What's your Religion?

religion has tried to stop the progress of humanity for tens of thousands of years. in less than 200 years, once science and technology had broken their shackles, we have had a massive exponential growth in all areas- progress toward a better day. Most people, even impoverished people, have heat and shelter- and some way to get food and water. We will one day be able to feed all the people of the planet, and our progress will allow us to thwart wars before they start. Weve gpt a small population of people who dont live on earth anymore, they live in an artificial satellite. Pesticides and herbicides and better seeds and water delivery and irrigation and all kinds of technology in food distribution have made it possible for whole cities to spring up where it wasnt possible even a thousand years ago.

And what has religion got to say? Well, they sure can molest a lot of children. I hope those kids get the help they need, and we turn all the church parkinglots into playgrounds, and flatten the churches. They are eyesores, reminders of people who pretend the friend in the sky that they have no proof even exists. Reminders of a day when thunder was scary and you blamed god for a bad harvest and "why me" when your family was swept away by a flood.

We know better now.

 

And what will accomplish that? ^

League of Nations? Fail

United Nations? Fail

Both of which were prophesied in the bible.

 

Cradle Catholic practicing Hedonism

 

I have refrained from responding to these posts, but...

This post is full of stupidity and ignorance. Tell me how the hell religion has tried to stop the progress of humanity? Does the local atheist club collect food for the poor, give money to charity, or go across the country/world trying to better the place? No, I haven't witnessed any of that myself, nor have I ever heard of it being done.

A priest molested a child - A horrible thing and he should be punished beyond recognition, and is lucky he isn't in an alley alone with me. That being said, you cannot tell me an atheist or an agnostic person hasn't raped/molested a child before. So if an atheist rapes/molests a child, does that make all of them bad? Same ideology you are saying about Christians can apply to your own kind too.

 

Though I am not visible on here often, I have followed this particular thread for a while now, wondering when the mods would lock it down. reading through it all I see a lot of negativity from both sides, a lot of misinformation, a lot of the same tired old arguments for and against. It's hard to let it all go at times and I have feared what light it would paint my employer in if I indeed responded at all. I have to say beforehand, anything I believe or don't believe in has absolutely nothing to do with the business I work for nor the man that signs my paycheck every two weeks. I certainly hope the fine people here would understand that.

That being said, in response to Colton, there are plenty of atheists that do provide charitable contributions. They just don't wear it on their sleeves. Ask yourself how many atheists might be donating to the Red Cross or local charities? I do. There has been an organized effort for the past few years by local humanist/secularist groups to get together and donate blood en masse on the National Day of Prayer. They see it as actually doing something for their local communities rather than sitting on their knees hoping God will hear them and bless the nation. You do what you do, we do what we do. Being an atheist and believing this is the only life you get only makes life that much more precious to me, despite what many religious folks have assumed about me from time to time.

I really hate seeing how argumentative and negative things get when these debates arise. I have very conservative friends and family that I get along with just fine ...because we know what we disagree on and we leave it at that. I don't think anything other than dissapointment is going to happen to you when you die. You think I'll go to hell, I assume, and that's your choice to believe that way, as did my mother before she died. Ultimately her faith of so many years offered her the peace of sobbing and thinking she would never see me in heaven.

As well, I think the majority of the folks here that deny evolution are making the common mistake of thinking you can't believe in a higher being and believe in evolution at the same time. Most of the scholars at the Vatican these days now accept evolution and simply disagree on when exactly it was that god injected the soul into early man. A Catholic priest helped Richard Dawkins with his latest book as a matter of fact. Though I outwardly refer to myself as an atheist, I've headed more into an agnostic tone these days as I have always retained my belief in some kind of unexplained survival beyond physical death. Trying to reconcile that with a lack of faith in any kind of god has been trying at times but science has never disappointed me like religion did for the first 32 years of my life, so I put my personal faith in the possibility that physics and advanced neurology studies will continue to shed light on this issue one bit at a time until we eventually understand it. For now, religion in all its forms (and I tried a lot of 'em over the years) has never given me more than supposed answers that were written down by ancient cattle herders thousands of years ago. I can't in good conscience accept that as the final answer to anything. So I am who I am.

