| WolfpackN64 said: It's just tiring. So very very tiring. And all of it supported by poor and terribly tought out arguments echoed around. "The church did terrible things". Sure they did, but for everything they were directly responsible for, they didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Nothing that any other group hasn't done. Can I remind you people the church did many a good thing too? Maybe did a whole lot more good then bad? Do you people realize what the middle ages would have looked like in Europe without a binding faith (it would be a whole lot worse). Do you all realize the church was often a moderating force in Europe's colonial past, without which many more atrocities against natives would have been comitted. Do you realize in many a time no-one would take care of the poor and orphans of not for the church? There. And then there are still people who like to "debunk" religion and go around "God doesn't exist". Well? Try me. I'm in the moral sciences. I've read Aquinas Quinque Viae and I know the Cosmological argument inside out. "God doesn't exist" isn't a scientific or philosophical statement, it's not even applied reasoning. It's just a strawman argument not even worthy of consideration. "We should be able to criticise religion". Sure, but many of you know that isn't the problem. If I would go on an anti-atheïst rant you know I'd get tons of flack. Free speech works in both directions, realize your own position is flawed as well and many of you aren't as "tolerant" as you think. Free speech is not the right to insult. Ok, I'm going to stop here. |
The scientific statement is "there is no proof of a god". Believing in something without any verifiable proof is something US presidents do and is generally nothing that could be recommended to the general public.
All the good things the church once did aren't things that couldn't have been done by other institutions. Being socially minded is not something the Church invented, you know. I don't see how commending the Church for sometimes showing human decency does somehow absolve the net negative effect religion had on humanity.
If we completely ignore all the terrible and positive things Religion has done in the past we will still come to the conclusion that right now in today's society, religion has a negative effect on basically everything, human decency included. Nothing any Church does today cannot be done by any other institution, yet we're still stuck with all the negative things it brings.
If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.
