Why it's important to stop Al Qaeda

[Moose]

Also DeLoreans will always be cool.

[Lare Kikkeli]

Wow guys, good job turning this into a religion vs atheism debate! We all know how those end up.

 

Carry on.

 

Post your gif and move on.

[Hurlshort]

I'd like to point out that I'm not arguing over whether God exists or not, I'm just claiming that religion is a part of human nature and is no more good or evil than human nature itself.

[Purkake]

Post your gif and move on.

Why so patronizing?

 

I'd like to point out that I'm not arguing over whether God exists or not, I'm just claiming that religion is a part of human nature and is no more good or evil than human nature itself.

So basically you're not saying anything.

 

How good or evil is this human nature of yours?

Edited December 15, 2009 by Purkake

[Hurlshort]

I'd like to point out that I'm not arguing over whether God exists or not, I'm just claiming that religion is a part of human nature and is no more good or evil than human nature itself.

So basically you're not saying anything.

 

How good or evil is this human nature of yours?

 

I suppose I'm 'not saying anything' in the same way the folks who condemn religion are not saying anything.

 

As for your human nature question, I'm not sure where you are going with it. The simple answer is human nature is both, as is religion.

[Purkake]

I suppose I'm 'not saying anything' in the same way the folks who condemn religion are not saying anything.

 

As for your human nature question, I'm not sure where you are going with it. The simple answer is human nature is both, as is religion.

 

I get your point.

 

I was just annoyed with the endless comparisons to other undefined things. If you have an argument, just say it, which you did, so good job.

 

People did a whole bunch of good and bad stuff in the name of religion, you're saying that they would have still done it anyway without religion. That would make religion completely irrelevant, removing it from both the good and bad things done in it's name. So it's just window dressing?

Edited December 15, 2009 by Purkake

[Rostere]

Judge a religion's worth by all of its members and history, DN. Personally, I think all the Abrahamic Religions have shown themselves to downright vicious and cruel over the course of history.

 

I agree with this. I would also extend it to include all organized religions with some kind of hierarchy. As soon as someone gets authority over others with the mandate of some "higher power", things go wrong.

[Walsingham]

If I have to read another of these pointless religion bashing fests I'm going to get myself made pope just so I can run over Sand in the popemobile.

[Killian Kalthorne]

If I have to read another of these pointless religion bashing fests I'm going to get myself made pope just so I can run over Sand in the popemobile.

 

And I shall explode, destroying your popmobile and you because I always wear a vest explosive with a dead deadman trigger. Just in case.

 

HA! AND DOUBLE HA!

Edited December 15, 2009 by Killian Kalthorne

[Wrath of Dagon]

Just had to comment on this:

Atheism implies world is completely random, think about that.

 

Not so, in an atheist world, the scientific rules and laws still apply - I doubt most Christians would use God to explain gravity. Dismissing God simply means that there is no overall deity, but that doesn't mean that the system is random or chaotic.

 

Interestingly though - and for arguments sake, how would the presence of a deity, be an assurance that the world isn't completely random? (especially seeing as a deity is the only thing that radically and inexplicitly change reality)

The laws apply, but things should happen randomly within those laws. The mere presence of a deity wouldn't be an assurance of anything, it could be a god of chaos, but we see history is generally flowing in the right way, how to explain that? Does everyone's personal life seem to happen at random, or does there seem to be some kind of scheme at work, or are you yourself responsible for everything that happens to you?

[Gfted1]

Does everyone's personal life seem to happen at random, or does there seem to be some kind of scheme at work, or are you yourself responsible for everything that happens to you?

 

 

Some of one, none of two, majority of three. IMO.

[Purkake]

but we see history is generally flowing in the right way

What does that even mean?

[Wrath of Dagon]

Does everyone's personal life seem to happen at random, or does there seem to be some kind of scheme at work, or are you yourself responsible for everything that happens to you?

 

Some of one, none of two, majority of three. IMO.

You really think you're that much in control of your own life, in spite of the myriad of external factors you have no control over? In that case being an atheist is a rational position.

 

but we see history is generally flowing in the right way

What does that even mean?

The nazis could've won, the Cuban missile crisis could've easily turned into a nuclear exchange, etc.

Edited December 15, 2009 by Wrath of Dagon

[Hurlshort]

but we see history is generally flowing in the right way

What does that even mean?

 

I'm not sure. If we are making the argument that God directs our history, then I'm not sure how the collapse of the Roman Empire would fit into that flowing statement. Sure, the church survived, but it took hundreds of years to re-establish itself.

[Wrath of Dagon]

but we see history is generally flowing in the right way

What does that even mean?

 

I'm not sure. If we are making the argument that God directs our history, then I'm not sure how the collapse of the Roman Empire would fit into that flowing statement. Sure, the church survived, but it took hundreds of years to re-establish itself.

The Roman empire was extremely evil.

[Purkake]

but we see history is generally flowing in the right way

What does that even mean?

The nazis could've won, the Cuban missile crisis could've easily turned into a nuclear exchange, etc.

What happened happened because it happened, we don't have anything to compare it to. Saying that it was meant to happen that way is meaningless.

Edited December 15, 2009 by Purkake

[Walsingham]

I would have thought it was fairly logical to observe that rather than history moving inexorably towards your notion of right it was more probable that your concept of right had been shaped by the direction history already took?

 

I don't mean that in an insulting way. I used to feel similarly until I worked it out.

[Hurlshort]

but we see history is generally flowing in the right way

What does that even mean?

 

I'm not sure. If we are making the argument that God directs our history, then I'm not sure how the collapse of the Roman Empire would fit into that flowing statement. Sure, the church survived, but it took hundreds of years to re-establish itself.

The Roman empire was extremely evil.

 

Wonderful blanket statement. So does that mean the Goths, Franks, and Vandals were all sunshine and brought with them good and happy times?

 

Speaking of nuclear exchange, to you think the Japanese feel things were going in the right direction when bombs were dropped on two cities?

[Purkake]

They were extremely evil too, obviously.

[Hiro Protagonist]

The Japanese were the bad guys in WWII. Same with the Nazi's. According to all the movies I've seen.

Edited December 15, 2009 by Hiro Protagonist

[Darth InSidious]

No, no, see, you're doing it wrong. Christianity only comes in the form of moronic, buck-toothed Baptists from the deep South, blithely quoting the KJV verbatim.

 

... Sort of like Islam only comes in the form of child-exploding lunatics.

 

and Roman Catholics only come in the form of child molesters.. Yes I see where you are going with this!

Whoa, whoa. That's only on Wednesdays; the rest of the time we're busy murdering "AIDS victims", destroying vital archaeological evidence, hunting symbologists and co-ordinating the secret world government with the Elders of Zion.

 

You need to be careful with those generalisations!

[Pidesco]

but we see history is generally flowing in the right way

What does that even mean?

 

I'm not sure. If we are making the argument that God directs our history, then I'm not sure how the collapse of the Roman Empire would fit into that flowing statement. Sure, the church survived, but it took hundreds of years to re-establish itself.

The Roman empire was extremely evil.

 

[Purkake]

Whoa, whoa. That's only on Wednesdays; the rest of the time we're busy murdering "AIDS victims", destroying vital archaeological evidence, hunting symbologists and co-ordinating the secret world government with the Elders of Zion.

 

You need to be careful with those generalisations!

With that much to do, how do you find the time to talk to the invisible man in the sky?

Edited December 15, 2009 by Purkake

[Trenitay]

We aren't doing it all at once. We take turns.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

The Roman empire was extremely evil.

 

Fail.