One last note, to whomever it was that said there are no transitional forms in the Cambrian layer, I'm sorry, you're wrong. This is a common misconception that's been thrown around for years now by those who oppose the teaching of evolution. I would suggest you spend some time on talkorigins.org. Or don't, up to you. I'm not interested in deconverting anyone. But if you want to argue against over a hundred years of research and study, do your homework first. Don't get mad ...just accept that you might be wrong. Nuthin' against ya personally

Religion was hard for me to give up after 32 years of trying so hard to believe and find comfort in it. It just never worked for me. I'm glad it does for some. It gives comfort in hard times. It helps people through addiction and prison sentences, divorces, the deaths of loved ones, etc. It gives us hope in hopeless times. I understand how it's survived all these years. I just don't subscribe to it anymore.

I really, sincerely hope those in this thread that call themselves atheist like myself will find within themselves that little bit of understanding and patience that I have found. Let yourself come to terms with letting believers think what they want. Faith is hard to give up and no matter how many times the believers try to get me back in, it was my own choice to be who I am today. It was my own choice to live without god or gods (I was Pagan for a while too, after the Baptist years), and I'm comfortable now in ways I never was before. Though the transition was painfully slow, I could never go back now. I just, every so often, see these same old arguments against evolution and creation, belief and atheism, and have to bite my tongue when I see the same misinformation thrown out to defend one side or the other.

Live and let live, but don't despise science simply because it disagrees with what you were told was right all along. Hell, when I was a kid, they told us in school that your veins look blue because blood was blue till it hit the outside air. Seriously. The beautiful thing about science is that it embraces new discovery and welcomes being proven wrong. If Jehovah god came down tomorrow and publicly proclaimed his presence once and for all, I'd thank him for finally clearing it up. That's what sets most atheists apart from believers. Arguing over all of this is nonsense at best, divisive at worst.

And please ...no hate PM's! LOL

Just my near worthless 2 cents on the matter.

 

I attended the First Methodist Church as a child. When my Mom stopped making me go, around the 8th grade, I stopped going. Now I just don't believe in a supreme being.

 

i used to go to catholic. mom stopped making us go and havent gone back since... i believe in guns now

 

Raised Christian and continue to be a bible totin believer!

 

haha says the UNI baller( lance armstrong avatar leads me to believe you lost one or both of your testicals)

 

There is no right or wrong religion. There's just some powerful being out there. There's a greater power at work, but there is no hell or heaven. However, I believe that when you pass, you will go to a very special place that will have everything and everyone you want there.

 

Not quite. But i almost lost my brain to melanoma on my R.temple. (at 21 years old no less)
Love cycling, raising cancer awareness...


Currently 6 years cancer free !

 

Schiz ...that was uncalled for dude. Come on man.

USFCON- Would be interesting to hear what you think of Lance's feelings about God. Specifically, the fact that he doesn't believe in him/her/it. And congrats on beating that bastard by the way. Lost my mom to multiple cancers in 2004. If the big "C" were a person I'd go to jail for murder if it would get my mom back.

 

It's interesting because he wears a necklace with the bible verse " I fought the fight, won the race and kept the faith" around his neck almost 24/7. It obviously fits him. Of course I wish his "faith" was in God as a divine healer/guider etc.

Thanks- Although my cancer wasn't IN my brain, my life did change dramatically. We caught it early.

Sorry about your mum, we lost my mother-in-law to cancer too.

Not tryin to hijack this thread btw.

 

I'LL WRITE IN CAPS, I'M NOT YELLING. AND YOUR WORDS WILL BE BLUE AND VERY LARGE.

I have refrained from responding to these posts, but...
REALLY? THIS IS YOUR OLIVE BRANCH? ARENT I ENTITLED TO MY OWN OPINION OF PEOPLE WHO PRETEND THERE'S AN INVISIBLE MAN IN THE SKY? A MAN WHO CAN HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS, CREATE THE UNIVERSE, YET NOT LIFT A FINGER WHEN A BABY IS DROWNING, OR WHEN A CITY BLOCK IS ON FIRE AND PEOPLE ARE JUMPING OUT WINDOWS? OR IN THE FACE OF TERRORISM, GOD DOES NOTHING? I'M SURE THERE'S A GOOD LESSON IN THERE FOR THE BABY WHO DROWNED. AND IF HEAVEN IS GOING TO BE SO GREAT, THEN WHY WOULDNT WE JUST FIND SOMEONE WHO'S ALREADY MURDERED SOMEONE AND HAVE THEM MURDER US?! WE'D GO TO HEAVEN EVEN FASTER!! IT WOULD BE AWESOME.

