would continue to be an theist. that makes no sense to me.

 

[Rabid Headbanger]

personally i think Hell is where people go to fornicate, drink alcohol (no hangovers), do drugs (No OD's) etc.. without restrictions.. sounds like fun...

ETERNAL METAL CONCERT!!!! FUCK YEEEEEEAAAAAAH!!!!!!

SLAYER! SLAYER! SLAYER!

 

[Hatebreeder]

bull shit, if you KNEW God existed, i dont think you would continue to be an theist. that makes no sense to me.

Unfortunate typo; you completely changed your intended meaning. But I get what you're saying; however, some people are incredibly skeptical and really don't care whether there's a God or not. I have known many people as such. Even if there was a God, they would not change their ways.

 

[Rabid Headbanger]

There would be more church burners if the proved God actually exists.

 

[zoidberg]

Unfortunate typo; you completely changed your intended meaning. But I get what you're saying; however, some people are incredibly skeptical and really don't care whether there's a God or not. I have known many people as such. Even if there was a God, they would not change their ways.

damn my poor typing skills!!!

so what you are talking about is mega agnostics? WAIT NEW WORD!

Megagnostics!!! awesome word!

 

[skeptik]

I would rethink that post Doden... apparently this one woman from Texas who was a christian conservative (she passed away recently hence "was") had more power (since the 60's or 70's apparently) then state and local legislature in what should be included in a textbook or what is correct or incorrect based on her christian views on some of the topics though not all:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/e...6e83b4ebcd140e&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Thanks for pointing this out, but this actually strengthens my intended notion, namely that the power of deciding the content of textbooks is not in the hands of those who should have that power. This woman was working from an agenda and should not have had nearly the power she had. Actually this article has really helped to refresh my memory from my Government and Politics class I took during my senior year when my teacher was talking about the issue of textbooks and how they're manipulated and how Texas was the template book. I don't remember if he ever mentioned this woman specifically, however. That guy was nuts...and paranoid.

 

[skeptik]

Unfortunate typo; you completely changed your intended meaning. But I get what you're saying; however, some people are incredibly skeptical and really don't care whether there's a God or not. I have known many people as such. Even if there was a God, they would not change their ways.

If you're an atheist and God slaps you in the face and you're still an atheist, then you're a fucking idiot. Atheism is the assertion that there is no God. When that assertion is refuted, atheism becomes bunk.

 

[zoidberg]

If you're an atheist and God slaps you in the face and you're still an atheist, then you're a fucking idiot. Atheism is the assertion that there is no God. When that assertion is refuted, atheism becomes bunk.

for the slaying of hatebreeder, 125 XP

 

[CAIRATH]

when was the last time you people went to school?im in highschool tell you that biology teachers DO in fact tell us that evolution is a theory. and they tell us that it is also possible that we are the product of intellegent design. and my biology teacher said it was even possible for God to use evolution. So basically, everyone here is wrong, you dont give the school system enough credit, and dont believe most the stories you here about the narrow mindedness of schools. or it may just be my school. but in conclusion...

YTour opinions are bad and you should feel bad!

Yeah that sure is some grade A education you're receiving there.

 

[zoidberg]

im not arguing the quality. im arguing that thier argument is wrong.

 

[unknown]

Intelligent Design is like the 21st century version of trying to explain some other natural phenomena. The greeks (and every other culture for that matter) didn't understand why or how the sun rose everyday, so they created a myth as to how/why the sun rose. Centuries later, science showed that it was because Earth is on an axis rotating around a giant ball of gas.

everything else I wanted to say has been said. I'm too tired from work. blah

 

[CAIRATH]

yeah, i wasnt really attacking your position, but rather what you said prompted me to make my own point. but if we are to show flaws (which is fine to me) most people are going to ask what is another solution to that problem. and thats where religion can sometimes come in, and it cant.

faith= deception and mind control. THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS! he said religion is a form of mind control. we can all go home now
~gR~

Surely you realize what an incredibly weak argument this is. You're calling religion mind control and then propose to fix it by instituting a different form of mind control to combat it (and who exactly is going to police this selective form of education and decide which facts people are and are not allowed to be taught?) Science education should be about teaching the facts as they are currently understood without any kind of hidden agenda.

No doubt some teachers will abuse this and will try to offer up ID as if it were a valid alternate theory. But in the end you cannot really police what's being said in the classroom anyway. If some Christian fundamentalist biology teacher really wants to teach his students that the earth is only 6000 years old and everything else is "just a theory" then he's going to do that no matter what. Hooray for fundamentalist indoctrination and miseducation, eh.

Basically what I'm saying is, scientific education should never have to stoop to religion's level. It would almost be self-defeating.

 

[cookiecutter]

Big Essay

You have presented no evidence to actually believe in any God, either yours or the other ones. Therefore it is irrational to believe in it.

1.)The point of religion is not to provide a scientifically-proven thesis for existence, but to put one's faith in a higher power to give them purpose for going about their lives. 2.)I think that even if Christianity (or any religion, really) was proven by science beyond a shadow of a doubt, very few people would convert.

1.) Even if it were true that religion gives a purpose to people, it in no way gives any validity to the claims of that religion. I think that people are more free to find purpose without religion as they can choose whatever purpose they want and actually have a purpose that is based on reality.

2.) This is an absurd statement that has already been addressed by others.

 

[AchrisK]

but isnt hell suposed to be, i dont know, not fun. im an Atheist, why should i care if im not with God?

Well, if all good things come from God, as the Bible claims, then I suppose it would be a place that lacks any good thing. That would suck. If you ended up there, you would no longer be an Atheist.

 

[Rabid Headbanger]

Well, if all good things come from God, as the Bible claims, then I suppose it would be a place that lacks any good thing. That would suck. If you ended up there, you would no longer be an Atheist.

I fail to see how it would suck. I'd rather be sitting in hell doing jack all then in heaven inflating god's purposturously big ego more by praising him for doing shit all.

 

[AchrisK]

I fail to see how it would suck. I'd rather be sitting in hell doing jack all then in heaven inflating god's purposturously big ego more by praising him for doing shit all.

Well the activities in heaven and hell remain a mystery, so who knows what anyone will be doing? But IF the God of the Bible exists and he is all that he claims to be, and you are his creation, you may have a different perspecive. To be honest the idea of singing praise songs for eternity doesn't sound like fun to me either, but I am thinking there will be more to it than that.

 

[Hatebreeder]

for the slaying of hatebreeder, 125 XP

It was really just a theory to begin with, anyway. But his statement does not necessarily refute mine; some people really are fucking idiots and would try to destroy any notion of God's existence anyway.

I don't think heaven and hell can be defined, so to say you don't want to go to heaven because you dislike what you're probably going to be doing is stupid. What if heaven allowed you access to all the heavy metal you could ever want?

 

[CAIRATH]

You have presented no evidence to actually believe in any God, either yours or the other ones. Therefore it is irrational to believe in it.

The way I interpreted it was that he meant he believes in god in the sense that Einstein and Spinoza believed in god. Though maybe I'm wrong on that.

My main problem with that line of reasoning is, why even bother calling it god anymore? If you argue that god and nature or god and the universe are one and the same then what purpose does referring to it as god even have. It's a matter of taste obviously, but it's something that always bugged me. Not to mention that it causes confusion. Like when religious apologists bring Einstein's references to god up as a defense, either completely misunderstanding him or deliberately quoting him out of context to make it seem as he if he is backing their cause when that couldn't be further from the truth.

If you consider god to be equal in every possible meaning to the universe itself then the word "god" becomes meaningless if you ask me.

 

[Hatebreeder]

You have presented no evidence to actually believe in any God, either yours or the other ones. Therefore it is irrational to believe in it.

That essay was really written more for Christians, anyway, so I think it was kind of pointless to post it on here.

What do you mean by "irrational"?

 

[zabu of nΩd]

"Hell" in the original sense of the term (created by the Jews back in their early religious days) was a definition for separation from their PEOPLE; the Jews were very community-oriented and to be "sent to hell" meant something along the lines of being ostracized by the community for crossing their moral bounds. Thus, hell indeed can be considered separation from God, because their God became synonymous with their lifestyle.

Where the hell did all this fire and brimstone bullshit come from, anyway? It says nowhere in the Bible that HELL IS HOT.

Have you even read the Bible?

http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Rev/Rev020.html - see Revelations 20:10

How about you find me a verse where Hell is defined as simply "separation from God"? 'Cause, quite honestly, that sounds like far more a bullshit interpretation of Christian Hell than the "fire and brimstone" interpretation.