Why do Atheists Hate Religion?

[Beliathon]

If somebody makes it to age 1,000, we might say we are on to something. However, as soon as someone dies, we have to admit that we haven't quite conquered death, even if it is at 10,000 years.

That's true, but you're missing the point entirely. When people are living to be age 10,000 and illness is a term only for the history books, how relevant do you think religion will be to folks like that?

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[BADecker]

If somebody makes it to age 1,000, we might say we are on to something. However, as soon as someone dies, we have to admit that we haven't quite conquered death, even if it is at 10,000 years.

That's true, but you're missing the point entirely. When people are living to be age 10,000 and illness is a term only for the history books, how relevant do you think religion will be to folks like that?

Completely relevant. Why? Provided that they don't have some mental deterioration, their minds will have had 10,000 years to understand the simple sciences that show that God exists. These are (again) combined cause and effect, universe complexity, with entropy penetrating everything.

[Beliathon]

Completely relevant. Why? Provided that they don't have some mental deterioration, their minds will have had 10,000 years to understand the simple sciences that show that God exists. These are (again) combined cause and effect, universe complexity, with entropy penetrating everything.

Look at me, I'm BADecker, stringing a few big words together without any coherent meaning makes me a scientist! Yippee!

[BADecker]

Completely relevant. Why? Provided that they don't have some mental deterioration, their minds will have had 10,000 years to understand the simple sciences that show that God exists. These are (again) combined cause and effect, universe complexity, with entropy penetrating everything.

To use the words of Cameron, the "good" female cyborg in the Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles series, "Thank you for explaining."

 

[the joint]

If somebody makes it to age 1,000, we might say we are on to something. However, as soon as someone dies, we have to admit that we haven't quite conquered death, even if it is at 10,000 years.

That's true, but you're missing the point entirely. When people are living to be age 10,000 and illness is a term only for the history books, how relevant do you think religion will be to folks like that?

That depends whether there is any truth to Intelligent Design.

[freeyourmind]

Atheists don't see themselfs as gods. 100% nonsense.

and atheists don' hate religion they just don't see the point of it.

Just Beliathon, I know.

Because religion is a form of control. To control people. To keep them in line.
Also to fear people. "don't do this or you will burn in hell".

It funny because god loves us all but he will let you burn in hell if you don't believe..
And altho god is allknowing he created us all so how come he created rapers and murderers??

god is a weirdo...

As I said, there are plenty of verses in the bible that say "Fear Not." God is not about fearing things, just having a reverence for the Glory that created us.

He created free will. If He didn't, you'd be mad you didn't have it.

Bu free will, is why people fall away and don't believe, and become rapers and murderers.

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

[BADecker]

I don't know about MakingMoneyHoney, but when I am born 3000 years ago, I'll let you know.   

[MakingMoneyHoney]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

[freeyourmind]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

There are many ways to be spiritual without subscribing to a specific religion.  You can experience it yourself by training and disciplining your mind with an art or meditation, or with psychedelics to get into that state of consciousness, or reference the words of someone else that has claimed to have been there.

Catholocism seems to come with a fee.  You need to pay for it.  Like a business selling a service.  A giant multi-billion dollar business, that requires subscribership.  Countless people unnaturally abstaining from sexual encounters that end up molesting little kids.  Something doesn't add up there.  If this is one of the symptoms of a particular belief system, then it has failed.  It's no good to have a system where people see god, and appointed members whose desires are obscure and morals are lacking.  I'm not saying every Catholic is like this, but there is a pretty common theme of molestation, to the point that it's not an outlier.

I'm not religious but one religion I am fond of is Buddhism.  There is no fee to join.  There is no god to pray to or be judged by.  There is no salesman requiring subscribers.  Instead of preaching it has meditation.  You end up with a society that is pretty healthy, peaceful, kind, and tolerant of other points of view.

I think religion as a whole is interesting.  It's interesting to see how it came to be, and how it changed the world and used ignorance and fear to accomplish order.  But I don't think it's something that is to be taken seriously.  All of them are great stories, great reads, and very poetic...something to be appreciated by those who enjoy, but not to be forced on those who don't.

[kevindurant]

I'm an atheist but I don't hate religions. You can't ban people to live their religious life, that would be fascism. Everybody has right to choose a religion or no religion at all. The most important thing is respect everybody's religious views. As an atheist I've never faced a bad thing by religious people. They respect me, I respect them.

