Rise of atheism: 100,000 Brits seek 'de-baptism'

[appolose]

johnathonmerritt said:

sonicshuffle said:
Atheism also seems bad to me because when you think about it religion sometimes holds people back from doing wrong things because there are tons of rules and whatnot. If someone is an atheist they might not see as much is wrong and not feel bad about doing some bad things. That's why I believe it's better to have a religion than no religion at all. Even if it's not my own. Mine is Christianity(not catholic or any other form just believe what is in the bible).

I agree there are some people who fall under this catagory. The only flaw to your logic is that the majority of crimes and wars in our history is due to religion. I believe in a god and an afterlife. I also believe there are many stages of existance between us and whatever god is. Beleifs are great things that I believe most people need to keep to themselves as long as noone is bothering them or asking them about it. However, I believe religion is a bad thing. Any relegion is a cult. It's a group of people brainwashed by someone they think is "above" them. True faith is within yourself. Don't believe something just because it's in a book or because someone tells you so.

Also, to anyone who believes there is no god or anything else after this life, remember something put us here. Something started the big bang. You may chose not to call it god, but I do. That doesn't mean I believe there is an old man on the moon watching everything we do.

1. Eh, "right" and "wrong" are defined by the doctrine of the religion. If we're concerned about ethics which are "harmful" or not I would say the doctrine of certain religions (e.g. Christianity), for the most part, mandate a more peaceful conduct and so a more peaceful society.

The history of wars for religions in which their doctrines mandate peaceful conduct must be dismissed as hypocrisy and so nothing to do with the religion itself but rather the false/mistaken adherents. (Note I'm certainly not saying all religions mandate peaceful conduct.)

Further... I must say, I really would wonder how much war in history could be accredited as territorial, conquest, or other reasons as opposed to religion. I mean there have certainly been some incredibly large wars in our recent history that really did not have a specific basis in theology. I'm thinking political ordeals like with communism and fascism etc. Religions only mandate whatever their doctrines mandate. Whatever else you may blame on people.

2. Religion is a word that, for the most part, refers to a body of doctrine: meaning beliefs usually about God, gods, the supernatural, the afterlife, etc. But religion almost always includes other doctrines that touch upon politics, ethics, other areas of metaphysics, and so forth. In this sense any belief you have about this life might be called a religion if it is merely incorporated into a body of other beliefs and people agree with you. The word "religion" is not important though. Just recognize that you have beliefs that are on an "equal playing field" with any other beliefs.

3. Realize your statement: "beliefs are great as long as people are keeping them to themselves and not being bothered about them from anyone else" is a belief also. Specifically it's an ethical one. It appears you're imposing it or suggesting it to the world. And I'm afraid mandating this "tolerance" is truly intolerant - since many religions (or any belief system) carry the doctrine to spread their faith and proselytize - or to simply impose in some way. Telling them they can't do it is telling them they can't believe and practice their religion in this way.

Ultimately meaning... there will be no peace between ourselves on this earth until we all happen to believe the same body of doctrine (call it religion or whatever). As it stands now, there's really no universal appeal to be made to all mankind. Many religions and belief systems are immutable set apart as enemies of each other.

4. You do realize that telling me to "not believe something because someone tells me" is... telling me to believe something, right?