Now you're probably opening this thinking "oh great another rant on religion", well you're right. But please keep reading on because what I have to say is important and applies to all beliefs, even if you don't have one.
Many religions now believe the world is going to end, soon. Basically they believe this because of "signs" and their precious magic books. Well the scary thing is the world could end soon, and religion could actually be its cause. The fact is, for the world to live on religion must die. Faith is nothing to brag about it, and people who accept faith, or preach it are just intellectual slaveholders. Religion has caused so much craziness and destruction and I think 9/11 is a great example, however I won't get into it much because of everything else I have to say.
Now, why is religion so powerful? Because it allows people who DON'T have the answer to what happens when we die to think they do. If you're a christian or any other religion you may think it's great to say "PLEASE GOD I'M WILLING! I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK OF ME!" Well guess what, there are no gods talking to us so that void is filled in by corrupt and often hostile people.
This is why anti-religious rationalists must come out of the freakin closet and let themselves be heard. And for those of you who only consider yourselves "a little religious", is the safe feeling of believing in a religion worth the pain and destruction it causes? If you belonged to a social group that wasn't a religion that involved so much bigotry, homophobia, violence, and ignorance as religions you would quit the club and protest against it. And if the end of the world comes because of nuclear arms led by religious nut jobs... just remember what the true problem was. We found a way to end lives on a mass scale before we stopped wishing for it.
Well, true, but that is what faith is for isn't it?
Yes, and 'faith' is for people who want to believe in things for which there is no evidence (getting back to my thoughts on people believing in said things as being crazy).
Gonna kind of get off topic here, is there a term for a peron that believes in God and science? Example: God just made the Big Bang happen.
Got distracted by "2001: A Space Odyssey"
There is indeed an appropriate term for that. The person would be a 'deist' and the idea 'Deism'.
The word means that a person believes there was a 'creator' god but after that initial creation, they have been rather.. indifferent to it & haven't had any action on it since then.
It often stems from the standpoint of 'Intelligent' Design where the life on the planet is thought to be so complex and elegant, that it could not have come to be without what we have today being an intended 'end' result. Deism also has a tendency to reject the supernatural aspects of religiosity, like Christ's resurrection & that sort of thing.
I don't believe in the Deist point of view for the same reasons I don't believe outright - we have better explanations & there is no evidence to show otherwise.
This has gotten a bit off topic, so I'd like to redirect back to the OP. The crux of this thread that separates it from other anti-religious threads is that we must get rid of religion, or religiousness (religiocity?) in order for civilization to survive. While I don't think the OP proved this point at all, it is still something worth considering. The major premise is an interesting counterfactual: Civilization will continue only if religion is eliminated. Thus, the elimination of religion is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for civilization's continued existence.
So, first: Is "religion" something we define? If we have to eliminate religion, do we just simply eliminate religious institutions or those who believe them, or both?
Second: It would seem that some religious persuasions, such as the aforementioned Deism, have little impact globally since these people believe in a god that simply got things started and is now uninvolved. These people don't pray or go to church - in what ways are they religious? And is this really a threat to global civilization?
Finally: Can we really show that religion's elimination really is a necessary condition for our existence? In other words, can we show that religion's existence will entail the fall of civilization?
To the first, I can't really say, but eliminating the people who believe in religion seems pretty radical.That also seems to contradict the reasoning of this thread (People with no religion killing people with religion is evil)
To the second, Well I feel like the Deist thing came up because of me, and I'll just point out that I am not a Deist. As far as there being a threat, I don't see one.
To the last, I personally believe that even if religion was tossed away, Humans would still find something to fight about.