[BADecker]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

There are many ways to be spiritual without subscribing to a specific religion.  You can experience it yourself by training and disciplining your mind with an art or meditation, or with psychedelics to get into that state of consciousness, or reference the words of someone else that has claimed to have been there.

Catholocism seems to come with a fee.  You need to pay for it.  Like a business selling a service.  A giant multi-billion dollar business, that requires subscribership.  Countless people unnaturally abstaining from sexual encounters that end up molesting little kids.  Something doesn't add up there.  If this is one of the symptoms of a particular belief system, then it has failed.  It's no good to have a system where people see god, and appointed members whose desires are obscure and morals are lacking.  I'm not saying every Catholic is like this, but there is a pretty common theme of molestation, to the point that it's not an outlier.

I'm not religious but one religion I am fond of is Buddhism.  There is no fee to join.  There is no god to pray to or be judged by.  There is no salesman requiring subscribers.  Instead of preaching it has meditation.  You end up with a society that is pretty healthy, peaceful, kind, and tolerant of other points of view.

I think religion as a whole is interesting.  It's interesting to see how it came to be, and how it changed the world and used ignorance and fear to accomplish order.  But I don't think it's something that is to be taken seriously.  All of them are great stories, great reads, and very poetic...something to be appreciated by those who enjoy, but not to be forced on those who don't.

It's the ignorance and fear thing. As long as science or something else can keep people in ignorance of the fact that they have no true control over their lives, and that the free will that people have is only an illusion of free will, then there will be no fear. All will be comfy-cozy until disaster overtakes us all. Of course, what's the dif? We don't have any control over protecting ourselves from disaster anyway, do we?

[MakingMoneyHoney]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

I'm not religious but one religion I am fond of is Buddhism.  There is no fee to join.  There is no god to pray to or be judged by.  There is no salesman requiring subscribers.  Instead of preaching it has meditation.  You end up with a society that is pretty healthy, peaceful, kind, and tolerant of other points of view.

I think religion as a whole is interesting.  It's interesting to see how it came to be, and how it changed the world and used ignorance and fear to accomplish order.  But I don't think it's something that is to be taken seriously.  All of them are great stories, great reads, and very poetic...something to be appreciated by those who enjoy, but not to be forced on those who don't.

I appreciate those who act kindly to others, no matter if they believe in any god or not. Christianity is about tolerance, and being kind and peaceful.

One thing in Christianity is that there are evil spirits trying to hurt people constantly. Followers of Jesus have His authority to drive them out in His name, but don't know it, for the most part. So they are free to mess with people. And if you were an evil spirit, you could see the ones that they would want to harass, would be Christians, to hurt them for following Jesus and trying to do right. Which then leads to the most sinful people being Christians, because they don't know what power they have to stop it, most don't even believe in evil spirits anymore (even though it's so clear in the bible), so they let it go on, sin, and make Christians as a whole look bad.

[the joint]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

There are many ways to be spiritual without subscribing to a specific religion.  You can experience it yourself by training and disciplining your mind with an art or meditation, or with psychedelics to get into that state of consciousness, or reference the words of someone else that has claimed to have been there.

Catholocism seems to come with a fee.  You need to pay for it.  Like a business selling a service.  A giant multi-billion dollar business, that requires subscribership.  Countless people unnaturally abstaining from sexual encounters that end up molesting little kids.  Something doesn't add up there.  If this is one of the symptoms of a particular belief system, then it has failed.  It's no good to have a system where people see god, and appointed members whose desires are obscure and morals are lacking.  I'm not saying every Catholic is like this, but there is a pretty common theme of molestation, to the point that it's not an outlier.

I'm not religious but one religion I am fond of is Buddhism.  There is no fee to join.  There is no god to pray to or be judged by.  There is no salesman requiring subscribers.  Instead of preaching it has meditation.  You end up with a society that is pretty healthy, peaceful, kind, and tolerant of other points of view.

I think religion as a whole is interesting.  It's interesting to see how it came to be, and how it changed the world and used ignorance and fear to accomplish order.  But I don't think it's something that is to be taken seriously.  All of them are great stories, great reads, and very poetic...something to be appreciated by those who enjoy, but not to be forced on those who don't.

