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.
I agree with you on everything except that you said the Iraq War was for democracy. The Iraq war was for oil. They figured it would be a lot cheaper to tell Americans that they were fighting for democracy and freedom, and send them off to steal oil from the middle East, rather than to do the expensive plan which involved, buying their oil or investing in alternative energy.
I think it was for both actually. It wouldn't be the first time America used Imperialism.
(Hawaii, Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama Canal etc.)
But I also think that GWB though "God" wanted him to spread democracy, and stealing oil was just a nice perk on the military campaign.
I agree with you on everything except that you said the Iraq War was for democracy. The Iraq war was for oil. They figured it would be a lot cheaper to tell Americans that they were fighting for democracy and freedom, and send them off to steal oil from the middle East, rather than to do the expensive plan which involved, buying their oil or investing in alternative energy.
To quote many an atheist, I'll believe that if you show me proof.
Well unless, you've never taking a History class, I would assume you would already know the facts of what happened in the Iraq war. It's pretty up to you what to decide, whether oil or democracy being the main operation for the Iraq war.
And this is great article, but once again an opinion article with some evidence if you will bother to read it.
I'd like to take this in another direction, if you guys don't mind. Trying to prove or show that religions cause wars (or anything along those lines) I think is futile - it's an untenable position. But, religion is regularly used as a justification for violence, this is certain. I'm not saying it's the entire justification, but it certainly is - at least in part. My question is: would it benefit humanity, a society, or a country to stop justifying conflict through religion? Instead, just use other means of justification for attacking a country or group, etc. This might entail that some conflicts would be completely unjustified, though I'm not sure. That may a be a point of historical note... I dunno. So, would removing religion from justification do anything? If so, what? If not, why not?
I'd like to take this in another direction, if you guys don't mind. Trying to prove or show that religions cause wars (or anything along those lines) I think is futile - it's an untenable position
So, would removing religion from justification do anything? If so, what? If not, why not?
Yes. It would benefit mankind. How? Without using religion to justify bad acts people would realize how bad something was earlier on and it wouldn't be so supported or continued. Therefore, less horrible acts.
History has proven that you need an excuse to make a war. Often this excuse is given by religion, so this could lead us to have less wars because of religion issues.
In my mind, the outcome is the same with or without religion, The only difference is in which way you would like people to justify the tings they do. The only way i would like to see the world change is to see the men and women of the world stop hiding under the guise of a god or claiming that they do the bidding of some larger entity. If you would like to defend your selfish actions, use words and logic not a big guy with a white beard.
Well unless, you've never taking a History class, I would assume you would already know the facts of what happened in the Iraq war. It's pretty up to you what to decide, whether oil or democracy being the main operation for the Iraq war.
And this is great article, but once again an opinion article with some evidence if you will bother to read it.
For every side of a debate there are a few good arguments. I still say it was for democracy.
For the part about going to heaven, most atheists will realize in a survival situation that if they die, then that's it. If they don't feel it's their time to go, they will do something to stop their death(or at least try to) Anyways, I was raised a Catholic, and in the past year I've given up on the major beliefs(i.e. God is all-powerful, Jesus was all-powerful, blah blah)but I still feel the morals are good. Not all of them, just the ones like love your neighbor as your self and don't steal or kill. I feel those are more than appropriate for every day life.
Anyways, I was raised a Catholic, and in the past year I've given up on the major beliefs(i.e. God is all-powerful, Jesus was all-powerful, blah blah)but I still feel the morals are good. Not all of them, just the ones like love your neighbor as your self and don't steal or kill. I feel those are more than appropriate for every day life.
I don't really care if you're atheist, I'm just happy that you have good morals.
