Religion is for....

AnyOldIron

AnyOldIron

Atheist Missionary
Not had this debate for a few years....

Religion is for those who cannot accept the nihilistic reality of existence, a crutch for the weak.

:good4u:
 
AnyOldIron said:
I will try my best to...

No biters on the religious subject? Where is Dixie when you need him?
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you've missed some good ones recently, including that dixie might be the most atheist member of the board (even though he's talked to jesus in the shower)
 
AnyOldIron said:
I will try my best to...

No biters on the religious subject? Where is Dixie when you need him?
Click to expand...

?????...it's not a religious subject.....it would merely be a debate on the state of your mental health......how could we sustain an argument with someone who doesn't exist?.......since you don't think, you aren't.......
 
AnyOldIron said:
Not had this debate for a few years....

Religion is for those who cannot accept the nihilistic reality of existence, a crutch for the weak.

:good4u:
Click to expand...
Let me ask you this AOI. In this enlightened era where the vast majority of the unwashed masses are educated and literate religion hasn't declined but, particularly in nations like ours where you are free to worship any religion you please, has exploded in popularity. There is a greater diversity and interest in religion then in anywhere in the world or in any time in history. Why would this be if religion were only for the weak?
 
AnyOldIron said:
Not had this debate for a few years....

Religion is for those who cannot accept the nihilistic reality of existence, a crutch for the weak.

:good4u:
Click to expand...

How true.

The one thing is it is not good practice to kick a crutch out from under neath a cripple.
 
I'm not going to debate with Anyold, because I don't think he exists. He's just a fairytale that some members of this site go along with. There's no proof that he is real.
 
I don't care, I just want them to keep their god to themselves. Out of my government, my schools, etc. Go to church, if you want your kids to pray in school send them to a religious school.
 
Let me ask you this AOI. In this enlightened era where the vast majority of the unwashed masses are educated and literate religion hasn't declined but, particularly in nations like ours where you are free to worship any religion you please, has exploded in popularity. There is a greater diversity and interest in religion then in anywhere in the world or in any time in history. Why would this be if religion were only for the weak?

On the contrary, atheism has increased in the US in the years from 1990 - 2008 from 14.3M to 34.2M. (http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf).

Compare numbers of people with religious belief in, say the late C19th to today and there is no real comparison. In the late C19th, almost all Americans identified with religion. In fact in the late C19th, the vast majority of people in the world believed in some sort of religious faith.

As to why, hundreds of years after the enlightenment, religion still exists, you need to look at the roles religion plays. There are two main roles, god of the gaps and god the great comforter. God of the gaps is the use of 'god' to explain natural phenomenon which is not fully understood. For example the classic Greek attribution of storms to the god Zeus. Since the enlightenment god in this role has retreated at the speed of a French surrender. Modern concepts of god of the gaps have 'god' now acting as some vague 'first cause', the originator of evolution and physics etc. This role only exists because a gap in our epistemological outlook, we don't fully understand abiogenesis / big bang and so that is attributed to god.

The other, stronger, role of religion is god the great comforter. The provider of moral laws, the straight lines man seems to prefer to live by. The 'father in the sky' who looks down on us with paternal care.

This is where the weakness lies. Overcoming the nihilistic reality of existence is difficult, it is a traumatic experience that only the strong can endure. Accepting that we create our own morality, that the lines we live by are self-made is very difficult to accept, as is the idea that we are alone, there is no 'father in the sky' watching over us.

It is the provider of straight lines that exists today. The philosophy exists to show how this is unnecessary, however it is not as black and white as the conclusions science helps us come to with regard to the god of the gaps.

And that is the role of modern atheistic philosophers, to show the weakness in god the great comforter and how freeing accepting nihilistic reality can be.
 
I'm not going to debate with Anyold, because I don't think he exists. He's just a fairytale that some members of this site go along with. There's no proof that he is real.

Apart from my posting on this site....
 
Have you never had a moment of weakness? I have. Thank god for crutches!

Many, but I don't reach for a crutch to overcome them.

It is a little baffling that in America, which has an ethos of self-help, reaching for the crutch is so predominant.
 
The one thing is it is not good practice to kick a crutch out from under neath a cripple.

Unless that person isn't really a cripple, and needs the crutch kicking away to realise it.
 
AnyOldIron said:
Have you never had a moment of weakness? I have. Thank god for crutches!

Many, but I don't reach for a crutch to overcome them.

It is a little baffling that in America, which has an ethos of self-help, reaching for the crutch is so predominant.
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Oh please! I can appreciate your point of view, I'm more an apathist about religion then I am an athiest. I just find it an incredibly boring subject but it must have more going for it then you project or it wouldn't be so popular with billions of people. Let's keep in mind that the vast majority of people on this planet proclaim affiliation with some religion or the other.

And don't be a hyporcit about crutches. We all have them, yours may not be religion but you can't tell me that in a moment of weakness you've never reached for a crutch?
 
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