Not only that, but Buddhism asserts a hypothesis, and prescribes a specific method -- which is both testable and replicable -- to explore that hypothesis.

[freeyourmind]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

There are many ways to be spiritual without subscribing to a specific religion.  You can experience it yourself by training and disciplining your mind with an art or meditation, or with psychedelics to get into that state of consciousness, or reference the words of someone else that has claimed to have been there.

Catholocism seems to come with a fee.  You need to pay for it.  Like a business selling a service.  A giant multi-billion dollar business, that requires subscribership.  Countless people unnaturally abstaining from sexual encounters that end up molesting little kids.  Something doesn't add up there.  If this is one of the symptoms of a particular belief system, then it has failed.  It's no good to have a system where people see god, and appointed members whose desires are obscure and morals are lacking.  I'm not saying every Catholic is like this, but there is a pretty common theme of molestation, to the point that it's not an outlier.

I'm not religious but one religion I am fond of is Buddhism.  There is no fee to join.  There is no god to pray to or be judged by.  There is no salesman requiring subscribers.  Instead of preaching it has meditation.  You end up with a society that is pretty healthy, peaceful, kind, and tolerant of other points of view.

I think religion as a whole is interesting.  It's interesting to see how it came to be, and how it changed the world and used ignorance and fear to accomplish order.  But I don't think it's something that is to be taken seriously.  All of them are great stories, great reads, and very poetic...something to be appreciated by those who enjoy, but not to be forced on those who don't.

It's the ignorance and fear thing. As long as science or something else can keep people in ignorance of the fact that they have no true control over their lives, and that the free will that people have is only an illusion of free will, then there will be no fear. All will be comfy-cozy until disaster overtakes us all. Of course, what's the dif? We don't have any control over protecting ourselves from disaster anyway, do we?

Are you saying science keeps people in ignorance?  The scientific method requires empirical evidence and doesn't accept opinion that is not observable.  I don't think that keeps anyone ignorant of things that have yet to be discovered.  It also welcomes testing and questioning and doesn't involve any taboo.

Most people don't have a very good understanding of science, so I don't think it has much to do with the average person's belief system.  The majority of religious folks were indoctrinated from a young age and then there's a minority that has chosen a religion later in life without being heavily conditioned into it.

I'd say the greatest threat to religion is the internet and access to information.  Just access to something outside of localized knowledge is detrimental to religious belief.  How many kids do you know that were explained all religions and given the choice of what to believe?

Religion is fine as long as there is tolerance, but with the amount of religious conflict in the world, you can see that it segregates humanity into teams, and at times that conflict results in death and war.  Imagine two strangers with different belief systems trying to kill each other, and thinking "if only the rest of society wasn't ignorant like me".

[freeyourmind]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

I'm not religious but one religion I am fond of is Buddhism.  There is no fee to join.  There is no god to pray to or be judged by.  There is no salesman requiring subscribers.  Instead of preaching it has meditation.  You end up with a society that is pretty healthy, peaceful, kind, and tolerant of other points of view.

I think religion as a whole is interesting.  It's interesting to see how it came to be, and how it changed the world and used ignorance and fear to accomplish order.  But I don't think it's something that is to be taken seriously.  All of them are great stories, great reads, and very poetic...something to be appreciated by those who enjoy, but not to be forced on those who don't.

I appreciate those who act kindly to others, no matter if they believe in any god or not. Christianity is about tolerance, and being kind and peaceful.

One thing in Christianity is that there are evil spirits trying to hurt people constantly. Followers of Jesus have His authority to drive them out in His name, but don't know it, for the most part. So they are free to mess with people. And if you were an evil spirit, you could see the ones that they would want to harass, would be Christians, to hurt them for following Jesus and trying to do right. Which then leads to the most sinful people being Christians, because they don't know what power they have to stop it, most don't even believe in evil spirits anymore (even though it's so clear in the bible), so they let it go on, sin, and make Christians as a whole look bad.

Aren't there parts of the bible that reference going to hell if not for believing in Jesus?  I am paraphrasing, but let me know if I am referencing something incorrectly.  Otherwise, that doesn't sound tolerant to me.

By what you say about Christians, there should be no Christian murderers, serial killers, rapists, or criminals in general.  But there are, and there are shitloads of them.

