Okay I can't really address everything that's happened here so I'll just go back to the old argument. It could be a little long but I hope 314 has the time to read it.
Sorry. I forgot that reality was decided by popular backing.
No, it is not, I am just saying that if two things have, as you say, almost no proof, then the one that is more detailed and has some sort of support you can trust is the one people would more likely pick. --> Majority of religious people on Earth go with about four routes - Indigenous, Abrahemic, Hindu, and Buddhism. I'm not saying that proves any reality, but it certainly makes it more believable then whatever your talking about.
I have never heard of an atheist terrorizing because their god told them to, have you?
.. That doesn't even address my quote and what you said is obviously impossible. What I said was, God does not have to be a driving factor for someone to do anything radical for the sake of what they believe in or think.
Oh look, some religious bigotry in the form of homophobia over here
I've met a few atheists that don't support homosexuality.
Also, why is it that everything anti-gay results in homophobia?
but this god seems to hate something badly
Sorry if there are morons in the world. Removing religion will not stop this. People like those of the WBC will simply make a stupid TGB or whatever and continue on.
all powerful creator and being a better race than someone else.
What are you on about? Hitler radically morphed Christianity into a pit others didn't understand. Zealous nationalist pride for his country made him start a war, you can't just blame everything on the fact that he was raised Christian. Picking WW2 as an attack on religion is insane -- Hitler did not even attend his First Communion until the age of 15.
Many people I know do it before meals, which gives them a reminder that doesn't kill anyone.
I still win, since they probably only wash their hands, and I haven't killed anyone. You're overdoing it.
Of course we have. But without religion, we would only be fighting for those reasons, not because some bearded sky man told us to.
Not so. There is no recording of holy texts that ask people to start Wars. It is, of course, open to interpretation, but you can't honestly think that every war on Earth that has any religious backing was solely based on some legacy for God?
Have you noticed that many religious conquests have lead to the beginning of Empires, Rulers, Countries, Liberties? It is widely used as a popular excuse for getting people what they want.
Such as?
Instill a good number of literacy rates on many groups of people, spread ideas, trade, etc. Since we're on the Crusades -- I'll give you an example using it -- The wars lead to the creation of a Middle Class in Europe, a successful trading block of Merchants as the world opened up, giving way for Europe to get out of the Dark Ages, furthermore spreading old Roman and Greek knowledge of mathematics and science, along with new Islamic discoveries, and even those of the Chinese [ such as paper and gunpowder ] into pre-Renaissance Europe, effectively ending the dark ages and giving rise to many new Universities [Since, in Feudal Europe, the only place of literature was in Churches, and while the writing may have been censored, its better than nothing ]. If Religion solely just turned people into zombies, none of us would be here.
It is in the desert, can't be farmed, has no natural resources that could be used at that time, was to far away to be controlled properly, and was pretty much just a horrible place.
...
Excuse me, but do you have any practical understanding of world geography or economics?
Lets assume what you say is true -- I could question you with many other things.
Why is there any historic evidence of a Kingdom in Israel? This place couldn't have housed an empire that had any ability to fend itself for so long?
Why would the Romans, which, at the point, took the tribute of rice [Yes, an agricultural product], from its subjugated people, invade this 'barren' desert?
Why would there be a country on this map known as Israel today that is economically well off?
Also I noticed a teeny error when you said 'English'. It wasn't just the English. But whatever.
Israel is a region that is very well suited to sustain life, believe me. Also, lets assume that everything I said doesn't matter and it is a barren desert where people lick the sand hoping to find water [We'll even ignore the 26 rivers and the fact that it is listed as a 'Semi-Arid' climate and that one side of Jerusalem is covered with a forest]
It still borders a Sea. Seas make ports. Ports make trade. Trade that, in the course of human history, diverted trade from the Arabian Peninsula, a reason as to why later Caliphates in the Islamic empire moved their capital to Damascus, Syria.
Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia about the area's climate:
Jerusalem usually receives at least one snowfall each year. Meanwhile, coastal cities, such as Tel Aviv and Haifa, have a typical Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and long, hot summers.
Well they slaughtered the inhabitants, from what I remember, so no it wouldn't.
Jerusalem is not a port. The city in itself, really, does not offer that much economic hope. [Not to mention, it has no port, and funny thing is, it wasn't the first city invaded. If they were stupid religious zealots, would they not have landed and just walked straight to the city?] Yet the entire region, by all means, does.
...What are you taking about? And besides that, Allah and Yahweh are the same god, the Abrahamic god. So we would really be talking about the same god in any case.
In that sense, they are the same God. Yet when referring to scriptures such as the OT and the NT, it is helpful to know that Muslims do regard the books to be divine, they do not take their word as truth.
TBG
TBG = The Bear God? I kept thinking and that's all that I could come up with. If it is, you really have got to be more creative if you're going to try to get people to fear your religion :\\
