take control of your life. no one else will. these is what Atheism is all about. no god will help you and there is no god to blame for your misfortune. just you and your decisions.
People follow religions not just to have hope for a brighter future after death, but to learn how to live a good life and treat their fellow man with respect and compassion.
There is no loss in believing in God. You only have one life so would you take the small risk to believe in something which will reward you in the after life? Or be stubborn and give up on believing in something you don't see?
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Even if you don't believe in a religion, can't you accept that something super = the definition of God - the creator of the world - has created you and the world? There is no need to criticize other religions because it is offencive. It is who we are. And if you are an atheist, that's fine, but don't try to make others be like you. Keep your choices to yourself.
There may be no personal loss but there is societal loss (ie- stem cell funding loss, same-sex marriage bans, all things in which religion is used to say is wrong)... and don't you think that an "all-seeing" God is going to know that you're only believing because you're afraid of being wrong? That's pathetic. Believing in something only because of fear makes you a coward.
We cannot deny a higher power, ask any scientist if they can prove it, and they will give you the same answer. So we cannot prove or deny such a claim.
yes Kaiser , but can't we treat other kindly without believing in fairytale?
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besides... all the monotheistic religions claim they hold the ultimate true and that they are the only one who worship god "in the right way". all the others are infidels/heretics and should be treated accordingly. hundreds of millions of people killed over the years in these wars and still are. we better be withhout religions.
People kill each other without religious motivations
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People who practice religion do so because of the importance having a spiritual component in your life. Yes you can live a good life without religion but does it mean you will have lived a fulfilled life. There are many people who are good and have been successful yet they always say that there's something missing. This is where religion comes in and why there are over 2 billion Christians in this world. Life without spirituality is a life without purpose or meaning.
Our morality (knowledge of right and wrong) doesn't come from religion. Evidence of this is ppl who pick and choose parts of the Bible we want to follow, which indicates we are following our own moral compass (ie-bible says you can sell your children into slavery, but NO ONE does because we have independently realized that it is wrong.
I suppose that the person who believes that our kindness comes from religion would have no problem killing a person if they never learned it was a sin?
2 billion Christians is a number much too overinflated. There are lots of Catholics that don't even live like Christians, they are Christians because of their parents. Probably only 1% of that number could even be considered Christians by definition.
People kill each other without religious motivations part 2
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People have all sorts of reasons to be killing each other that aren't tied to religion. Religion is one such excuse for people to kill each other. There are a lot of things we can be better off without in this world like material goods, certain political figures and so many other things.
What about those who believe in science AND are Christians?Jesus isn't a fantasy, he was a real, living breathing person who gave us the most perfect example of how to live that the world has ever seen. If we were all followers of Him and strived to be
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like Him we could have heaven on Earth.
This doesn't mean leaving science behind. Yes, the big bang set the world in motion and you will find many Christians who agree but who created the big bang? There must be something that the big bang is contingent upon that is not contingent upon anything else and in a world where everything is contingent on something else that being must be metaphysical. I call it God, others call it Allah, what do atheists call it? They don't have an answer.
If you're stating that everything must be contingent upon something else then you are implying that someone/thing must have created God. Why doesn't the Bible explain that? Science seeks knowledge and truth, religion doesn't. It relies on Faith which is believing in something without proof which is silly... the two can't exist. They cancel each other out.
I don't condemn or look down on people who have different beliefs. That's the beauty of life, everyone is different and that is what makes life so exciting and fun. I agree with the fact that not everything religion teaches us is right. I personally have nothing wrong with gay marriage, people need to live their life the way they want.
If believing their is a higher power out there makes people want to live a better life and than what's wrong with that? The way I see it is, live whatever life will make you and the people you love happiest. If I'm not considered a christian just because I don't follow every word of the bible than so be it. I believe in God and living a good life.
Seriously, get over yourselves; Both of you.
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Isn't it time we all stop imposing our world views on others? Atheists; we get it. You're pissed off that this is the only shitty existence you'll ever have. Christians; we get it. You are so pissed off that we have only this shitty existence that you look for meaning outside of what you can currently experience. In the end, the only thing that's sure is we'll all die alone (unless you die in a mass execution or are buried alive with a travel group trekking through an Hawaiian volcano).
I think you misapprehend the nature of the argument
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I'm not pissed off this is the only existence I'll ever have. I'm thrilled! This existence is fantastic, wonderful, amazing. I'm pissed off that there are people are messing this world up because they're trying to get some magical imaginary sky-cake promised by an iron-age superstition.
From a scientific point of view, the inability to identify a thing does not make that thing non-existent. Particularly in a universe as large as the one we inhabit.
From a religious point of view God is inscrutable, his purposes incapable of being clearly understood and his very visage specifically hidden from his creation. He intends to hide.
In the end, the scientist Carl Sagan said it best:
"We are alone in this universe or we aren't. Either outcome represents a huge responsibility".
Throughout all of human history, science has continued to take over areas where religion was once considered to have the best answer. Think of things formerly explained by religion and now explained by science. You can quickly make a long list: meteorology, medicine, astronomy, etc. I challenge you to think of even one example of the opposite, where science once was considered to have the best answer, and now religion is considered to have it. I bet you can't think of even one.
why isn't there a choice for agnostic here. That is the only logical thing to be. The concept of GOD can be far different from the Christian version. To declare Atheism is the same as being certain there is a GOD!
There is no god. Primitive minds invented this phenomenon to cover up questions they could not answer. Now we can answer these questions but religion is a roadblock for the growth of society.
I think you misapprehend the nature of the argument
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I'm not pissed off this is the only existence I'll ever have. I'm thrilled! This existence is fantastic, wonderful, amazing. I'm pissed off that there are people are messing this world up because they're trying to get some magical imaginary sky-cake promised by an iron-age superstition.
I don't condemn or look down on people who have different beliefs. That's the beauty of life, everyone is different and that is what makes life so exciting and fun. I agree with the fact that not everything religion teaches us is right. I personally have nothing wrong with gay marriage, people need to live their life the way they want.
