Can people not see how backwards these ideologies have made our society? It promotes unintelligent thinking and is all for constraining an open mind that is capable of great things. Flashback to western society without religion. In the Ancient Greek times homosexuality/bisexuality was completely normal. In fact, if you restricted yourself to loving one gender you were seen as "weird". I can assure you that almost every human civil right problem we have today, Transphobia, Sexism, Homophobia, Racism etc would not be present if it wasn't for the emergence of Religion in the late Roman era. Religion has stopped us as a society from growing and advancing, we are just starting to do the repair damage which it has caused. People don't give a **** about this world and the environmental impact we are having on it, because they believe that we are going to some cloudy exotic paradise. Like, how ****ed up is that? People literally don't care about this life and are left unsatisfied because they believe that they are going somewhere after this.

All in all, religion promotes the idea that we shouldn't be satisfied with what we have. And it makes me so mad and upset.

For starters, I just wanna go back to the thread a point out that someone said this.

Religion is very comforting to some people. Oh no, did someone die? Well they're now an angel in heaven. Does you life suck? Heaven will be better. Most religious people were raised in the religion from very very young so it's hard to break free from such heavy indoctrination. Religion can easily be picked apart, but it does not promote questions.

I think you'd like this video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j8ZMMuu7MU

this is really sad

You know I consider myself a Christian, but I really don't understand religious people sometimes. A man from my old hometown (it's a conservative town so heavily religious) got killed ROBBING A HOUSE, and everyone was saying "RIP, God got a new angel" "He's in a better place now"


Like ch... People he did drugs, drank frequently, and committed crimes Do they really believe he somehow got God's forgiveness while robbing someone's house and made it to heaven?

Better yet, if someone like this actually did make it to heaven then I would see no point in living a virtuous life.



Also it's really irritating how religious people believe they are slick. Condemn gay people for committing "sins" when all of them have committed sins. People lie all the damn time (which is a sin) but you never see those people claiming they're going to hell A sin is a sin. I hate how people think they can dictate which ones are bigger than the others. That's not how it works. That's just corruption and thinking they can pull one over and if there really is a God then that wouldn't work on him.

Ugh idk the point of this post. I'm not aethiest myself, but damn religious people are a mess. I can fully see why some people are aethiest and want to stay clear of these people

Yes. I understand why a lot of people turn to religion to be comforted. I just find the science reasoning to life so much more beautiful, logical, and interesting. Like, I find it amazing how all of the matter in the universe are made up of similar/the same stardust and cells. How we are so lucky to even be given a conscious and to experience this life, even if it's just once. How dare we run to some "God" and "Religion" (choose your pick, they are ultimately all the same. And started from the same thing) for some reassurance that we get more than what we were gifted with.

I honestly do believe it has something to do with intelligence and education. Most people who are highly educated that I know are atheists. I also agree that for a lot of people it is hard for them to break out of, and it's extremely mentally conflicting when they start to think rationally. And it conflicts with their beliefs, which they were drilled with from a young age.

Also. That video explains the defensiveness of theists perfectly.

Homosexuality was not common in ancient Greece. Far from it. The only homosexual behavior that came close to being common in ancient Greece was pederasty which is also quite common in Arab culture. But even so, it was only encouraged in the upper classes. There was no evidence that this was common elsewhere in Greece or among the lower classes. Ancient Greece was an elitist society. It was a wonderful place to live if you were a slave owner but not if you were a slave.

And there has never been a society or a period in history without a religion or a category equivalent to the supernatural. Religion is as old as the emergence of the first modern humans. Ancient Greek society, just like most ancient societies, was centered on its religion which was polytheistic. Polytheistic societies turned a blind eye to homosexual actions but that doesn't mean homosexuality was greatly encouraged or it was all that common. The reason for this is that, unlike monotheistic cultures, polytheistic societies had no strict rules to live by and hence why they were not as organized and eventually defeated and displaced by monotheistic cultures. Cultures evolve and religion is a subset of culture. And monotheism is the highest evolved form of religion. If anything, in the past, a society's religion played a vital role in the formation and preservation of that society. It was not the cause of its destruction.

An agnostic can either be a theist or an atheist but cannot be neither since agnosticism is the logical negation of gnosticism, and not a neutral position between theism and atheism or a religious position of its own. Agnosticism is a position on knowledge, not a position on belief. There is no middle ground between theism and atheism. Belief is an either/or situation. Most self-avowed agnostics are actually negative or weak atheists or those who lack belief in the existence of God but don't necessarily reject or deny such notion unlike what positive/strong atheists do.

Just random thought here: Belief isn't a problem; organized religion isn't even inherently a problem. The problems a lot of you guys are talking about are caused by individuals and those that they influence and persuade; if it weren't religion, they'd find another medium to create this chaos that they seek. Government; family; socioeconomic status. Something would still make horrible people spread their vitriol and prejudice. Coming from a pretty-strongly agnostic point of view, I think that blaming religion for problems - as true as it may be on the surface and as a generalization - ignores this.

