religious debate thread

[martymidget]

Hinduism is the third :P

/nitpicking

[Scorpion]

Criticism of religion is something that should always be encouraged anyway, assuming it's actuall criticism and not just trolling abuse.

Personally I don't see why any of it should be taught in schools, if people want to know about a certain or certain aspects of religion, the knowledge is out there and easy to find on their own accord.

Religion should be each individuals opinions, not some major groups opinion.
The only worth while religion nowadays is something along the lines of budhism, people can't needlessly kill themselves and others over that can they?

[Meganerdbomb]

Hinduism is the third :P

/nitpicking

Good point, my mistake.

Criticism of religion is something that should always be encouraged anyway, assuming it's actual criticism and not just trolling abuse.

Hahahahhahahahahahaha, yeah right

Personally I don't see why any of it should be taught in schools, if people want to know about a certain or certain aspects of religion, the knowledge is out there and easy to find on their own accord.

Well, religion has probably had a bigger impact on world history than anything else. Not to mention, it's an incredibly important part of a people's culture. The study of religion goes far beyond the teachhings and aspects of a particular religion.

Religion should be each individuals opinions, not some major groups opinion.The only worth while religion nowadays is something along the lines of budhism, people can't needlessly kill themselves and others over that can they?

You might be surprised.

[Noodle]

If you say bad things about Christianity, well...nothing really happens.

I hope you're not implying that because nothing happens as a result of speaking out against Christianity that there is no actions taken by Christians.

Every time I've seen people publicly go out against Christianity, they get hit by a tsunami of bitching and moaning courtesy of the Catholic church.  In the end, though, nothing much usually happens.  It's not that Christians just sit back and "turn the other cheek."  They have a method of refuting criticism the wrong way, it's just that their method isn't as effective as the ones you described for the Muslims and Jews.

The real reason Christianity is attacked the most is because it's the biggest target.  If you dislike organized religion and you're trying to see that people don't join any organized religions, you're not going to ignore the biggest one in the world.  That'd just be completely illogical.

[Noodle]

Indeed. Anyway, the Catholic church isn't Christian by any means, it just likes to think it is. But, I've already said that, so I'll shut up now.

Thats a load of cow poop (put politely).  The very fact that the Catholic Church bases it's teachings on Jesus makes it by definition a Christian church.

EDIT: Any reason you deleted it?

[martymidget]

My own opinion is that some aspects of religion are primitive. From my untrained eye, religion can make people dependent on one thing, and totally focused on defending that thing with their own wellbeing. In my opinion, defending something else is often a good thing, but I would rather risk myself on defending something that I am 100% sure exists than something that I cannot be sure about (May be hypocritical, since I wish to be a particle physicist).

However, some aspects of religion I do agree with. Such as respecting people and generally the good things. It does have the capability of turning a person's life around. It depends on the personality of the individual. The crusades were just an excuse for the European countries at the time to get more land and so they didn't kill each other. Plus, they were misguided into thinking that all other religions are evil. Sadly, with some people like this these days, this is the main reason that religion gets into the headlines.

I am indifferent to religion. If anybody could show me conclusive proof that a higher being does indeed exist, I will acknowledge that fact and change some things accordingly. I am indifferent to religion, it has bad points, and good points. Unfortunately the bad points are often cause by greed or other malicious feelings, and in the media's eye, these outweigh the good points completely.

Let the feather ruffling begin

[Meganerdbomb]

Indeed. Anyway, the Catholic church isn't Christian by any means, it just likes to think it is. But, I've already said that, so I'll shut up now.

Thats a load of cow poop (put politely).  The very fact that the Catholic Church bases it's teachings on Jesus makes it by definition a Christian church.

EDIT: Any reason you deleted it?

I had already said something almost exactly the same in a previous post, so I decided it was just redundant, but since you've already replied...
The Catholic church follows some of the teachings of Jesus, but a lot of what they teach is stuff Jesus never said and isn't even in the   Bible. (Praying to Saints, priests can't have sex, The pope). It also happens to be the one responsible for the Crusades and the Inquisition (which primary targeted Protestants).
Catholism is a perversion of the Christian faith to such an extent that it's really no better than Mormonism or the Jehovah's Witnesses.

[123savethewhales]

it's really no better than Mormonism or the Jehovah's Witnesses.

WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH!!!!!!

Someone gotta mention it.

[Pwnator]

it's really no better than Mormonism or the Jehovah's Witnesses.

WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH!!!!!!

Someone gotta mention it.

trololololololololololo

[Naryar]

If anyone is interested, my main point is :

There is no evidence of a higher being, so why should we believe in it ?

If there was a reasonable God here he would be manifesting to us humans.

[Pwnator]

There is no evidence of a higher being, so why should we believe in it ?

Probably because the idea already existed back then. When people didn't understand the science behind day and night, water cycles, and thunderstorms, they just assumed that these were the actions of a higher being. An idea that's planted in the minds of a whole colony is pretty tough to eradicate. It's kinda like saying 'I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUTTER!', even if it was clear that margarine was used. Some people are just too ignorant to acknowledge new scientific breakthroughs.

[Noodle]

There is no evidence of a higher being, so why should we believe in it ?

Probably because the idea already existed back then. When people didn't understand the science behind day and night, water cycles, and thunderstorms, they just assumed that these were the actions of a higher being. An idea that's planted in the minds of a whole colony is pretty tough to eradicate. It's kinda like saying 'I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUTTER!', even if it was clear that margarine was used. Some people are just too ignorant to acknowledge new scientific breakthroughs.

That, and religion was a good way of keeping people in line.  Way back when, the law enforcement systems sucked.  So a simple solution was to threaten spending forever in hell, something nobody'd want to do.

It was a good thing back then, it kept people from killing each other when nothing else could effectively.  Nowadays it's just a bother.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

[Zog]

I'm gnostic atheist, and proud of it.


Squirrel Monkey, from what I remember, in the Bible, God said that we have FREE WILL. AKA We can choose to worship him or not. So you will not go to hell if you don't worship him.


I've got nothing against Christians, but why bother saying sorry to the same guy over and over again just for kicking a dog when you can be doing better things?

[Scorpion]

Yeah, I agree with zog.
Having read most of the bible when I was younger, I'm surprised that the church still keeps it in high regards.
It's got more plot holes in it than transformers 2 ;P

[Zog]

Especially the feeding of the 5000.

[Squirrel_Monkey]

from what I remember, in the Bible, God said that we have FREE WILL. AKA We can choose to worship him or not. So you will not go to hell if you don't worship him.

But if you believe that he gave you free will, then you believe in him :P

[Zog]

No...


Our R.S. Nowadays is basically philosophy.

[Urjak]

But if you believe that he gave you free will, then you believe in him :P

Let's assume that he did give us free will. Then not believing in him would not be bad. We don't have to believe he gave us free will, he either did or he didn't.

[Little lost bot]

No one said you HAD to it's just he would like us to.

[Squirrel_Monkey]

No one said you HAD to it's just he would like us to.

So it it better to.