This post is full of stupidity and ignorance.
FLATTERY WILL GET YOU NOWHERE, SIR. BUT IF YOU READ MY ARGUMENT, YOU'LL SEE THAT I'M A REASONABLE PERSON WHO BRINGS A LOGICAL AND WELL THOUGHT OUT ANSWER, EVEN IF I DO HAVE LOTS OF SARCASM. FORGIVE ME....

I'LL SHOW YOU IGNORANCE. THE CHURCH SAID THE EARTH IS FLAT. THEN "THE EARTH IS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE" NO WAIT, WRONG AGAIN. IN 1740 GALILEO WAS PERSECUTED. THE CHURCH KEPT A "BANNED BOOKS" LIST THAT WAS ABOLISHED IN 1966. NOT 1866 OR 1266 OR EVEN 566 OR 666. AND ON THE LIST WERE SOME PRETTY INTELLIGENT FOLKS, BUT THE CHURCH COULDNT KEEP GOOD MEN DOWN, INCLUDING Descartes (Méditations Métaphysiques et 6 autres livres, 1948) La Fontaine (Contes et Nouvelles) AND Pascal, AMONG MANY TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC IDEAS SUCH AS TELESCOPES- AND MANY WORKS OF ART AND LITERATURE. DOES IT FEEL DIFFERENT KNOWING THAT RELIGION (THESE ARE ONLY THE CATHOLICS!) DID HOLD BACK THE PROGRESS OF HUMANITY BY TELLING THEM THAT THESE REPEATABLE, RELIABLE AND TECHNOLOGICAL IDEAS WERE HELD BACK IN FAVOR OF EPIPHANY AND MAGIC AND MIRACLES AND ASTROLOGY AND NONSENSE?
I KNOW BETTER. YOU KNOW BETTER.

Does the local atheist club collect food for the poor, give money to charity, or go across the country/world trying to better the place?
2 ANSWERS FOR THIS ONE. BUT BEFORE I ANSWER, YOU NEVER HEARD OF BILL GATES? THE RED CROSS? OXFAM? UNICEF?

A:
THE SHORT LIST OF Partners in Non-Believers Giving Aid AROUND THE WORLD:
Atheist Alliance International Atheists Helping the Homeless
Atheists United Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain Freedom From Religion Foundation
gay & lesbian humanist James Randi Educational Foundation Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers New Humanist magazine Pharyngula
Rationalist Association Rationalist International Reasonable New York Secular Student Alliance
Skeptics in the Pub The British Humanist Association
The International Humanist and Ethical Union The Reason Project
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science The Skeptic Magazine
The Skeptics Society
Unreasonable Faith Alternative Gifts International Amnesty International Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Doctors Without Borders Freedom from Hunger FINCA International Heifer International International Aids Vaccine Initiative Kiva – Loans that change lives Mercy Corps Oxfam International Partners In Health (PIH), Health Care for the Poor PATH A catalyst for global health Pathfinder International Changing Lives, Saving Lives Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. Second Harvest Southern Poverty Law Center TechnoServe – Business Solutions to Rural Poverty The Nature Conservancy UNICEF WHO World Health Organization
B: THE RELIGIOUS DO-GOODERS I MET IN AFRICA MADE THINGS GENERALLY WORSE (ACCORDING TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAD SO MANY CHRISTIAN GROUPS COME TO THEIR VILLAGES) BECAUSE THE GROUPS CAME IN, MADE A SHORT TERM DIFFERENCE AND MADE THEMSELVES FEEL GOOD, AND THEN THEY LEFT, NEVER TO RETURN OR CARE AGAIN, SMUG IN THEIR KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY "MADE A DIFFERENCE."

