Will religion fade out? Options

[*Steven*]

Science simply cannot explain why human life is as it is, why we have good days and bad days, why we're here, why children die, etc., not only for me but for others as well.

LOL Yes it can.

Children die for many reasons, all explained by science or House M.D.
We're here because we engineered boats and sailed across the ocean and landed here. Then we used different methods and stuff (all explained by science) to build houses and travel.
We have good days and bad days based on events and chemicals in our brains. If I remembered my psychology class I could explain more but I would be making a fool of myself to try to use big words I don't remember :(
Human life is as it is due to evolution (DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN)

[kryogenix]

Given the amount of people that rather explicitly and loudly believe in something despite an utter lack of evidence, I actually think denying such a behavior and categorizing it as foolish and absurd is something to be proud of. I mean, a lot of different things take all sorts of willpower and discipline - flying those planes into the World Trade Centers and drinking the purple Kool-Aid for example - but that doesn't necessitate that one should be prideful of said dedication and or that others should admire those who hold it. Either way you cut that nasty ass cake, your argument reduces to, "People should be proud of closing their eyes and vehemently refusing to open them! I mean, that takes so much effort and time! Belief in things for which there is no evidence is so cool!"

Shaloin Monks are boring and Mother Teresa is a bitch - seriously.

Stop and think about what you just said. You're comparing prayer and fasting to terrorist acts.

[demolished]

Unless we found out .. another creature were the one who modifed a new species called "human" sended to Earth.

AHAHAHA.

[NoSex]

Stop and think about what you just said. You're comparing prayer and fasting to terrorist acts.

So what? I see a lot more value in Terrorist Acts than I do in fasting, and, in either case, both require a good deal of will and discipline. My point still stands - not to mention, you didn't really address my most poignant criticism - that non-belief is something of discipline and pride (especially given that belief and practice are just held in familiarity, comfortability, and tradition).

[Amaranthus]

^I never understood the concept of fasting, nor blowing yourself up.

[jesusisthebestth...]

religion explains why children die?
i've been trying to figure out for a long time how religion explains children who die in cruel and painful ways.

idk, that's just more stuff i don't get about religion. i don't get someone who needs some grand explanation for why they had a bad day. i have bad days because not all days are gonna be great. that's all there is to it.

religion doesn't give me a good answer for any of those. i don't think religion answers anything at all. i guess for some people it does though. so i agree that as long as some are satisfied with it, it will exist.

I've thought those same things and I have struggled with my religion.

I'm not trying to say that religion explains these things, I'm just saying that for me (maybe I'm just foolish) the belief that there is someone out there (I say in heaven) who is bigger/better/more important than me who relates to me, seeks me out of the crowd, and is there for meditation when my mom/dad/sister/best friend doesn't feel like listening is quite comforting.

LOL Yes it can.

Children die for many reasons, all explained by science or House M.D.
We're here because we engineered boats and sailed across the ocean and landed here. Then we used different methods and stuff (all explained by science) to build houses and travel.
We have good days and bad days based on events and chemicals in our brains. If I remembered my psychology class I could explain more but I would be making a fool of myself to try to use big words I don't remember :(
Human life is as it is due to evolution (DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN)

Thanks for the explanation, you've cleared this up for me. See, JC, Steven to the rescue =]

[kryogenix]

So what? I see a lot more value in Terrorist Acts than I do in fasting, and, in either case, both require a good deal of will and discipline. My point still stands - not to mention, you didn't really address my most poignant criticism - that non-belief is something of discipline and pride (especially given that belief and practice are just held in familiarity, comfortability, and tradition).

Blowing yourself up is bad because you're killing people, not because of the discipline and will power you need to get yourself to do it.

Non belief is not only wrong, but requires no effort at all.

[*Steven*]

[Call911Quick]

^ that looks photoshopped

[Simba]

I'm pretty sure it's not photoshopped. I've seen it before, if I remember correctly. One of those "most influential photos in history." Heck, I'm pretty sure I used it myself during the whole Viva La Revolucion thing, but someone requested I remove it.


I'm pretty sure that guy was protesting because of social injustices. I don't remember the details.

[*Steven*]

It's not photoshopped. That picture was taken a long time ago. It was a monk who set himself on fire, but showed no emotion or pain while burning.

