"Universal Healthcare"

We are still very primitive and still have many unknowns. Not that long ago we burned witches and such things.
And we still use religion as a reason to kill.
 
AssHatZombie said:
I think the concept of god springs from oppressed people who can't believe their innate conception of morality is so misrepresented in a world dominated by the most psychopathic murderers amongst us. In truth, we all are god, and we should be judging the oppressors.
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It is my belief that all that lives have a small spark of "God" in them. It connects us and makes us responsible for each other.

That being said, it doesn't change with different beliefs. Morality is how we treat each other, religion is how we explain why we do it. Some may make it more difficult and ethereal. Others more direct with many rules. Religion doesn't create Morality, it was what was used to present it, a tool to give others a reason to join in the cooperation and society. Also, later, a tool used too often to control others.
 
Damocles said:
It is my belief that all that lives have a small spark of "God" in them. It connects us and makes us responsible for each other.

That being said, it doesn't change with different beliefs. Morality is how we treat each other, religion is how we explain why we do it. Some may make it more difficult and ethereal. Others more direct with many rules. Religion doesn't create Morality, it was what was used to present it, a tool to give others a reason to join in the cooperation and society. Also, later, a tool used too often to control others.
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Mostly right. I agree a lot.

Uscititizen is partially right that religion is used to explain things in a simple way, as it's easier to say "god said" than it is to explain why selfishness may not always be the most adaptive thing, though it seems so, perhaps, to the young. Concurrently with this evolution of a supernatural explanation for complex topics, there developed those who saw that this suspension of rational thought can be used to justify bad behavior and mistreatment of others.
 
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Damocles said:
It would depend. Are there groups that meet regularly and attempt to spread the belief? Are they non-profit and tax exempt?

You know, like these guys?

http://www.atheists.org

They even have a special page to spread the message, mostly it is anti-Christian, but it certainly is very much like tracts that promote Christianity when you get down to it.

http://www.atheists.org/christianity/

As well as local groups that meet regularly to pat themselves on the back about how much greater their belief system is than others.

Atheism can be a religion to some. Clearly so.
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Activism doesn't make something a religion. It might be a cause but it's not a religion.
 
I don't think too many people would sign up to a religion that didn't offer some sort of afterlife. That's the big hook.
 
Diuretic said:
I don't think too many people would sign up to a religion that didn't offer some sort of afterlife. That's the big hook.
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I've never quite seen the attraction of spending eternity hanging around on a cloud with a bunch of churchy types, with nothing better to do than learning how to play Stairway to Heaven on the harp.
 
Diuretic said:
Activism doesn't make something a religion. It might be a cause but it's not a religion.
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What makes it a religion is the urge to convert them to a belief for which they have no evidence. For this purpose they hold classes on how to spread their belief, sessions where they back-pat each other about how much better they are than those "believers", and create tracts to give away to the unsuspecting Christian. They often even hold readings from several books that were written by other Atheists (capital A version).

To be fair, most atheists have no desire to do this. I would not call them Religious Atheists, as I would people who belong to those groups.
 
Damocles said:
What makes it a religion is the urge to convert them to a belief for which they have no evidence.
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No it doesn't. Proselytising is everywhere. It wants you to change your soap powder. Conversion to nothing doesn't count. Hello, come join with me in non-belief. It's not a religion.
 
Diuretic said:
No it doesn't. Proselytising is everywhere. It wants you to change your soap powder. Conversion to nothing doesn't count. Hello, come join with me in non-belief. It's not a religion.
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One more time. Not just attempting to convert you, but to convert you to a belief for which they have no evidence. To take that leap of faith with them.

Just as a Christian would attempt to convert the Atheist.

To be fair the vast majority of atheists are the small "a" type and have no urge or care to attempt to convert people, to hang with other atheists and back-pat, to create tracts to attempt to get others to believe as they do. Atheism in a fashion that acts as a religion is very religious to those who are practicing it.
 
Damocles said:
One more time. Not just attempting to convert you, but to convert you to a belief for which they have no evidence. To take that leap of faith with them.

Just as a Christian would attempt to convert the Atheist.

To be fair the vast majority of atheists are the small "a" type and have no urge or care to attempt to convert people, to hang with other atheists and back-pat, to create tracts to attempt to get others to believe as they do. Atheism in a fashion that acts as a religion is very religious to those who are practicing it.
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Conversion implies a shift from one belief to another. Pointing out to someone the irrationality of religious belief isn't conversion. There is no "conversion" because no believing in a god isn't a religion.
 
Diuretic said:
Conversion implies a shift from one belief to another. Pointing out to someone the irrationality of religious belief isn't conversion. There is no "conversion" because no believing in a god isn't a religion.
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Pointing out to somebody the irrationality of religion is not the same thing as attempting to convert them to a belief that takes equal faith such as Atheism.

Atheism takes the exact same leap of faith off of the probability curve spoken of before. The leap is infinite and equal in either direction. There is exactly the same amount of evidence to prove God as there is to disprove God. Which is zero.
 
Damocles said:
Pointing out to somebody the irrationality of religion is not the same thing as attempting to convert them to a belief that takes equal faith such as Atheism.

Atheism takes the exact same leap of faith off of the probability curve spoken of before. The leap is infinite and equal in either direction. There is exactly the same amount of evidence to prove God as there is to disprove God. Which is zero.
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So why tell someone they should believe?
 
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