A case against religion.

As most people here know there are many irreligions.

Atheism:

Atheism, defined most narrowly, is the position that there are no deities. More broadly defined, it is the rejection of belief in the existence of any deities, with or without an assertion that no deities exist. The broadest definition classifies atheism as the absence of belief that any deities exist.

en.wikipedia.org...

Deism:

Deism is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe, and that this (and religious truth in general) can be determined using reason and observation of the natural world alone, without the need for either faith or organized religion. Deists tend to, but do not necessarily, reject the notion that God intervenes in human affairs, for example through miracles and revelations. These views contrast with the dependence on revelations, miracles, and faith found in many Jewish, Christian, Islamic and other theistic teachings.

en.wikipedia.org...

Nontheism:

Nontheism is a term that covers a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of — or the rejection of — theism or any belief in a personal god or gods. It is in use in the fields of Christian apologetics and general liberal theology. "Nontheism" should not be confused with "irreligion".

en.wikipedia.org...

Agnostocism:

Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable. Agnosticism can be defined in various ways, and is sometimes used to indicate doubt or a skeptical approach to questions. In some senses, agnosticism is a stance about the differences between belief and knowledge, rather than about any specific claim or belief.

en.wikipedia.org...

Ignostocism:

It can be defined as encompassing two related views about the existence of God:

1. The view that a coherent definition of God must be presented before the question of the existence of God can be meaningfully discussed. Furthermore, if that definition is unfalsifiable, the ignostic takes the theological noncognitivist position that the question of the existence of God (per that definition) is meaningless. In this case, the concept of God is not considered meaningless; the term "God" is considered meaningless.
2. The second view is synonymous with theological noncognitivism, and skips the step of first asking "What is meant by God?" before proclaiming the original question "Does God exist?" as meaningless.

en.wikipedia.org...

Antireligion:

Antireligion is distinct from atheism and antitheism (opposition to belief in deities), although antireligionists may be atheists or antitheists. The term may be used to describe opposition to organized religion, or to describe a broader opposition to any form of belief in the supernatural or the divine.

en.wikipedia.org...

Religious Skepticism:

Religious skepticism is a type of skepticism relating to religion, but should not be confused with atheism. Religious skeptics question religious authority and are not necessarily anti-religious but are those skeptical of a specific or all religious beliefs or practices. Some are even deists, such as believing in a God, but yet reject organized religion. Socrates was one of the first religious skeptics of whom we have records; he questioned the legitimacy of the beliefs of his time in the existence of the various gods.

en.wikipedia.org...

Freethought:

Freethought holds that individuals should neither accept nor reject ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason. Thus, freethinkers strive to build their opinions on the basis of facts.

Applied to religion, freethinkers have generally held that, given presently-known facts, established scientific theories, and logical principles, there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of supernatural phenomena. While many, perhaps most, freethinkers would consider themselves atheists or agnostics, one position consistent with both freethinking and belief in God is philosophical theism.

en.wikipedia.org...

Secular Humanism:

Secular humanism is a humanist philosophy that espouses reason, ethics, and justice, and specifically rejects supernatural and religious dogma as the basis of morality and decision-making. Like other types of humanism, secular humanism is a life stance that focuses on the way human beings can lead good, happy and functional lives.

en.wikipedia.org...



When you read through these different irreligious ideals one thing represents all of them, thought. Rejecting religion overall or even god for that matter requires deep thinking, and true independence. Whether there is or is not a god or other supernatural beings is basically irrelivant. We search for the truth and answers, not silly books and people whom claim they know what god requires of us or we'll be punished. Why must there be a punishment? It is purely to scare people into obedience. Why is there a thought of paradise(heaven) after you die? Because people are afraid of dying and never that is it, they want to live forever without admitting it. Religion is about fear, fear made to dictate other people. It gives others a reason to submit to a selected few whom are given power to rule. It is as simple as that. Just because you reject religion does not mean you have to reject god. It is rejecting control, and replacing it with free thinking and individualism.

I am personally a Free Thinker whom is Agnostic. I do not see the need to worry if there is or is not a god, hell or heaven. We need to worry about bettering society, species and world. It's about expanding our minds, rejecting control, expanding science, and reaching further into the universe to learn it's secrets. We can not do this if we are consistently being stopped by religion. We could create immortality within this century if we kept religion seperate from science and government. We could clone ourselves and live forever, we could reach mars and soon pluto! This is all possible, not from the power of god but from the power of man.

I would like to leave everyone with this quote:
"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear." ~ Thomas Jefferson.

[edit on 2/21/10 by Misoir]

Most of the gospels do not praise thinking for yourself. Seriously, pick up a religious text, and try to find stuff about gaining more knowledge about your world.


I agree with you, that life should not be about servitude. Any greater being, any being with the supposed power of god, would not WANT servitude.

I think you should focus on making everything you are a part of, soemthing better. No matter what you do everyday, you should focus on making the world, the environment, animals, nature, yourself, other's lives, and everything in general...BETTER.

