Reasons 41 - 50

Chris OConnor · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:31 pm Post subject: Reasons 41 - 50

Reasons 41 - 50

Please use this thread for discussing Reasons 41 - 50:

41. Science can't explain everything.

42. Society would fall apart without religion.

43. My religion is so old, it must be true.

44. Someone I trust told me that my god is real.

45. Atheism is a negative and empty philosophy.

46. Believing in a god doesn't hurt anyone.

47. The earth is perfectly tunes to support life.

48. Believing is natural so my god must be real.

49. The end is near.

50. I am afraid of not believing.

Penelope · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject:

41. Science can't explain everything.

Well, we don't know what 'black holes' are do we? We don't know what anti-matter is do we? But we know they are there. We haven't explained them yet. There is plenty of time though. An eternity, in fact.

42. Society would fall apart without religion.

Society would fall apart without laws. In the past religion has been used to make people abide by the laws. Then religion has been blamed when people stopped wanting to abide by the laws.

43. My religion is so old, it must be true.

On the grand scale.....no religion is very old. Humans haven't really been here on the earth for very long.....we are still evolving....if we don't exterminate ourselves first.

44. Someone I trust told me that my god is real.

Only my own experience implies that the god part of me is real.....what people have told me has made it all seem 'unreal' at times, not to say downright stupid.

45. Atheism is a negative and empty philosophy.

Atheism is just a state of being. Perhaps you need to reject 'taught' religion as stupid before your inner god enlightens you. If and when you want to be enlightened.

46. Believing in a god doesn't hurt anyone.

Believing and trying to impose your belief on others can hurt millions. Never-the-less, I defend my 'right' to believe. Perhaps I shouldn't. I'll pray about that.

47. The earth is perfectly tunes to support life.

Earth is perfectly tuned to support 'some' forms of life unless we bugger it all up completely.

48. Believing is natural so my god must be real.

The search for a satisfying spiritual life is natural to me.....and actually is very real to me. I only feel half alive if I stop searching...

49. The end is near.

There is no end. There is end of the physical....the soul is infinite and transcends the spiritual.....I THINK!!!!!

50. I am afraid of not believing.

Yes.....I think, therefore I am....if I stop thinking I might stop being.....and in spite of everything....I quite like being.

I'm pink therefore I'm Spam!!!!!

Phew....have I finished? Thank you Chris for posting all these topics/reasons. I am sure I have not answered them to your satisfaction.....but I have answered them to mine.....so:- Kiss

ginof

p290 - Harrison asks why hasn't a scientist become rich and famous by proving that evolution is wrong.

I think the creationists would say that they have, but science is too close minded and can't look at itself. Of course, this flies in the face of every other change that's happened in science: relativity, big bang, etc, etc, etc.

ginof

p 305(bottom) I really liked Harrison's analysis here. I hearby bow my head to Apollo Laughing

I remember my High School Sr religion teacher telling me about this reason why being catholic must be true. Of course, he didn't bring up Judaism!

ginof

p319 -

ginof · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:11 am Post subject: ch 49: the end is near

p346 - In this chapter, Harrison again uses an argument he's used a number of times in the book: why aren't the Christians afraid of the Muslim hell and vice versa. If they are not afraid of the stories of the other religion, why are they afraid of the stories of their own, given that the proof for each set of stories is the same, i.e. nothing!

Do others find this argument effective? It seems to me that you are not really answering the question. I don't believe in those stories because I don't believe in that religion. So, from a believers point of view, I think they are being consistent. Of course, studying the other religions would hopefully make them thing more.....

Frank 013 · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:36 am Post subject:

Ginof,

I do not think that the argument would be effective against believers, but it is a valid point. What makes one religion so much more valid than others?

The answer is that a person is generally well too indoctrinated before such questions arise in their minds.

Later

Robert Tulip · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:15 am Post subject: Re: ch 49: the end is near

Frank 013 · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:25 am Post subject:

RT,

Changing an existing religion is a very volatile task; it is likely to cause strife between the existing faithful and the faithful of the new religion. History shows us that the advent of a new religion does not necessarily cause the downfall of older ones except in the case where the other religions were condemned by the state or forcefully annihilated.

History gives us some very good examples of this… Judaism to Christianity… Christianity’s victory over paganism, Judaism to Islam… the many factions of Christianity… In fact I cannot think of one example that does not involve massive blood letting, and with the exception of the genocide of such religions (the Pagans , Cathars) none of these factions have disappeared from view, they simply remain to continue the fight for their respective view of god.

Enlightenment comes from the absence of religious doctrine, not its manipulability.

Later

Robert Tulip · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:05 am Post subject:

Chris OConnor · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:42 am Post subject:

Robert

Stephen Gould's "Punctuated Equilibrium" that you have described is not widely accepted by the science community. It was his theory (actually, Niles Eldridge....if I spelled that right) and his answer for the gaps in the fossil record. The point is don't put too much weight on PE, as it's called, since PE is not an established theory.

Frank 013 · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:58 am Post subject:

RT

I suspect that our core issue here is that I do not see anything at all “useful” about religion. (I have managed to live a happy and productive life without it) Religion seems to be holding us back on every front; from scientific to ethical to spiritual it even drains our resources on a social level.

I do not believe for one second that the human race reached the epitome of spiritual enlightenment 2,000 years ago while we lagged behind on all other fronts of achievement.

I believe that there may yet be some higher spiritual research to be done but “modern” religion has anchored us firmly in the ancient past and thus destroyed our ability to advance in this area of study.

What makes one person happier than another?

Why is love more conducive to happiness then hate?

Why do we generally prefer beauty to ugliness?

Why do we generally prefer order to chaos?

Why does it feel so good to smile and laugh and why do these shared experiences bring us closer together?

These are questions for a mature science of the mind, and to my knowledge are not answered acceptably in any religious text.

Religious modernization as an attempt to hold on to what is still serviceable in orthodox religion, closes the door to more sophisticated approaches to spirituality, ethics and community building on a global scale.

Put simply, holding on to the old ways is holding us back.

Later

Robert Tulip · Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject:

Robert Tulip · Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:55 pm Post subject: Plan Be

Thomas Hood · Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject: Re: Plan Be


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