I'm NO big fan of religion. It baffles me that many (particularly in the over 30-40 crowd) insist that church is some requirement. Personally,I've been to church MULTIPLE times in my life and I STILL do not get its appeal.All I see is a glorified fashion show (some of the church clothes I see people wear ) where people gossip to no end, and sit through a LONG, BORING monologue.Many of the people who go to church tend to be on the judgmental side too; they'll IGNORE their moral failings but as soon as someone else does wrong,they talk about 'morals and values'.I can't take it seriously, tbh.

EDIT: I thought I was in a different thread

Are you trying to suggest that religion in Rome started with Christianity? That's wrong. The Romans were pagans, and had placed a good value in those beliefs. Heck, some emperors used religious propaganda to gain the support of the citizens.

Also, the ancient Greeks had a religion; they were pagans. It's can't see how you think Ancient Greece was progressive just because they might have accepted homosexuality in some areas, but ignore the fact that women were second class citizens and about a third of their population were slaves.

The U.S. does not take away bibles from Kids in school. You can bring a bible to school, you can read it as long as you're not having class, and teachers are technically allowed to bring a bible in school. The only thing that can't happen is Teachers reading the bible to students, because like you said it's imposition.

As for the condom thing some (few) high schools do offer condoms but that's only after they tell the kids "Don't have sex or you'll get pregnant, get AIDS or DIE!" . Your friend/associate is a hot mess.

Right, but here's religion not just fostering but actively encouraging said vitriol and prejudice both directly and indirectly (e.g. the Bible condemning homosexuality directly as well as Christians using religious arguments to condemn abortion). And although it's impossible to eradicate people who would like to spread hatred, it's entirely possible to make big steps towards eradicating religion- what is needed is increased scientific literacy and penetration of children who are being indoctrinated and brainwashed into a religion.

The ignorance and conflict caused by religion is so appalling yet so preventable, which is why I'm so passionate about the subject.

Just as something to think about, you said that people would "find another medium to create this chaos that they seek. Government; family; socioeconomic status."

There are plenty of Congressmen and Congresswomen who are very rich and in a secure, happy family that promote the same anti-secular, religious rhetoric. Remember the Arizona representative who said that a bill should be introduced requiring mandatory church attendance? This is the kind of foolishness that needs to be stopped.

I find claiming that a single book has all the answers both silly and so limiting, regardless of the contents of said book.

I'm a Christian myself but I just find it hilarious that other Christians feel insulted that they don't teach religion in public schools. Like they think it's forbidden to talk about your religion in schools but it's not. You can talk about them all you want. Where I'm getting at is that due to me going to bible studies I hear so many opinions and thoughts of my fellow Christians and it just appauls me how blind sides they are by their own religion. Its like they don't research anything up other than modern issues in the world just so that they can emphasize their "final days" theory. When in actuality we are becoming more humane and sympathetic to issues that other people deal with. From my experience in Christianity, I noticed A LOT that they like talking about the negative issues on society and none do the positives. Sometimes I want to change religions because of them.

The U.S. was indeed based upon Christian values. Being secular doesn't necessarily mean a society cannot adopt the values and principles of a particular religion or abandon the influence of religion altogether. Most Christian-majority countries are secular but that does not erase the fact that their values were based on or derived from mostly from Christianity. In fact, not only the U.S., but the entire western civilization was based upon Christianity hence why Christianity is often referred to as a "western religion" especially here in the East. Every past civilization and society was founded on the values and principles of their respective religions. It was religion that was largely responsible for providing a particular civilization or society its needed moral framework and it is also religion which mostly dictates the norms in that society which is evident of the fact that some human behaviours are deemed aberrant and deviant in some cultures while the same behaviours are considered normal in others.

Why would you want to do this when religion existed since the dawn of mankind and there is nothing to suggest that the world would indeed be better off with all religions gone? Children are not brainwashed with religion. Religion is an integral part of culture and culture is learned and passed down to every generation. By eradicating religion, you're just leading everyone into moral relativism. You cannot force everyone into just one way of thinking or make them subscribe to one particular worldview which is exactly the reason why religions exist in the first place. Not even all atheists are humanists. Only 4 million people in the world identify as such. And scientific literacy won't eradicate religion since [b]proper[/p] science itself does not prove religion wrong. Most religious people actually don't find their faith conflicting with science since the two are not even mutually exclusive. The science-religion conflict that you are used to witnessing is uniquely common in your country because the largest religious denomination in the U.S. is of a fundamentalist type. Religion only contradicts scientific materialism, an atheistic worldview that is distinct from science itself; and science only contradicts religious fundamentalism, one type of religious worldview or a particular interpretation of religion.

Agnosticism is a type of atheism.