Religion has harmed the world in so many ways. And I say this as a Christian, mainly because true Christianity is not so much based on a religion, but on having a relationship w/ God. I could go further into that, but most here are atheists and/or do not share these views, so I would pretty much be talking to a wall haha.
You might have to explain, I don't know where you are going with that. I think you might be talking about the removal of church hierarchy from Protestantism back in the day, but the fact remains, Protestants (since that is the religion you are referring to here) listen to and sometimes follow the public statements and ideals of popular religious figures like the Falwells and Roberts of this century, so they aren't immune to the will and voice of religious leaders.
Blade, I really don't think atheism gets it's fuel from evolution. In fact, as many here have already stated, evolution and god are not mutually exclusive. I'll give 10, no.. 100 brownie points to the person who can tell me who is considered the father of modern atheism. And here's a hint - he believed in a Christian God! Okay, that's not much of a hint at all, but a neat tidbit nonetheless.
Looks like I will be missing out on brownie points haha.
At first I thought it was Charles Darwin, because he infact did believe that there was a God, that just started the train of evolution and let nature do whatever. But I don't think he is the 'father of atheism'.
Sting, I can appreciate that point of view, that the teachings of Christianity can be applied to daily life as an individual. If it was all about finding yourself and/or your faith, and leaving non-believers well enough alone, we'd probably be better off! Unfortunately, Unitarians aren't that common
I don't know. Religion has hurt the world because it was the blame before blacks. Since blacks were tied to Muslims, India and Pakistan were all like "PRRFT, Machine gun Fire! >.>". You've got a revolutionary war. Specially after no-good-money stealing Britian left. xP Lol, joke. Besides quarrels that have been decided in the past, Christianity is a wall that isn't cracking. A broken wall. Which stands only thanks to devotion to god. Which is a fine thing, but with Christianitys past and what its turned into as a money grab as Megamickel calls it. Either you reform the church or move on as a Christian. By the way, the relationship with god is how close you are to him, how well you follow his morals. If you go against all that god dislikes, I doubt you have much of a "relationship". Its rather annoying. :S Religious leaders are okay, to an extent. A religious leader shouldn't be a world leader. Now you have things like "Greek Orthodox" and "Pagan Christianity". I mean... COME ON! It seems like my sisters, they both love each other and think the same way, but neither of them backs down when they start to bicker. :P Sisters are not religion. It seems pretteh sad. Its just that Religion used to be life, it used to be strong to people. I hope it still is today. What people skipped were its morals, most teach to be tolerant. Respect other religions. After all there are punishments, but to let someone join a religion out of the fear of hell is just as much sin to them as it is to the one that said it.
If Aethism doesn't get its fuel from any "Ism"... Then, out of wonder, what do you believe of the past, what do you beleive of what is to come after death and in the future?
To be as brief as I can be, Spinoza thought that God was the only substance, and that we are all properties of God. What's funny is he was writing all of this in his book called The Ethics, so he was trying to develop some kind of moral principles. What he argues is that since we are just God's properties there is no good or evil because God is good. Those terms are just relative to what makes us experience pain or happiness. So, you can't go up to someone who just murdered someone else and say "Hey, that wrong!" because that's just God shooting himself! This idea of relative morality really caught on with atheists, as you might know. But Spinoza was also called the "God Intoxicated Man" because God was everywhere for him. Hey, I didn't call him those things, so don't blame me!
Hmmmm this is becoming an interesting topic and i love all of the different veiws... I think that it does not matter what you beleive in what color your skin is or if you are stupid or smart we are all put down here to live together.
