Religion on the decline around the world

[catefrances]

but we are not all christians.. so to stone adulterers based on biblical law is a breach of someones human rights at the least. we need secular laws for secular societies. oh and adultery is not against our law.

...
I know. I used the adulterers thing to illustrate the duality of religion, since religion is made from the mind of Man.
I agree with what you and Inlet both say... we don't want government to fuse with religion to make laws we must all obey. I also believe that we HAVE to have laws because it is in Man's nature to interpret what is good for the self... is good. Regardless of how evil it may be to others. It's not because Man is inherently evil... he is inherently selfish... just like every other animal on the planet who wishes to survive.

you know i often wonder to how much degree man is actually a social animal. i know we live in these groups called society but were they meant to be as large as they are??? and if not, by doing so, have we unbalanced the apple cart and ourselves in the process.

[peacefrompaul]

but we are not all christians.. so to stone adulterers based on biblical law is a breach of someones human rights at the least. we need secular laws for secular societies. oh and adultery is not against our law.

...
I know. I used the adulterers thing to illustrate the duality of religion, since religion is made from the mind of Man.
I agree with what you and Inlet both say... we don't want government to fuse with religion to make laws we must all obey. I also believe that we HAVE to have laws because it is in Man's nature to interpret what is good for the self... is good. Regardless of how evil it may be to others. It's not because Man is inherently evil... he is inherently selfish... just like every other animal on the planet who wishes to survive.

you know i often wonder to how much degree man is actually a social animal. i know we live in these groups called society but were they meant to be as large as they are??? and if not, by doing so, have we unbalanced the apple cart and ourselves in the process.

Good thought, Cate. I'm not so sure... it can be so overwhelming and exhausting...

Me? I'll be sitting in the corner staring at it. Being around a lot of people is not something I like to do very often.

[catefrances]

Good thought, Cate. I'm not so sure... it can be so overwhelming and exhausting...

Me? I'll be sitting in the corner staring at it. Being around a lot of people is not something I like to do very often.

me neither.

[hedonist]

Good thought, Cate. I'm not so sure... it can be so overwhelming and exhausting...

Me? I'll be sitting in the corner staring at it. Being around a lot of people is not something I like to do very often.

Sounds much like me - which is why concerts (around a lot of people) is typicallly reserved for those bands truly worth it (by my somewhat biased standards).

This thread has become wonderful fodder for this brain of mine.

Thanks, all!

[pandora]

The truth is, I think you're ever-so-slighly siding with one side up here in your comments.

...
No. I am right smack dab in the middle on this one. I will give the person who says he absolutely knows that God does NOT exist the same arguements that I would the person who says he knows God does exist. The Arguement on my part is the same for either side... they do NOT know, they may believe they know, but belief is not knowledge. Both persons are equally full of shit when they try to use the arguement about KNOWING the truth about God. And i will tell them both the same thing... in equal terms.

Wow judge people much?

This is based on what you think what you feel ...
YOU don't know so no one can...

[pandora]

That is the duality of Man. We are capable of creating emmense beauty... and horrific evil. When looked at through the lense of objectivity, religion can beautiful and hideous at the same time. It all depends on the person doing the interpretation as to which way the ball will roll.
I believe the thing we should realize is that religion is man made... whether it is the monolith of the Catholic Church or the singular person who believes God talks to him. It is not God's doing... it's man's ruin.

Again judgmental and a blatant generalization that does not embrace the individual good
and collective good that goes with a religion.
And you say you do not even the least bit take a side ... give us a break

Do you not see? You speak of the human factor then totally disregard it
as far as religion is concerned. I don't belong to a religion but I meet the very best of people,
working their lives for others purely, unselfishly, who do.

Freedom of choice is the human factor, the most important factor to building character,
the path we walk and learn from. Within religion is the human factor
and should be recognized for the good done in the name of religion.