All humans require to be positive to society around them is empathy and compassion.  As soon as empathy and compassion are gone, the moral landscape can get very flawed to the point where it harms others without feedback of sadness or guilt.

[BADecker]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

There are many ways to be spiritual without subscribing to a specific religion.  You can experience it yourself by training and disciplining your mind with an art or meditation, or with psychedelics to get into that state of consciousness, or reference the words of someone else that has claimed to have been there.

Catholocism seems to come with a fee.  You need to pay for it.  Like a business selling a service.  A giant multi-billion dollar business, that requires subscribership.  Countless people unnaturally abstaining from sexual encounters that end up molesting little kids.  Something doesn't add up there.  If this is one of the symptoms of a particular belief system, then it has failed.  It's no good to have a system where people see god, and appointed members whose desires are obscure and morals are lacking.  I'm not saying every Catholic is like this, but there is a pretty common theme of molestation, to the point that it's not an outlier.

I'm not religious but one religion I am fond of is Buddhism.  There is no fee to join.  There is no god to pray to or be judged by.  There is no salesman requiring subscribers.  Instead of preaching it has meditation.  You end up with a society that is pretty healthy, peaceful, kind, and tolerant of other points of view.

I think religion as a whole is interesting.  It's interesting to see how it came to be, and how it changed the world and used ignorance and fear to accomplish order.  But I don't think it's something that is to be taken seriously.  All of them are great stories, great reads, and very poetic...something to be appreciated by those who enjoy, but not to be forced on those who don't.

It's the ignorance and fear thing. As long as science or something else can keep people in ignorance of the fact that they have no true control over their lives, and that the free will that people have is only an illusion of free will, then there will be no fear. All will be comfy-cozy until disaster overtakes us all. Of course, what's the dif? We don't have any control over protecting ourselves from disaster anyway, do we?

Are you saying science keeps people in ignorance?  The scientific method requires empirical evidence and doesn't accept opinion that is not observable.  I don't think that keeps anyone ignorant of things that have yet to be discovered.  It also welcomes testing and questioning and doesn't involve any taboo.

Most people don't have a very good understanding of science, so I don't think it has much to do with the average person's belief system.  The majority of religious folks were indoctrinated from a young age and then there's a minority that has chosen a religion later in life without being heavily conditioned into it.

I'd say the greatest threat to religion is the internet and access to information.  Just access to something outside of localized knowledge is detrimental to religious belief.  How many kids do you know that were explained all religions and given the choice of what to believe?

Religion is fine as long as there is tolerance, but with the amount of religious conflict in the world, you can see that it segregates humanity into teams, and at times that conflict results in death and war.  Imagine two strangers with different belief systems trying to kill each other, and thinking "if only the rest of society wasn't ignorant like me".

However, the scientific method is not all there is to science. There are all kinds of definitions of science all over the place that go way beyond the scientific method.

----------

First, there is theory. Theory is built right into the scientific method. Theory is not fact.

Second, there is a lot of theory that has been around for a long time, yet it can't really be proven. For example, even though Big Bang Theory has been around for decades, there might not be any way to prove it without a literal time-dimension time-viewer. Yet, it is treated as fact by people from all walks of life, both high and low.

Third, the other side is this. When you put cause and effect together with our complex universe, in the face of entropy - all scientifically proven laws and facts - you come up with the fact that God exists. You won't have any details about God to speak of. All that you have are the facts that He is super intelligent, and extremely powerful. Try it... putting those 3 things together in a scientific way to see what I mean. It may take a bit of work if you are not familiar with them:
1. cause and effect;
2. complex universe;
3. universal entropy.

The point is, the thing that is called science is way more fictional than the idea that God exists. When people believe something fictional as being the truth, especially when it has as far-reaching effects as science does, they have themselves a religion. Science is a religion, even more than believing in God.

[MakingMoneyHoney]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

I'm not religious but one religion I am fond of is Buddhism.  There is no fee to join.  There is no god to pray to or be judged by.  There is no salesman requiring subscribers.  Instead of preaching it has meditation.  You end up with a society that is pretty healthy, peaceful, kind, and tolerant of other points of view.

