I was just about to go to sleep so I was taking my nightly dump where I do a lot of reflecting.
I started a thread a couple days ago called about atheism and it started a debate. I myself am a die hard atheist but I was just wondering is religion even all that bad?
I mean maybe some people just need that cushion, maybe they cant accept their fates? I would like to hear from you why religion is so bad. Is it halting progression? Is it dumbing us down, what do you have to say?
To me, the observation that there is not some supernatural being that has created everything we know makes no sense. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that everything we know was made by some space dust
The observation of how particles in space behave and the observation of the formation of planetary systems suggest otherwise.
I take it a different way. We pray in groups because it makes prayer stronger.
Study shows prayer has no effect what so ever. In fact those who knew they weren't being prayed for showed to suffer from 1% less complications then the group who knew they were being prayed for. http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Harvard_prayer_experiment
And who makes the space dust? Everything has to have a beginning and an end, with the exception of the creator.
The stars made the dust, and in quantum physics that's not necessarily the case.
[quote]I take it a different way. We pray in groups because it makes prayer stronger.
What's the difference if I trow a tissue on a wall or if me and my friend trow tissues on a wall?[/quote] In the lore of the Elder Scrolls games, the strength of the 'gods' is supposed to be directly dependant of how many followers they have.. it is of course made up, but maybe some really think in a similar way of their deity, I don't know
In the lore of the Elder Scrolls games, the strength of the 'gods' is supposed to be directly dependant of how many followers they have.. it is of course made up, but maybe some really think in a similar way of their deity, I don't know
God was already powerful without followers. In the beginning, he virtually had none. It wasn't until Abraham and them started performing odd jobs for him that the religion started kicking off. Praying in groups makes people stronger because of the positive energy that all of them are emitting together.
because of the positive energy that all of them are emitting together.
That's just plain esotheric.. praying in groups makes you stronger because you see that you're not the only one, it gives you confirmation, hope and togetherness; all of these whether there is a god or not.
If we look back through the ages we find that millions have been killed, either on the battlefield, the stake or some horrenduous medieval torture machine whenever temporal power mingled with the secular. Atheism hasn't killed anyone, and please don't start pointing out that Stalin was an atheist because that's obviously not the reason why he killed millions. What religion was good for was delivering moral rules to the people in ages of war and misery, rules that might indeed have saved some lives. For a long time the moncs were the sole guardians of knowledge and its propagation was entirely thanks to their meticulous labour of text transcription... But I ask, should this be seen as a merit of religion itself, rather then that of human intellect and diligence ? I take that back: religion is a product of human intellect, and therefore has no merit in of itself. My conclusion is that there was no need for it, and that now more than ever, when the noble task of vessel of knowledge has been lifted from its hands, it is obsolete and causes many, many more problems than benefits. Instead of putting their faith and hopes into this super-being and raising their heads to the heavens hoping to be saved by his infinite mercy people would be better off realising that the only way they can make a difference is with their own strength and the mercy of fellow human beings, were mercy is needed.
That's just plain esotheric.. praying in groups makes you stronger because you see that you're not the only one, it gives you confirmation, hope and togetherness; all of these whether there is a god or not.
And that is pure speculation. I already know I'm not the only one, without having to pray in groups.
As pointed out earlier study on prayer shows a different story.
But can we trust that study? It could just be propaganda by an atheist group of some sort testing on another group of atheists.
Sorry to the people above: I didn't know I was going to get personally attacked by atheists. I can attack your nonbelief just as easy, but I'm going to take the high road and bow out of this conversation. Have fun in Hell.
