I'm an atheist and have the following standpoint:
- All religions are hoaxes, making people belive in non-existing gods.
Religions serve the following purposes:
1. Making people have some comfort in their lives, having something else than themselves to pray to and look up to. This is mostly culturrally dependent,
most people adhere to the religion were they grew up, and what was ingrained in them from early childhood.
2. To keep uneducated people in control.
3. To keep power and control in a central position.
If religion was all about love to your God, and it was all a mental thing, there would be no need for churches, and all accessories that goes with a religion.
It's sad that a God-fearing man goes regularily to church to get closer to his maker. He could've been just as close to his God in his couch at home.
Many religious entities collect money, and are rather greedy, there are internal battles about power and control, just think of the Vatican.
I think it's rather sad that in 2012, so many people put their belief in something that doesn't exist. You may pray, and you may feel that your prayers were heard,
and things turn for the better in your life, but most of the time, the prayers are futile, and the only one that can change anything in your life is yourself.
States need to separate themselves from religion, and any religious society needs to take care of itself. Many religious societies does serve a good purpose in their
municipality, and there's nothing wrong with that, and I do respect anyone that has their faith, but I don't think there's any God of any sorts, and people need to take
responsibility for their own lives.
Will the earth ever come to a point where people are so educated that they understand that science is the only true answer, and that everything else is fairytales ?
As much as I respect any Christian or any devoted religious person from any other religion (I may think his belief is a joke, but I would never say it to his face to force a confrontation in disrespect), I don't think any religions should have any special protection under the law.
Part of the problem is that Religion is so ingrained into the culture of most countries, that many people don't even question it.
Education will put the power in the hands of the people to learn about the world around them, and will remove the power of the leaders of their religion over them.
As an atheist, I don't think your religion defines whether you're a good person or not, that's more down to the person itself, and the values you've been taught in your upbringing, and what you've learned through your education.
Now, with the recent uproar about the 'Innocence of Muslims'-movie, people shouldn't get upset about it. If they don't like it, they should simply ignore it, and don't speak of it. Killing people, making riots etc. and claim that it's because of this movie, this is not right. People are always responsible for what they do.
If I were a Christian, and someone mocked my religion and called me a religious fool, and I got angry and burned down their house, that would be completely unacceptable by me, and I would need to take the full penalty for it.
Some people say we should not provoke 'islam' through cartoons, movies etc. And this may seem like the easy way out. But what if we continously bombarded Islam with this material, would they keep rioting every day of the week, every week, every month and every year, or would they finally sit down and say to themselves: "I'm tired of fighting, I can be a good muslim, no matter what any people say about my religion".
Islam doesn't receive more goodwill by having it's followers react like this, I would think most sivilized people just seeing this for what it is; outright crimes. Also I think a lot of the people that we see rioting in the streets, are only using this movie as an excuse for acting like they do.
Is there a single other Religion in the world were the members would've reacted like this over a movie ?
What do you all think ?
Good read. And, it is kind-a fascinating to see the point of view of an atheist about religious things, but it is nonetheless educational on my part. I think the function of religion is the idea of having something greater than yourself or other things material to believe and have faith in. I have a religion, and I totally believe in the ways of how my religion works; however, I think that I practice things differently as well. For myself, I just want to live a good life without hurting other people, and that, I think is the most important thing, because to almost every religion, it is just to live your life while respecting others.