HERE'S A CONCRETE EXAMPLE FROM THIS ONE TOWN I STAYED IN FOR A WEEK, HERE, THE CHRISTIAN GROUP CAME INTO TOWN TO HELP OUT WITH THE SEWAGE PROBLEMS. A LATRINE WAS BUILT IN THE CENTER OF TOWN. THE RELIGIOUS FOLKS NEVER BOTHERED TO UNDERSTAND THE LOCAL PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH POOPING IN RURAL AFRICA. SO THE LATRINE WAS BUILT, AND THE TOILET PAPER WAS TRUCKED IN. THE RELGIOUS PEOPLE WERE ELATED, THE SOLUTION WAS PERFECT. NO MORE MESSES ALL OVER TOWN AND IN BACK ALLEYS. HOWEVER, AFRICANS CANT AFFORD TOILET PAPER AND WIPE THEIR BEHINDS WITH SMALL, SMOOTH ROCKS. AND SOON, THE LATRINE FILLED UP WITH POOP AND SMALL, SMOOTH ROCKS WHEN THE TP RAN OUT. ISNT THAT GREAT? AND WHEN I ENTERED THE TOWN, I WALKED THRU A LITTLE STREAM THAT CHICKENS AND CHILDREN WERE WALKING THRU- I ASKED, WHY IS THE STREAM FLOWING THRU TOWN? THEY SAID, ITS FROM THE LATRINE. IT'S HUMAN WASTE.


No, I haven't witnessed any of that myself, nor have I ever heard of it being done.
YOU ENGINEERED A CORRECT ANSWER FOR YOURSELF SO THAT YOU CAN CONTINUE TO LIVE IN YOUR SHELTERED WORLD WHERE RELIGION MAKES SENSE TO YOU. WHEN I ASK YOU TO PROVE YOUR GOD EXISTS, WHAT DO YOU SAY? YOU HAVE FAITH? THAT'S THE ADULT FORM OF PRETENDING. AND YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO SO, BUT I THINK IT'S A HUGE PROBLEM. IF I ASKED YOU TO BELIEVE THAT THERE WAS A GIGANTIC DRAGON IN MY GARAGE, WOULD YOU BELIEVE ME? OR WOULD YOU ASK FOR PROOF?

A priest molested a child - A horrible thing and he should be punished beyond recognition, and is lucky he isn't in an alley alone with me.
WHAT ABOUT THE CHURCH FOLKS IN MY TOWN WHO RAISED MONEY FOR HIM BECAUSE HE "NEVER LIVED IN THE REAL WORLD?" TRUE STORY. HE MOLESTED AND RAPED CHILDREN, AND AN ENTIRE TOWN DECIDED TO HELP HIM OUT. POOR GUY. CANNON LAW WAS USED TO EXCOMMUNICATE HIM, AND CIVIL/CRIMINAL LAW WAS IGNORED COMPLETELY. AND YET NOBODY SPOKE UP AND SAID THAT GIVING HIM MONEY WOULD BE WRONG. AND DONT YOU DARE SAY "LOVE THY ENEMY." IF YOUR CHILD WAS RAPED, YOU'D BE IN JAIL FOR KILLING THE PRIEST.

WHEN I WRITE PRIEST, IT MAKES ME ALWAYS THINK "MEDICINE MAN" OR "VOODOO PRIEST." JUST A SIDENOTE.

That being said, you cannot tell me an atheist or an agnostic person hasn't raped/molested a child before.
SURE, THEY HAVE. ALL GROUPS OF PEOPLE HAVE THEIR BAD APPLES WHO KILL AND RAPE AND MURDER. THERE IS NO GROUP WHO IS FREE OF DISGUSTING BEHAVIOR, BUT IT'S THE PIOUS ATTITUDE COMBINED WITH THE COVERUP THAT BOTHERS ME.