[Dissidentman]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/religiosity-plummets-ireland-declines-worldwide-atheism_n_1757453.html

I found this an interesting but not overly surprising trend..

I think this is good for the world. I believe people are inherently good, not because they fear retribution from the almighty, but because we are wired that way.

If people need an external motivation to be good or to do good things, then pick something. Do it in the name of corn Flakes for all I care. I don't believe anyone has ever been executed in the name of corn Flakes.

[Cosmo]

Ok, it just seemed like you were coming down hard on the religious side, and not touching the anti-religious side. That's all.

...
It's probably because you will find more people claiming to know the truth about God on the religious side of the discussion. Most atheists I run into will say stuff like, 'I don't **believe** in God' and I have rarely come across one that claims to know, beyond any and all doubt, that God does not exist. I'm calling bullshit on the latter because I KNOW that person does not know. The fact is, he believes he know God does not exist, when the fact is he does not know.
Proof of God is elusive... as elusive as proof that God does not exist. Which is why the truth is... we just don't know.

[Dissidentman]

No one has seen a unicorn, do they exist?

[BinauralJam]

No one has seen a unicorn, do they exist?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PL1ns00h-4

around the 34 second mark

[Cosmo]

No one has seen a unicorn, do they exist?

...
I don't know. But, I will tell anyone that claims to know they exist... is either full of shit... or pass me that bong.

[Jeanwah]

No one has seen a unicorn, do they exist?

They exist!








It's an Arabian Oryx, the animal that led to the idea of the mythical unicorn because when you see it's profile, the 2 horns like it's only one.

[Cosmo]

They exist!


It's an Arabian Oryx, the animal that led to the idea of the mythical unicorn because when you see it's profile, the 2 horns like it's only one.

...
Yes.... but, does he piss rainbows?

[fuck]

I thought this article was relevant to some of the discussion in this thread. Particularly the parts I chose from it below, though the whole thing is an interesting read:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/c ... ookie.html

"God, to me, has always been elusive. I understand perfectly why atheists are baffled by religion, but I’m just as baffled by them; I could never claim such certainty about the workings of the universe as to rule out any possibility of God. Faith is misunderstood as a synonym for certitude, but really it’s a concept that has doubt folded into it. My own uncertainty about how to conceive of God is deep. As this month of dawns and sunsets neared its end, I began to wonder if the fast has something to do with God’s very unknowability.

...When the fast empties you out during Ramadan, no matter how well you adjust to the deprivation, you never stop feeling the tug of hunger. That tug is a reminder—a reminder, perhaps, of that void inside the Kaaba, and the silent mystery of the divine. On Day Twenty-seven, I happened upon a verse in the Koran about a mirage in the desert: “The thirsty man takes it to be water until he comes to it and finds it to be nothing, and where he thought it to be, there he finds God.”"

[Cosmo]

I thought this article was relevant to some of the discussion in this thread. Particularly the parts I chose from it below, though the whole thing is an interesting read:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/c ... ookie.html

"God, to me, has always been elusive. I understand perfectly why atheists are baffled by religion, but I’m just as baffled by them; I could never claim such certainty about the workings of the universe as to rule out any possibility of God. Faith is misunderstood as a synonym for certitude, but really it’s a concept that has doubt folded into it. My own uncertainty about how to conceive of God is deep. As this month of dawns and sunsets neared its end, I began to wonder if the fast has something to do with God’s very unknowability.

...When the fast empties you out during Ramadan, no matter how well you adjust to the deprivation, you never stop feeling the tug of hunger. That tug is a reminder—a reminder, perhaps, of that void inside the Kaaba, and the silent mystery of the divine. On Day Twenty-seven, I happened upon a verse in the Koran about a mirage in the desert: “The thirsty man takes it to be water until he comes to it and finds it to be nothing, and where he thought it to be, there he finds God.”"

...
This cuts to the core of which I believe... God's unknowability.
I am much too feeble of a living being to know and understand God and truth in my current state of existance... and... so is everyone else.