The Earth isn't merely thousands of years old. God didn't create the universe in six days and rest on one day. It's all illogical nonsense. Whether or not one believes God exists, one cannot deny that the Earth is billions of years old. They've obtained the age of the Earth through radioactive dating, which holds much more validity than the ramblings of a bunch of people who had no basic understanding of science. A high school student has more scientific understanding than anyone during that era. To deny the fact the Earth is much older than what the Bible claims is to admit your ignorance and stupidity in believing some ancient text written by a bunch of hey-yous. Source:
http://pegasus.phast.umass.edu/a100...dat/raddat.html
Also, why should only Christianity be picked over all other religions? I say that if one religion is taught in public schools, all religions must be taught. It is the only way. All or none. But I still disagree with the whole concept of teaching religion in public schools anyway. Separation of church and state is the way to go.
Who is to say which religion is the “correct” religion? Who are you to say the Bible has more validity than the Qur'an? Or the Torah? Or whatever holy text a religion has? Here’s a hint: You don’t. They are all ancient literature written by people with no knowledge whatsoever of science, looking for explanations, to what were then, mysteries. Look at the ancient Greeks. They believed that the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars, the sky, etc. were all gods. One can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous that is, but then one fails to realize all religion is just that; ridiculous. Moreover, to laugh at the ancient Greeks' religion and call it mythology is also being hypocritical and ignorant. If you think the ancient Greek religion was wrong because science proved why it was wrong, then you are just ignoring the fact that science also proves why your own religion is wrong and that it too is only mythology.
What my sociology teacher saw written in a college bathroom stall, back when he was a college student himself, pretty much sums up the fading importance of religion as advances in technology and science continue, which gradually will make us all realize religion is a bunch of crap:
“Due to technical difficulties, there will be no tomorrow.” -God
“Due to technology, tomorrow there will be no God.” -Frank
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Originally posted by GrySovCob
Joe calm down.
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If I were any more calm I'd be asleep...whup...there I go....
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Religion has more benifits that you know. It gives people something to believe in and gives people a sense of direction.
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What sort of direction? Adhere strictly to my religion's teachings so I can go to heaven when I die? Oh wait, there is no afterlife and I am doing many unnecessary and restrictive things that create more problems than what they solve for no rational reason whatsoever...
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Think about it, without religion societies would not even exist because people would disregard all morals because they figure that there are no consequences.
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Oh, I agree. Religion played a major role in forming societies. But with advances in logic, reason, science, and technology, religion is now unnecessary. We have governments that provide laws for our societies and enforce said laws, creating stability and order. There is no need for religion anymore. Religion has become obsolete.
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They are not meant to follow logic, they are meant to provide a solid moral foundation for society.
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A good government can provide probably a better moral foundation for society with laws. And I guarantee you that laws based on logic are much better than laws based on emotion. Such as laws based on the logical princple that all humans are equal despite race, gender, nationality, etc. as opposed to laws based on the irrational principle that one race is superior to all others, which was fed by emotions. Sieg heil!
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The debate over which religion is right is a pointless one, but not because of the reason you stated. They all teach the same fundamental core values. What separates them are the petty differences in rituals, practices etc.
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I disagree that religions are only separated by rituals and practices. A difference between Religion A and Religion B is that A's practice monogamy and B's practice polygamy. A difference between Religion A and Religion B is that A's believe homosexuals are twisted and B's believe homosexuals are not any different from heterosexuals. A difference between Religion A and Religion B is that A's think jacking off is fine while B's think jacking off will send you to hell to suffer for all eternity. The list goes on...
Most people fail to realize that all religions aren't any less ridiculous or "correct" than their own or any other religion. Screw religion. Religion is meaningless and pointless. It caused so much pain and strife over the course of history that it is mind-boggling it has not been abandoned as soon as humans started thinking logically and rationally. Too bad no one in the Renaissance took the hint...
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Originally posted by GrySovCob
Exactly what I stated, petty differences. They all teach the same fundemaental core values, like no stealing, killing etc.
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I don't consider them to be petty differences. If one religion restricts you in one way, such as not allowing you to have many different spouses, and the other does not, don't you find that to be a major difference?
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The one exception to this are extremists. These people are not religious in any way. They ignore the core principles and use a specific teaching to their advantage.
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No. This is false. It is because extremists take their religion too literally that makes them that crazy. This is why they are called fundamentalists; because they ignore everything else other than whatever their religion dictates them to do. These assholes populate much of the world. They make up a large sum of religious people in the South of the U.S. Just because they don't go blowing up busses or go on violent killing sprees doesn't make them any less warped and distorted than the stereotypical Muslim fundamentalist. They acknowledge the sick and perverse things that God did in the Bible and see nothing wrong with it at all. They blindly follow this nonsense and impose their will on others. It is those that do not follow religion too closely that are more sane than fundamentalists.
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This is analogous to why religious wars start. People ignore the 'no killing' rule.
