Anything good about religion at all?

cfc1888

Serous question-what do all yee know it all atheists believe?
Monkeys fell from the moon? God is a myth coz yeer too cool for God? Explain yeer non belief to me. Are humans made of particles of the moon or some such sh@t? Enlighten me o wise ones.

Bannasidhe

cfc1888 wrote: »

Serous question-what do all yee know it all atheists believe?
Monkeys fell from the moon? God is a myth coz yeer too cool for God? Explain yeer non belief to me. Are humans made of particles of the moon or some such sh@t? Enlighten me o wise ones.

Any chance you could write that in standard English?

cfc1888

cfc1888 wrote: »

Serous question-what do all yee know it all atheists believe?
Monkeys fell from the moon? God is a myth coz yeer too cool for God? Explain yeer non belief to me. Are humans made of particles of the moon or some such sh@t? Enlighten me o wise ones.

What do I believe? I believe that you're an ape. A great ape, even.

cfc1888

gvn wrote: »

What do I believe? I believe that you're an ape. A great ape, even.

Cheers. I thought I was an Orangutan. Anyway, is there anything good about atheism at all?

Calibos

Its, its, Its like, we're the Lions, you're the Christian and this forum is the Colusseum...

nagirrac

cfc1888 wrote: »

Cheers. I thought I was an Orangutan. Anyway, is there anything good about atheism at all?

An orangutan is a great ape. From a DNA standpoint your closest relative is a chimp but from an appearance and behavior standpoint, you are more like an orangutan (not you specifically, all of us). There is some disagreement among scientists as to which ape we most closely resemble.
I will leave the answer to your question to the atheists.

pauldla

cfc1888 wrote: »

Cheers. I thought I was an Orangutan. Anyway, is there anything good about atheism at all?

Like nagirrac said, orangutans are great apes. That's one good thing about atheism, you learn stuff. The other good thing about being an atheist is the lie-in on Sunday mornings. And that's about it.

Bannasidhe

pauldla wrote: »

Like nagirrac said, orangutans are great apes. That's one good thing about atheism, you learn stuff. The other good thing about being an atheist is the lie-in on Sunday mornings. And that's about it.

I like the bit about not being obliged to believe the contents of a book are not only absolutely true but inspired by the creator of the universe.

pauldla

Bannasidhe wrote: »

I like the bit about not being obliged to believe the contents of a book are not only absolutely true but inspired by the creator of the universe.

robindch

cfc1888 wrote: »

Anyway, is there anything good about atheism at all?

Except for lie-ins on Sunday morning, Iain M Banks, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Christopher Hitchens, this forum, no catholic church, no evangelicals, no creationism, no religious wars, not encouraging homophobia or segregation of children according to the religion of their parents, no scientology, no mormonism, no islam, no Alive! arsewipe, no religious indoctrination in schools and not causing, then not ignoring then excusing the entire catholic pedophile scandal, no self-selecting parasitical clerical class, no Reichskonkordat or the Center Party, none of the epistemological basis for the scientific progress upon which our entire world is now built...

whatever did atheism ever do for us?

Obliq

Bannasidhe wrote: »

I like the bit about not being obliged to believe the contents of a book are not only absolutely true but inspired by the creator of the universe.

I like the bit about not being obliged to agree with any religious teachings on sex and reproductive matters.

MrPudding

gbee wrote: »

Look it up. Animals usually die in the hunt, they release hormones that stay in the body after death. This is a know situation.

This is just wrong. If you are hunting for food you want to kill the animal without it knowing you are there. When the animal is spooked, triggering the fight or flight mechanism, the chemicals released, as well as the tension in the muscles causes the meat to be tougher than it would otherwise be. This is hunting 101 really.

MrP

pauldla

MrPudding wrote: »

This is just wrong. If you are hunting for food you want to kill the animal without it knowing you are there. When the animal is spooked, triggering the fight or flight mechanism, the chemicals released, as well as the tension in the muscles causes the meat to be tougher than it would otherwise be. This is hunting 101 really.

MrP

Yes, this is true, but might it depend on the type of meat, too? Over here, dog is sometimes served, and the beast is tenderised prior to being dispatched. In other words, Rover is tied to a tree and has the snot bet out of him for about half an hour before he finally gets finished off. Improves the flavour of the meat, I'm told, get the juices flowing etc.

nagirrac

robindch wrote: »

Except for lie-ins on Sunday morning, Iain M Banks, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Christopher Hitchens, this forum, no catholic church, no evangelicals, no creationism, no religious wars, not encouraging homophobia or segregation of children according to the religion of their parents, no scientology, no mormonism, no islam, no Alive! arsewipe, no religious indoctrination in schools and not causing, then not ignoring then excusing the entire catholic pedophile scandal, no self-selecting parasitical clerical class, no Reichskonkordat or the Center Party, none of the epistemological basis for the scientific progress upon which our entire world is now built...

whatever did atheism ever do for us?

