Religion: Nothing more than an controlled experiment in irrationality.
THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY IN REPLY TO TINABARINA'S POST, BUT IT GOT VERY, VERY LENGTHY, SO I MOVED IT HERE.
Original Reply
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--PARDON MY TANGENT--
Ask that stupid woman why God is the ONLY thing for which you don't need any proof of existence. Ask her why Catholosism interprets the bible as non-fiction. Ask her if Aesop's fables are based on true events, as well. Also, if she doesn't believe in Santa Claus, she is doing nothing but contradicting herself by believing in God. Everyone knows Santa doesn't exist, right? Little kids don't count. If God exists, why couldn't Santa? While we're at it, we should create some more figments of imagination and say that we don't need to question the existence because FAITH IS ENOUGH.
So... Atheists only choose that path so they can do what they want? Last time I checked, Athiests have infinte freedom in their beliefs because they aren't forced to follow books that are hundreds and hundreds of years old.
Far be it from me to even think about attempting to infringe on anyone's right to believe what they'd like, but at the same time, anyone who considers FAITH to be a predominant factor in their lifestyle is in need of a seriously rude awakening.
So let me get this straight: Catholisism is based on believing without ANY proof aside from entirely unreliable and information. Sounds like every OTHER cult. Then again, it's not a cult, because of how many people are being suckered into it.
"We have an old book, it MUST be true! People were incredibly smart back then, what with all of the scientific knowledge they had! The odds are in our favor that out of the INFINITE number of possible things to make up and believe in without ANY sort of proof, ours is correct because SOOOOO many people believe it."
It's a shame that Dr. Seuss didn't write the Bible... after all, as long as I BELIEVE what I'm reading is true, I MUST be right. Right? Two billion people CAN be wrong. There is NO reasonable explaination (nor will there ever be) as to why God is the ONLY thing that people believe in without ANY definitive proof.
I'm not attacking Catholisism in the sense that I'm demanding Catholics prove that they are right. I just don't understand how God is the only thing you can believe in without proof to yourself.
I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the people that are susceptible to being taken advantage of by those who prey on the gullible and naive, are in fact deeply religious.
I'm not terribly surprised that I don't really know anyone that has, at the same time, a non-negotiable priority to any sort of entirely-faith-based religion... and a efficient sense of practicality. I don't need to be proven wrong, because there are exceptions to every rule. Sure, people need something to believe in; a motivation to carry on. But, at the same time, does anybody really need to live by someone else's creativity?
Let's assume for a moment that God exists. If the Bible was written by God, wouldn't that be proof that God exists? Of course, believers would claim that God 'gave' this information to whoever DID write it. Why live on faith if you have even the SMALLEST shred of proof? If the Bible was written by man, then someone either had some non-reoccuring proof/insight, made it up, or was certifiably irregular. