And? Why are we concerned about cave man problems? THESE WARS, the ones happening right now, on this planet, are being fought by tribes divided by religion. Has every war in history been about religion? No. But the wars in the middle east right now almost certainly are.
Yes it IS there lives. But so are their careers, their families, their future. We have lots of Christians in America. Christianity IS their lives. Doesnt mean they can't be teachers, bankers, doctors, researchers, scientists! It's the same in the middle-east. What are there, like a billion ppl there. That applies to 99% of them. So no, it's not why a lot of them strap an AK47 to their backs. What a ridiculous opinion to have. As for your last paragraph, so what if they do. They can believe in pink fairies in tutus sprinkling stardust over dolphins as far as I care. As long as it doesnt impose on anyone else who cares. Isnt that what we all prescribe to in a free society? Or does that only apply to ppl who believe in the same things as us. The fcked up thing is I dont really care much for organised religions but I'm being forced to defend ppl's right to practise it if they want to! Bloody hell
Was simply answering your post about there being "no EACH OHER". If you took away religion there would still be an "each other" based on the countless tribes and the same conflicts about territory (as well as the interference by outside forces for their own geopolotical and economic aims) would still be there.
Yes but thats all fine for you to say, you aren't the one having your living room windows blown in every 20 minutes by mortar shells, or your town invaded and all homosexuals being dragged out and decapitated. Or your schools, your children, being taken out by drone strikes. I am not saying people shouldn't have the right to practice whatever religion they want in a free society as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. That also doesn't change the fact that i see it as as hindrance on our entire species and would like to see it go. And it will.....as western culture becomes more civilised, religion is dying out, that much is true, because people no longer need it. Yes there are places with huge populations that are still very religious, that are a couple of hundreds years behind everyone else, but I am fully confident they will catch up. I bet if you said in England 300 years ago that we would not teach religion in schools and churches would have no effect on matters of state, they would have hung you as a heretic.
....meanwhile, in the present...... Religion is the root cause of virtually all of the conflict in the middle east.
No one is arguing against this. Tribalism has existed since before man could speak, when cave men communicated in grunts. But i like to believe we have developed past that now.
You said if there was no religious rivalry they would be the same as each other [paraphrasing here] - no they wouldn't as Treb said because tribalism would keep them apart. As for all the stuff about the Bible - where does it say in there that the earth is 6,000 years old? You believe a common misconception someone's put out there by adding up some numbers and coming up with a supposed age. I'm not going into supernatural vs natural to explain the other things you list because that's been done ad nauseum.
The bible says the Earth was created 6,000 years ago. "This age is determined by counting the generations of biblical figures recorded throughout the Bible, starting with Adam in the Garden of Eden." So from Adam to today, it covers 6,000 years of "istoree". As for tribalism, yes there were tribes that formed that pre date religion, but these particular tribes we are talking about, the ones fighting today, are segregated by their religious beliefs, yes they have an unnatural hatred for each other, but again, that has been born from their centuries of segregation...due to religious beliefs. If you are saying that in 2015, if religion was taken out of the equation, that two sets of identical people would just irrationally just look to wipe each other out for no particular reason, then fair enough, but I would be willing to put it to the test. Guess my faith in humanity is just stronger than yours
Tribalism is religion ffs. Cults, tribes, religious groups. All the same, all a problem and all incompatible with civilisation. A tribe has a leader whom speaks with the gods. They often have priests and rituals too. All it does is give another reason for one man to hate another. We have enough of those wired into us without having to align ourselves with some prehistoric bullshit. Theres also the small matter of the 3 big religions being the same thing. That makes it even more ******ed and insane. Killing each other over the past 3000 years because of a slightly different interpretation. Its absolutely ****ing mental. Religion is the most evil thing mam ever created. Far worse than any weapon, any bomb or anything. It will destroy us.
Thats it, as far as I am concerned, religious believers have no faith in mankind. All good is attributed to god, in some way. For me that is wrong.
only the old testament. the world presents us with loads of info to prove the stories are parables. Its the message you want to take notice of. turn the other cheek and all that.
Only the Old Testament what? So you are basically saying everything in the bible is bullshit, but since they convey a nice message we should devote our lives to it and abide by its rules? I could say the same thing about Watership Down, or any other book....... This is the crap my brother comes out with "Well i dont believe it all happened, but its the message it sends". Really? The message? So acknowledging it is made up, yet deciding to be devout anyway because it has a nice message? Can you not be nice without a book of stories telling you to be? And no the bible doesn't convey a good message at all. It tells you polygamy is fine. Didn't Solomon have 600 wives plus a couple hundred concubines (prostitutes) on 24 hour call? That eating sea food will send you to hell.......(wonder how many Christians love a prawn sandwich? So every United fan is going to hell ). Being gay will send you to hell Any child who dies unbaptized will burn for eternity (nice ) That Moses was justified in releasing wave upon wave of plagues on Egypt, killing everybodies sons, wiping out crops etc, because one man (The Pharoah) wouldnt bow to his demands. (Sounds like a nice bloke this god).
Exactly, there are some people who read the Bible or the Koran and interpret it that their god wants them to mass murder innocent people.
It doesn't say any such thing. As I said the bit you have in bold is the misconception [I put in my last post how it's done adding up the generations and coming up with this figure] put out for people like you to gobble up and use as a 'fact'. You're simply choosing the young earth view. I don't share that view. How do these people who put that rubbish out account for ancient bones and artefacts older than 6,000 years then?
By saying its a conspiracy and that the scientific community is conspiring to kill god, and that Dinosaurs and man walked side by side. Fair do's if you don't believe that part, but there are plenty who do. These people really don't do a lot to help your cause JB
'My cause' - ??? You either believe in a higher power or you don't [whatever you choose to call 'it', 'it' doesn't mind]. As mito has alluded to, there's a spectrum from believing every word > seeing the stories just as stories, never happened but there's a moral to each one > not believing a word but still acknowledging a supernatural entity. Each Christian will be on that spectrum somewhere and the vast majority have never killed anyone, want to dominate the world, or force anyone to believe as they do. We live our lives in the same way as you - with the exception of wanting to destroy irreligion, in the way you want to destroy religion.
You can only speak for yourself JB. The ones who believe every word or twist it to their own benefits, like the Westboro Baptists, are certainly not nice people. And thats just Christianity.
