'What religion are you?' poll discussion

adrian_clark

busenbust wrote: »

none :cool:

What if we take the accepted definition that religion is in fact a view of the world?

Mr.Harley_Quin

So it seems to come to these standpoints. Holy books are true because they say they are. Any and all of the mistakes they contain can be dismissed with clever semantics. Theists are free to cherry pick the bits they like and ignore the fact that holy books, if read open mindedly and minus rose-tinted glasses, are like horror stories.

Atheists would change their minds in an instant given a scrap of proof, of which there is none.

My final point is based on the table below.

ReligionMembersPercentageChristianity 2.1 billion33.0%Islam 1.5 billion21Hinduism 900 million14Buddhism 376 million6Sikhism 23 million0.36Judaism 14 million0.22Bahaism 7 million0.1Confucianism 6.3 million0.1Jainism 4.2 million0.1Shintoism 4 million0.0

How can anybody sensibly think they are right? The very best bet would be that 9 of these are wrong. Of course there is also a great chance that all ten are wrong.

MothballsWallet

adrian_clark wrote: »

track record of communism

Spanish Inquisition ring any bells? Sure, Communism killed millions - so have the major religions on this planet.

Lenin & Co. wanted to keep the Russian Church going, but no one wanted to sign up to the Communist Party-friendly version, so they banned religion (smartest move ever in my book).

Mr.Harley_Quin

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Sure, Communism killed millions - so have the major religions on this planet.

I have taken to just skim reading A.Clarkes posts as they are so verbose and missed this typical attempt to decry atheists. They point out mass murder by people not marching under a banner of god and they say "look! atheist killers." But they rarely, if ever, admit or understand that these killings took place because of politics, NOT because of atheism.

I do get a pleasure out of feeling that grasping such weak ideas to attempt a defense of their sillyness shows I am right.

adrian_clark

Mr.Harley_Quin wrote: »

I have taken to just skim reading A.Clarkes posts as they are so verbose and missed this typical attempt to decry atheists. They point out mass murder by people not marching under a banner of god and they say "look! atheist killers." But they rarely, if ever, admit or understand that these killings took place because of politics, NOT because of atheism.

I do get a pleasure out of feeling that grasping such weak ideas to attempt a defense of their sillyness shows I am right.

I have made no attempt to justify man's brutality, whether it's under the banner of religion or politics. The point that none of us have missed is that mankind's behaviour is a result of his corrupted and destructive nature. We are evil which is why there is abuse and neglect behind the net curtains of your neighbour as well as death and suffering in war torn regions of this decaying world. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves, religion, politics, philosophy, new age spiritualism is proven to be worthless, the cycle of violence continues.

The big E on the eye chart is that God came into human history as Jesus Christ to offer us life through him. There is an alternative to the lies and corruption. You are an image bearer of your creator, with equal dignity value and worth. He loves you and gifted you free will to choose death or life.

adrian_clark

MothballsWallet wrote: »

Spanish Inquisition ring any bells? Sure, Communism killed millions - so have the major religions on this planet.

Lenin & Co. wanted to keep the Russian Church going, but no one wanted to sign up to the Communist Party-friendly version, so they banned religion (smartest move ever in my book).

Many cruel men have done many cruel things in the name of religion. The Protestant Reformation was a response to the apostasy of the medieval Church of Rome. However, the point is that the love of Jesus Christ is the life to be patterned after. He claimed, "I am the Truth, the Light and the Way, nobody comes to the Father but through me". In a world of competing truth claims, false religions and conflicting philosophies that's a huge claim: I am the 'Truth' and 'Nobody'. That means there is only one truth, and no other truth claim will connect you to your loving father in heaven because nobody else has paid the penalty, taken the punishment and faced the justice of a justly angry and righteous God.

Mr.Harley_Quin

Adrian, I know I am wasting my time as you have made all of this up to suit yourself, but try this.

Can you imagine a good deed that could not be done equally by an atheist as a theist?

Can you imagine an evil event that could be done by a theist and not an atheist?

Example: A good samaritan could be either persuasion. A suicide bomber could not be an atheist.

Gareth_Lazelle

Mr.Harley_Quin wrote: »

Can you imagine an evil event that could be done by a theist and not an atheist?

Example: A good samaritan could be either persuasion. A suicide bomber could not be an atheist.

That's a bit of an odd argument,

Not all evil events are "suicide attacks", and most folks can think of a few evil events caused by atheists (whether they where perpetrated in the name of atheism or not, they where clearly still considered to be "morally acceptable actions" in the mind of that atheist),

That said, if your point was that morality (or a lack thereof) can exist independently of a persons religious beliefs, then I would heartily agree with you,

Morality and religion are on different axis, and it is quite possible for a very religious person to be a paragon of virtue or the most hate-filled and evil person alive (and I think that is probably because they strongly believe that what they are doing is "right"),

It doesn't even matter if the core teachings of a faith have especially high moral standards - if the followers lack that additional virtue, then they will be evil (apart from the outdated view of society (which is a problem), there is little fundamentally evil about the bible (well, apart for the old testament perhaps - some of that book really is evil), but some of their followers still think that they are justified in committing vile acts, and some interpretations of holy texts used by followers are clearly "following the letter of the law" rather than "following the spirit of the law" (the idea of Just Wars being a good example)).

And likewise it is quite possible for an atheist to be a vile evil person (I'm sure that you can think of one or two), or virtuous and good (likewise). Atheists can have belief too - and most beliefs can twist morality, especially when they are forcibly imposed upon others,

Mr.Harley_Quin

I do not see it as odd. The suicide bomber is doing something in the name of his religion. An atheist by definition would not do that. Where as the kind act could be done by either.

Yes of course I could name a nasty atheist, but his atheism is not driving him to be horrid. He just is.

It was sort of a take on the traditional argument that man does not get his morality from god. We just have some sense of what we call morality. I am not being high handed or considering myself a great thinker, but if we can chip away at the pedestal that our man made gods reside on, one day we may be able to do away with it all.

adrian_clark

Mr.Harley_Quin wrote: »

I do not see it as odd. The suicide bomber is doing something in the name of his religion. An atheist by definition would not do that. Where as the kind act could be done by either.

Yes of course I could name a nasty atheist, but his atheism is not driving him to be horrid. He just is.

It was sort of a take on the traditional argument that man does not get his morality from god. We just have some sense of what we call morality. I am not being high handed or considering myself a great thinker, but if we can chip away at the pedestal that our man made gods reside on, one day we may be able to do away with it all.

So you call me to reject Jesus who I know personally through prayer and the Bible and whose death, burial and resurrection is a matter of recorded history in favour of what exactly?