Scientologists convicted of fraud

[ultima]

highwaystar101 said:

I_Heart_Nintendo said:
Things Scientology and most other Religions have in Common:

Recruiting Vulnerable People: Check
Coercing to Pay Money for Salvation: Check
Belief in Fantastical Beings and Historical Happenings: Check
Quick to Judge anyone who Believes Differently: Check
Believers are Not Aware How Ridiculous it Really is: Check

As far as I can see, the future will go 1 of 2 ways:

1: Religion will win out again, and we will experience another dark ages of Religious fanatics destroying everything their respective god does not like (US killing Islamic extremists and vice versa, but 1000x)

2:Common sense will win out, and all Religion will receive this same treatment, and be seen as the Fraud it actually is.

Religion will win out in the end, I think that is inevitable. People will always believe in a religion, regardless of what the religion is. Even when all the current ones die out new ones will replace them that are just as big.

In the end people need religion, people don't need atheism, I think there may be some truth in the saying "Religion is the opiate of the masses".,

I disagree with you. The way I see it, there are way more atheists nowadays than there were in middle ages (this could be due to advances in science, which cancel out the need for a god). It's true that some people will always believe in religion, but you could also say some people will always believe in murder and violence, which would be just as true.

And people definitely don't need religion. What has religion done for us? It is a fact that religion was the cause of many (if not most) arguments and wars throughout history of mankind. It was religion that kept people closed minded and threatened anyone who tried to open up their mind and think. Galileo for example. Imagine how much further we would be now if humanity wasn't dragged down and held back by religion. We could've been at this point in terms of scientific knowledge in nineteenth century...