You will find, that the more you contribute in this world...the better you feel.

reply to post by InertiaZero


I agree with you. What really ticks me off is the line, "I'll pray for you". Those stupid religious freaks use that line for everything from a terminal illness to talking crap about people who don't submit to their religion. Instead of saying "I'll pray for you" to a dying person why don't you try and make their lives better before they go, or stop attacking scientists who are trying to find cures for illnesses? Instead of saying "I'll pray for you" to someone who disagrees with your religious point of view why don't you try and learn about their views and tell them abut yours, who knows you might actually learn something for once!

reply to post by Misoir


I prefer to reject -isms. This includes anti-religiousism. I think you miss the point if you don't.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider. Francis Bacona

Very cool to put them all in a list
Lets hope everyone reads them

What I do think is silly. In that whole list there just 3 to cover them all.
Atheism. theism, and agnostic.

Why all the extra boxes for people ?

If some one not believes.He couldn't give a rats behind what someone else will label him with.

All my opinion of course.
S&F you anyway .

Originally posted by Misoir
reply to post by InertiaZero

 

I agree with you. What really ticks me off is the line, "I'll pray for you". Those stupid religious freaks use that line for everything from a terminal illness to talking crap about people who don't submit to their religion. Instead of saying "I'll pray for you" to a dying person why don't you try and make their lives better before they go, or stop attacking scientists who are trying to find cures for illnesses? Instead of saying "I'll pray for you" to someone who disagrees with your religious point of view why don't you try and learn about their views and tell them abut yours, who knows you might actually learn something for once!

Sorry for being thoughtful. Next person who's dying, I won't acknowledge it because there is nothing I can do. Why is it wrong to think of someone else when praying? Doesn't that mean the person actually cares enough to put that person in their thought when they pray. They aren't being selfish by praying for millions of dollars, or a new car, they are hoping for that persons healths to be better.

I think that a person could balance being a part of society and being a believer just as good as anyone else. But the fact is that there is nothing wrong with learning your religious teachings. But people tend to forget that as times change so does teachings. You could see this through Moses' time to Jesus'. Before Moses, the laws were not as strict because they have not been given yet. Through Moses' time until Jesus' the teachings changed a bit to suit the society.

But you trying to come on here and abolish religion single handed isn't going to work. The problem doesn't stem from religion as you suggested. The problem comes from the greed which people carry in their hearts. You could say religion has been the downfall of man...but then again when religion was dominant we only had swords to kill each other with. Because of science, we now have weapons that could destroy the Earth a thousand times over!

Using your logic, I think science could be the downfall of man. Science brought forth all the chemicals in our cigarettes, all the deadly pollutants, and much more.

Your reason to believe religion is holding us back is but an illusion. Do you seriously think us being 200 years advanced would solve our differences? Maybe religion was put into place to do just that! If our brains can't develop as quick as our weapons, surely we would have been doomed long ago.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


All above mentioned concepts are basically philosophical terms. And philosophy is very good in coining various terms Usually you will not find many people with well pronounced notion on religion. In normal life we pretty well can use thesis/antithesis "theist-atheist" and their synthesis agnostic. You can be theist in personal life but when you do science then you must step aside and be agnostic - science can not prove or disprove Gods existence because such question is not scientific. Even theology is not working on proof of Gods existence (at least starting by I. Kant) - it take it as starting point for reasoning. Theology is basically logic applied at bit strange area, still it is science.

Originally posted by Equinox99

Originally posted by Misoir
reply to post by InertiaZero

 

Your reason to believe religion is holding us back is but an illusion. Do you seriously think us being 200 years advanced would solve our differences? Maybe religion was put into place to do just that! If our brains can't develop as quick as our weapons, surely we would have been doomed long ago.

In my country were many religious wars. Reformation started more then 100 years before Luther here. There were even crusades against Czech kingdom at this time - all failed. After we ended between Catholics and protestants. During 16. century there were more then 5 denominations and perpetual breach between various fractions and foreign power centers. Then came full scale and devastating religious 30 years war in first half of 17. century followed by forceful recatholisation. Catholicism was also used as state ideology of Hapsburg monarchy.
Based on our history I can say that institutionalized and hierarchically managed religion produce wars - not stop them. Probably you think that religion is base of morality. It is not. I'm agnostic and I consider myself moral man. It is simple: do not harm and help where you can. All other is BS. Did this notion came to me through religion? No. All my family is agnostic and my grand parents were even atheists. I was raised in "communist" strictly atheist school.
Back to USA where many people are (at least proclaimed) theists. G.W. Bush is from my point of view religious fanatic and I'm afraid that his wars are partly religious wars.
Just to be clear - I do not judge any believe unless it causes harm to me or World where I'm living. Also there are many theists which I deeply appreciate.

I doubt if there were a god, he wouldnt be worry about who, here on earth, is following his book

he would worry about who is expanding their minds, not killing people, not being corrupt ...

for u to live your life by a book its just horrible, I mean, its unbelievable

some people try to explain everything thought the sentence "god made"

why is coke good? well, god makes it good
why is the universe gigantic? well, god did it that way

I mean ... what the $%4?

[edit on 21-2-2010 by Faiol]