I think religion as a whole is interesting.  It's interesting to see how it came to be, and how it changed the world and used ignorance and fear to accomplish order.  But I don't think it's something that is to be taken seriously.  All of them are great stories, great reads, and very poetic...something to be appreciated by those who enjoy, but not to be forced on those who don't.

I appreciate those who act kindly to others, no matter if they believe in any god or not. Christianity is about tolerance, and being kind and peaceful.

One thing in Christianity is that there are evil spirits trying to hurt people constantly. Followers of Jesus have His authority to drive them out in His name, but don't know it, for the most part. So they are free to mess with people. And if you were an evil spirit, you could see the ones that they would want to harass, would be Christians, to hurt them for following Jesus and trying to do right. Which then leads to the most sinful people being Christians, because they don't know what power they have to stop it, most don't even believe in evil spirits anymore (even though it's so clear in the bible), so they let it go on, sin, and make Christians as a whole look bad.

Aren't there parts of the bible that reference going to hell if not for believing in Jesus?  I am paraphrasing, but let me know if I am referencing something incorrectly.  Otherwise, that doesn't sound tolerant to me.

By what you say about Christians, there should be no Christian murderers, serial killers, rapists, or criminals in general.  But there are, and there are shitloads of them.

All humans require to be positive to society around them is empathy and compassion.  As soon as empathy and compassion are gone, the moral landscape can get very flawed to the point where it harms others without feedback of sadness or guilt.

Tolerant:

willing to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own
: able to allow or accept something that is harmful, unpleasant, etc.

Believing that others will go to hell, has nothing to do with tolerance. I tolerate all the murderers and criminals in the world. I don't like that people do those things, but I forgive them. We're told to forgive those who do harm to us. That's very tolerant.

I see you ignored my last post.

Christians should be very empathic and compassionate.

[Beliathon]

But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives.

This one speaks honestly. His anecdote is totally congruent with the findings of the sciences (neurology & psychology) related to religious thought.

The believer IS god. Your relationship with god is in reality a profound dynamic relationship with the self. Your ego. This is why god can seem so very REAL to you, because he IS real, God IS you!

GOD = EGO

Christianity is based on a false-dichotomy:



Belief is not a choice. It's a compulsion beyond the realm of choice, based on observation/evidence; in science argument and consensus.

Desirability is not a requisite of the truth. I do not choose what I believe because I perceive it as the more attraction option. I'm compelled to believe what I think is true, whether I like it or not!

The truth does not require your approval. It simply is.

[MakingMoneyHoney]

But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives.

This one speaks honestly. His anecdote is totally congruent with the findings of the sciences (neurology & psychology) related to religious thought.

The believer IS god. Your relationship with god is in reality a profound dynamic relationship with the self. Your ego. This is why god can seem so very REAL to you, because he IS real, God IS you!

GOD = EGO

I'm female....I'm not sure why you felt the need to use a pronoun as if you were talking to someone else, to respond to me.

I know you'll believe whatever you want to believe, but we, humans, are not god. You can only get to heaven through Jesus Christ.

You can't act like you agree with what I say, saying I'm "speaking honestly", and then go on to act as if I said something blasphemous.

[freeyourmind]

They must have got to you young.  It's sad to see, but you have the freedom to subscribe to any ideology you wish.

My question is, if you were born 3000 years ago, what would you be referencing for religious guidance?

I read the bible (in college) because I wanted to. I was raised Catholic, and have renounced the Catholic specific teachings. But, I have already asked myself what if God didn't exist, and the answer came back that God does exist. I feel bad for those who have not felt the power that the Holy Spirit gives. I feel bad for those who are still waiting for scientists to teach them about antimatter, when all you really need to know about that is in the bible.

Believing in the bible does not negate belief in scientific studies, no matter what Beliathon likes to say. It augments it.

There are many ways to be spiritual without subscribing to a specific religion.  You can experience it yourself by training and disciplining your mind with an art or meditation, or with psychedelics to get into that state of consciousness, or reference the words of someone else that has claimed to have been there.

Catholocism seems to come with a fee.  You need to pay for it.  Like a business selling a service.  A giant multi-billion dollar business, that requires subscribership.  Countless people unnaturally abstaining from sexual encounters that end up molesting little kids.  Something doesn't add up there.  If this is one of the symptoms of a particular belief system, then it has failed.  It's no good to have a system where people see god, and appointed members whose desires are obscure and morals are lacking.  I'm not saying every Catholic is like this, but there is a pretty common theme of molestation, to the point that it's not an outlier.