[bat19]

Of course it will, given time, everything fades out. f**king everything. I stay up and think about this shit during the nights I cannot sleep. That and the lagistics of Time Travel, I've discovered multiple angles at which Time travel could possibly (POSSIBLY) make sense, but not enough to write a full book on the subject or else I would have by now and changed the entire way scientists view the subject.
Think back on the fifties. No one alive today does anything the way they did in the fifties. Thats a bit of an overstatement but its almost true. The way we talk, dress, act, everything. We are becoming a smarter and dumber country at the same time, which really doesnt make that much sense. For instance, I know how to look up lots and lots of porn, and I know how to hide it. But I couldnt tell you how to build a mailbox, let alone a treehouse, when was the last time someone had a f**king treehouse? How about can telephones? DOES ANYONE REMEMBER CAN TELEPHONES!!!! I'm gonna start a topic about that.

Think about Gilgamesh, think about Marduk, think about Yahweh, all these different religious icons have been forgotten (save Yahweh but not everyone thinks its the same god as God). Given time, people will forget all about Jesus. Not true, people will remember him, but the stories of him and the bible will pass into myth, it's already happened with the Old Testament, there is barely a person or sect alive or in practice that still fully believe in the Old Testament, except the Jews but most of them don't believe the stories either.

Jeez, I miss childhood. Treehouses, snowforts, can telephones, tire swings, imagination, all those great things that came before the playstation and N64 ruined everything, they gave birth to the new age of gaming. Who do you know who actually plays outside anymore, except in the mid-west but they're all hicks and rednecks anyway, let them shoot eachother with b.b. guns and throw their cheese at eachother, the f**kers.

[*Steven*]

Sure maybe religious figures will fade out, but I think religion itself is here to stay for a long long time.

[Kontroll]

Sure maybe religious figures will fade out, but I think religion itself is here to stay for a long long time.

Indeed. Religion will never fade out, you douche bag Caterpillar.

[ersatz]

Blowing yourself up is bad because you're killing people, not because of the discipline and will power you need to get yourself to do it.

Non belief is not only wrong, but requires no effort at all.

I don't know, it took a lot of effort for me to actually sit down and think about the concept rather than to just accept what someone told me as a child. Questioning a majority is a bit more difficult than nodding your head and saying, "OK, that sounds like it would make sense."

I agree, though, that terrorist acts and religious practices cannot be equated, because (ideally) one does not affect another person whatsoever, and I could really care less if someone wants to fast or be religious in any way. As long as they don't hurt or harass another person.

[NoSex]

I don't know, it took a lot of effort for me to actually sit down and think about the concept rather than to just accept what someone told me as a child. Questioning a majority is a bit more difficult than nodding your head and saying, "OK, that sounds like it would make sense."

Precisely. I think it takes a lot more consideration, meditation, and time to maturely and intelligently deny something you were told was true all your life. Band wagoning for your entire life must be, at least, sort of easy - I mean, everyone does it, right?

I agree, though, that terrorist acts and religious practices cannot be equated, because (ideally) one does not affect another person whatsoever, and I could really care less if someone wants to fast or be religious in any way. As long as they don't hurt or harass another person.

I was simply trying to point out that discipline and dedication take many different forms. Just because someone is greatly disciplined and has a good deal of will power doesn't mean they should be proud of themselves - they could just as easily be crazy.

See argument A: Mother Teresa is the shit for having the will to pray every night before she went to sleep in her filthy bed.

[Simba]

What if you were born into an atheist family?


We're not really arguing over which beliefs take more discipline and maturity, atheism or theism, are we? You'll always have people who take one or the other seriously, and people who are just posers.

[ersatz]

I don't really care what belief system is forced onto a person. I care about the fact that it was forced. One can be born into a Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, atheist, whatever family and not have anything forced on them. Personally, when I have children, I'm not even going to introduce them to religion until I can see that they have the mental capacity to handle making such a decision on their own. Obviously they'll hear about it from their friends, and when they ask about it, I will tell them that they don't need to worry about it. Once they're older and I can observe that they understand what's going on, I'll give them some books and they can think about it and make their own decision, whatever that is, because I would have a problem if my child just followed whatever I did because I was their mom. I would be much, much prouder if they came to the same decision on their own, or, better yet, contradicted me and came to a different conclusion. That shows that they're thinking.

[WakingLife]

as long as poor, weak, and ignorant people exist, so will religion imo

Amen!

[jaeman]

Religion will not fade out.