You are welcome to Hitchens:) but I am afraid claiming Darwin and Einstein just doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Einstein never self identified as an atheist and descibed himself as a deist agnostic. Charles Darwin was a theist early in life and an agnostic later in life: "a man can be an ardent Theist and an evolutionist .. I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existance of a God". I firmly believe Darwin is a great model for humanity in that he understood attacking religion served no purpose and he confined himself to writing on science and not religion. In this respect, I think Dawkins and Harris could learn a thing or two from Darwin, rather than using his marvelous work to further their anti-religious rantings.
Although some of my posts may appear to be attacking atheism, I assure you my core belief is advocating moderation and avoiding extreme positions be they political, economic or social. It is not so much denying the existance of God that is extreme in my view, it is the fervent adherence to a materialistic worldview that atheists believe and promote and claim is backed up by science (even though most atheists like most of the general population are not scientists).
The whole materialistic worldview is collapsing. Rather than going down the rabbit hole that is quantum mechanics that nobody understands anyway (we understand the effect but not the why), the fundamental position for a materialistic atheist is that consciousness (mind) equals brain. This is where the rubber hits the road. The strongest evidence for mind being separate to brain is in neuroscience and NDE. Jeffrey Schwartz at UCLA has treated and cured OCD in patients but also demonstrated using MRI that the brain undergoes permanent physical changes before and after. The technique used is meditation, have a think about that, meditation causes permanent physical changes in the brain. The evidence from NDE research overwhelmingly suggests that consciousness survives death. Skeptics claim the effect is due to hypoxia but every researcher who has actually studied NDE seriously and experienced it have concluded it is not hypoxia. There are countless example of patients who were brain dead for significant periods, in many cases induced for surgery, and recovered fully. When leading materialistic neuroscientists are asked about this they talk about the brain "booting up". Booting up from what?

Mark Hamill

cfc1888 wrote: »

Anyway, is there anything good about atheism at all?

Its the correct answer, thats all the good any position ever needs.

kiki

Mark Hamill wrote: »

Its the correct answer, thats all the good any position ever needs.

Being Pedantic - here but there is a small distinction - Rather than a statement which is itself sounds like one a religious believer would make, its probably better to suggest that
"There is plenty of evidence to suggest that it is the correct answer and very little to suggest that it is incorrect and as a result the position is a strong position"

Lapin

cfc1888 wrote: »

Anyway, is there anything good about atheism at all?

Freedom.

Michael OBrien

kiki wrote: »

Being Pedantic - here but there is a small distinction - Rather than a statement which is itself sounds like one a religious believer would make, its probably better to suggest that
"There is plenty of evidence to suggest that it is the correct answer and very little to suggest that it is incorrect and as a result the position is a strong position"

Atheism is a null position, you don't need evidence for a null position. The burden is on the claimant that brings up that a god exists.
Therefore it is the right position, unless you are convinced otherwise. Same goes for those that do not believe that fairies exist. Its up to those that DO believe they exist to prove it.

Even if some kind of god does exist, or that supernatural things were identified in the future as scientifically true or even highly likely, that does not mean that the atheist position is wrong NOW. Until evidence is provided you cannot distinguish between a lie and a truth. The default position should be to consider such claims false, because the alternative would mean accept ALL claims as true regardless of evidence.

Mark Hamill

kiki wrote: »

Being Pedantic - here but there is a small distinction - Rather than a statement which is itself sounds like one a religious believer would make, its probably better to suggest that
"There is plenty of evidence to suggest that it is the correct answer and very little to suggest that it is incorrect and as a result the position is a strong position"

I think you mistaking atheism for gnostic atheism. Atheism is the correct position in relation to the claims theist make for gods existence (seeing as they have zero evidence), but that doesn't mean an atheist can't be open to further claims.

otto_26

God this thread has gone so boring.

Reminds me of the guy with the long blond hair in the bar in "Good Will Hunting"

MagicMarker

otto_26 wrote: »

God this thread has gone so boring.

Reminds me of the guy with the long blond hair in the bar in "Good Will Hunting"

Oooh, good one. Quick, ask me how I like them apples, quickly!!

otto_26

MagicMarker wrote: »

Oooh, good one. Quick, ask me how I like them apples, quickly!!

Ouch did I hit a nerve!!

Sarky

otto_26 wrote: »

God this thread has gone so boring.

Reminds me of the guy with the long blond hair in the bar in "Good Will Hunting"

Well with shining contributions like that you're not exactly helping matters. Try harder, petal.

otto_26

Sarky wrote: »

Well with shining contributions like that you're not exactly helping matters. Try harder, petal.

Really try reading the 6 previous posts to mine without yawning!!

I'm bringing a bit of spice back into the thread baby!!

Greaney

Goodness, I tried reading some of these posts and some just really dissappeared into a conceptual vortex! To answer the OP's question about 'anything good about religion', I'll make it simple. Yes. Out of the Judeo Christian Culture you have....

1) The concept of human rights
2) Charities. What Roy Hattersley, a noted Atheist has to say about this is interesting
3) The Renaissance (its patronage)
4) Music
5) Education and hospitals
6) They campaigned to end Slavery (unfortunately, human beings are so stupid they had to do it again & again!!). And with respect to those who'll split hairs it was our own St. Patrick who officially kicked it off with his letter to Coroticus over slave raids , he was pretty sensitive to this after he'd been a slave himself. It was erradicated by the 10th Century in Europe and unfortunatly it drifted back and had to be re- eradicated again. It's still a scourge in our society (human trafficing, so it's erradication is an on-going work by some Christian organisations still)

It is difficult for us to imagine what kind of world we'd live in without the Judeo Christian Culture, (in the West anyway), but the arguments for it are compelling. You may not like it, but it has afforded you the freedom to say so.

MagicMarker

People with belief in God campaigned to end slavery, RELIGION ENDED SLAVERY!

Conveniently ignores the religious slave drivers....

PopePalpatine

MagicMarker wrote: »

People with belief in God campaigned to end slavery, RELIGION ENDED SLAVERY!

Conveniently ignores the religious slave drivers....

E.g. nuns running laundries and monks running industrial schools.

robindch

Greaney wrote: »

You may not like it, but it has afforded you the freedom to say so.

I don't think I've read a post on this forum which misinterprets history so grandly, so broadly, so profoundly and so splendidly.

Contragulations!

Dades

Greaney - you forgot World Peace. And iPhones.

Religion is probably responsible for those too.

pauldla

No religion, no music?