So if an atheist rapes/molests a child, does that make all of them bad?
LET'S SAY THAT WALMART HAD A CEO WHO COVERED UP HIS COMPANY'S CRIMES- 5% OF HIS MANAGERS AT HIS STORES DID WHAT THE CHRISTIANS DID- DO YOU THINK WALMART WOULD BE IN BUSINESS? WOULD YOU SHOP THERE? OR WOULD AMERICA BURN WALMART DOWN AND NEVER LOOK BACK? ARE YOU STILL A CHRISTIAN? SOMEHOW, YOU THINK THERE'S A DIFFERENCE, BUT YOUR GROUP AIDED AND ASSISTED CRIMINALS WHO PREYED ON CHILDREN, AND WHO STILL DO. AND YOU'RE STILL PART OF THIS ORGANIZATION. YOU WOULDNT SHOP AT WALMART IF THEIR MANAGERS COMMITTED THESE CRIMES, BUT THE FOLKS WHO ARE HOLIER THAN THOU- THEY COMMIT THESE CRIMES AND COVERUPS - AND YOU STILL ALIGN YOURSELF WITH THEM.

WHAT GIVES?

Same ideology you are saying about Christians can apply to your own kind too.
OBVIOUSLY, ANY PERSON IS CAPABLE OF BEING A TOTALLY UNEDUCATED MORON. WE CAN ONLY HOPE PEOPLE WILL SELF-EDUCATE. I WOULD NEVER ALIGN MYSELF WITH A GROUP OF SEXUAL PREDATORS OR OTHER VIOLENT CRIMINALS, AND THE PEOPLE WHO COVER IT UP. AND I WOULDNT BELONG TO A GROUP WHO PRETENDED DRAGONS WERE REAL, EITHER.





THE END_____________________________________ BUT WAIT THERE'S
EVEN MORE AWESOME Secular Charities and Aid groups:


DonorsChoose.org
a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack.

Kiva.org
lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world.

The Union of Concerned Scientists
The leading science-based non-profit working for a healthy environment and safer world.

American Red Cross
a humanitarian organization - over 91% of Red Cross spending is on charitable services.

American Civil Liberties Union
preserve all of constitutional protections and guarantees relating to First Amendment rights, including the freedom to practice religion

United Nations Children's Fund
UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a "first call for children" emergency and disaster relief.

Doctors without Borders
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in nearly 70 countries.

Amnesty International
preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights.

Oxfam International
12 organizations working together with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice. to alleviate poverty and injustice.

The Nature Conservancy
preserving the diversity of life on Earth. An environmental group that protects natural habitats and the wildlife within them. Focuses on "science-based" initiatives.

Population Connection
Works against faith-based policies that are supported by the Religious Right.

DefCon: Campaign to Defend the Constitution
DefCon is an online grassroots movement combating the growing power of the religious right.

The SEED foundation
National nonprofit that establishes urban public boarding schools to prepare students from underserved communities for success in college.

Project Peanut Butter
program for malnourished children in Malawi and Sierra Leone, on the continent of Africa.



Electronic Frontiers Foundation EFF fights for freedom primarily in the courts, bringing and defending lawsuits even when that means taking on the US government or large corporations.

Mercy corps
Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

Seva
Our programs serve people who have been economically, politically, or otherwise marginalized.

International Peace Institute dedicated to promoting the prevention and settlement of armed conflict .


HIV/AIDS
Treatment Action Campaign
campaign for treatment for people with HIV and to reduce new HIV infections. Our efforts have resulted in many life-saving interventions, including the implementation of country-wide mother-to-child transmission prevention and antiretroviral treatment programes.

Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers
Challenging the myth that "there are no atheists in foxholes." There certainly are.


Human Rights Campaign
Large organization working for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equal rights.


PlanUSA
an organization committed to helping children, their families and communities in 49 developing countries around the world.




ENOUGH FOR YOU? YOU MAY GIVE YOUR MONEY TO GROUPS WHO HAVE A MASSIVE OVERHEAD, AND ACORPORATE STRUCTURE TO FUND, OR YOU MAY GIVE MONEY TO SMALL EFFICIENT NON-PORFIT GROUPS.

 

What was all of this?

What ever it is I hope you feel better.

 

I CAN WRITE IN CAPS TOO!! WATCH.....

BEHOLD!! HIS HOLINESS!!
THE FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER!!!!!!

 

IT WAS A RESPONSE TO ANOTHER POST WHO WROTE TO ME. YOU CAN READ IT IF YOU WANT, INSTEAD OF JUST REPOSTING IT.

 

I wrote in caps to differentiate from the other poster.