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Or do they? The Bible states God himself killed thousands of people and was the cause for many other deaths. Millions of deaths, even today! I’d like to take some excerpts from a very excellent page from stardestroyer.net:
“Unfortunately, the Crusade mentality is not gone, and the best example is the issue of premarital sex. During the Crusades and Inquisitions, the Church decided that adherence to its belief system was so important that if necessary, human lives should be sacrificed to serve that goal. Is this mentality still alive? To answer that question, I suggest you examine the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
There are an estimated 17 million people dying of AIDS right now in Africa, and the Roman Catholic church continues to use its vast missionary network to spread the word that condoms are the work of Satan! They're not the only denomination to use STDs as a weapon of crusade through criminal negligence; other groups have little to say about condoms, but a lot to say about sex education. They may not decry condoms as "immoral", but they don't want anybody learning what they're used for, do they? They want to force people all over the world to avoid premarital sex (you've heard their ridiculous mantra: "we recommend abstinence, so we don't think they should learn about alternatives"), so they withold information about simple methods for halting or slowing the spread of AIDS in the hopes that people will either obey their religion's prohibitions against premarital sex or be punished with a slow, horrible death through AIDS. There's already more than enough ignorance in the region without churches actively working to exacerbate the problem, so why do they do it? It's horrifyingly simple; they would rather prevent premarital sex than the slow, agonizing deaths of millions.
In other words, they want to help prolong the suffering of a people in the hope of coercing them to obey their rules!”
There’s much more good analysis on that page. Go read it: http://www.stardestroyer.net/Creati.../Crusades.shtml
If God is the all-powerful being as is claimed in the Bible, then why did he have to do such horrible things to his own creations? Because they did not follow his every command? Oh, that’s a very kind, loving, and benevolent God. That’s sick. That’s really screwed up. If someone did that, like say Stalin, would you find it acceptable to worship him?
The Pope himself caused the death of probably millions in the Crusades, using religion for the reason behind it. The Spanish Inquisition was caused solely due to religion. Imperialists killed and conquered all over the world in the name of not only their countries, but their religions. All of this could have been averted if religion did not exist.
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The one thing that government moral codes can't prevent are those that do not fear death. If the kids that did the massacre at columbine believed in something they would have feared the consequences following death, be them true or not.
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Look at those morons over in the Middle East. They believe they are guaranteed a place in heaven if they blow themselves up to kill others. If they didn't believe there is an afterlife, they wouldn't be so stupid as to waste their one and only chance at life. And if these Columbine idiots did not believe in an afterlife, one can easily say that they would have more of an incentive to live. It can go both ways.
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Originally posted by Llama Killer
IT has been Scientificly proven that going to church or any place of worship on a regular basis eg once a week has medical consequences that are good for you!
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Fine. I couldn’t care less about what other people believe in as long as it does not affect others that do not believe in it. Unfortunately, it does affect others directly and indirectly, more often than not.
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It doesnt matter if most of it is far fetched! Alot of it is based on actual events, it provides (as said earlier im just recaping for those of you that are tunning in ) a moral high ground for people to differenciate right from wrong.
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Nothing that laws formed from logic and reason couldn’t do.
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Also when saying that religion should no longer be taught in schools that are for example Catholic schools which are solely attended by catholic students it becomes rideculous to say the least that you arent respecting everyones wishes. *takes long breath*
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I said public schools. Not private schools.
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And if you say that the students are not all catholic, jewish, muslim or whatever thats fine because they offer a moral class which teaches guess what all the religions! (the major ones of course)
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I already said that they should teach all or none previously.
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And the fact that you stated being that religions are useless in society sincce we are all advanced and no longer need a direction to follow.
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No. We do. We need laws enforced by a form of government.
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Well in responce to that i will ask you a question ok? Why is it that most practicing couples stay together longer or dont even seperate? Or that very little practicing religious people commit murders (with the exeption of muslim extreemists who where all "praticing") or why religious people are just happier in life?
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Oh, how lovely. You omit a religion because of why? Aren’t all religions equal? And just because a select few might be happy does not make up for all of the negative things religion does to make other people’s lives miserable.
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also I want to state that all the people who where supporting religion up to date responded calmly and politly when you didnt?
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Have I mindlessly bashed religion? No. I logically and rationally debunked religion. If you don’t find the posts calm and polite, then what is? Not saying anything at all against religion?
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Once again I would ask kindly not to say any bad things regarding any point of view since this is a nice calm forum to discuss our points of views... That being said
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What? That is nonsense. Of course one should criticize another’s point of view, but objectively, in a rational way. That is what these forums are for. And so far this is what I have been doing.
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ATHEISTS SUCK!!!!
that was a joke to lighten up the mood.
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Go suck a Bible.
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Originally posted by Llama Killer
Point taken but I singled them out because right now they are number one example or religious killers so I did so.
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??? What do you call all of the Israeli soldiers and coalition forces? You think they are all atheists? They are religious too and they kill. Be more specific in your posts. I think what you mean are terrorists, not people that are simply religious and kill.
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Originally posted by $kud
IRG CommandoJoe you seem to have a lot of faith in government, where do u think the law came from in the first place? ie what is the law based on
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Well, the U.S. Constitution was not based at all on religion. The founding fathers were mostly atheists and agnostics. So despite a few religious words thrown in the Constitution and such to appease the masses, my laws weren't founded upon any religion. They were founded upon logic and reason.
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and the government cant help you much once your dead
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Neither can religion. There is no soul or spirit or ghost or reincarnation or what have you. Once you die, your conscious self ceases to exist. You get one and only one chance at living. Cherish every moment of it.
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Comments? Suggestions? Criticisms? Corrections?