I'm not religious but one religion I am fond of is Buddhism.  There is no fee to join.  There is no god to pray to or be judged by.  There is no salesman requiring subscribers.  Instead of preaching it has meditation.  You end up with a society that is pretty healthy, peaceful, kind, and tolerant of other points of view.

I think religion as a whole is interesting.  It's interesting to see how it came to be, and how it changed the world and used ignorance and fear to accomplish order.  But I don't think it's something that is to be taken seriously.  All of them are great stories, great reads, and very poetic...something to be appreciated by those who enjoy, but not to be forced on those who don't.

It's the ignorance and fear thing. As long as science or something else can keep people in ignorance of the fact that they have no true control over their lives, and that the free will that people have is only an illusion of free will, then there will be no fear. All will be comfy-cozy until disaster overtakes us all. Of course, what's the dif? We don't have any control over protecting ourselves from disaster anyway, do we?

Are you saying science keeps people in ignorance?  The scientific method requires empirical evidence and doesn't accept opinion that is not observable.  I don't think that keeps anyone ignorant of things that have yet to be discovered.  It also welcomes testing and questioning and doesn't involve any taboo.

Most people don't have a very good understanding of science, so I don't think it has much to do with the average person's belief system.  The majority of religious folks were indoctrinated from a young age and then there's a minority that has chosen a religion later in life without being heavily conditioned into it.

I'd say the greatest threat to religion is the internet and access to information.  Just access to something outside of localized knowledge is detrimental to religious belief.  How many kids do you know that were explained all religions and given the choice of what to believe?

Religion is fine as long as there is tolerance, but with the amount of religious conflict in the world, you can see that it segregates humanity into teams, and at times that conflict results in death and war.  Imagine two strangers with different belief systems trying to kill each other, and thinking "if only the rest of society wasn't ignorant like me".

However, the scientific method is not all there is to science. There are all kinds of definitions of science all over the place that go way beyond the scientific method.

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First, there is theory. Theory is built right into the scientific method. Theory is not fact.

Second, there is a lot of theory that has been around for a long time, yet it can't really be proven. For example, even though Big Bang Theory has been around for decades, there might not be any way to prove it without a literal time-dimension time-viewer. Yet, it is treated as fact by people from all walks of life, both high and low.

Third, the other side is this. When you put cause and effect together with our complex universe, in the face of entropy - all scientifically proven laws and facts - you come up with the fact that God exists. You won't have any details about God to speak of. All that you have are the facts that He is super intelligent, and extremely powerful. Try it... putting those 3 things together in a scientific way to see what I mean. It may take a bit of work if you are not familiar with them:
1. cause and effect;
2. complex universe;
3. universal entropy.

The point is, the thing that is called science is way more fictional than the idea that God exists. When people believe something fictional as being the truth, especially when it has as far-reaching effects as science does, they have themselves a religion. Science is a religion, even more than believing in God.

I'm not claiming that any theory is fact, but the theory you're talking about (the big bang) doesn't use the scientific method, as it can't be observed.  But if you track the speed and direction of matter in space, it is moving outwards from a single point.  If you care to understand why they think that, you should watch the Cosmos series by Neil Degrasse Tyson, or a Universe From Nothing by Lawrence Krauss.  Anyways, it remains a theory and it aligns with observable evidence today, but it's not fact.

How are you coming up with the "fact" that God exist?  What are the facts?
And if we are going to be religious, why is Christianity the religion of choice?  Does it have something to do with being raised Christian?  Have you taken as deep a look into other religions and consciously made a decision?  Is your current perspective one that has been conditioned?  I'm not trying to be offensive, but I'm asking rhetorically for you to think about it.  There is a VERY high correlation of people selecting the religion that is dominant in their childhood environment.  Meaning, if you were born in Indonesia, would Jesus still be your God?  No, it wouldn't.  You'd be conditioned to be Muslim, unless you lived in Bali, and then you'd be Hindu.

How is science fictional?  When you get sick, do you go to a doctor or do you pray to God?  You use all the technology that has been discovered by scientists, even the fact that you and I can communicate over electrical signals shows where science is at.  Science sends rockets into orbit dude...how is it fictional if it works?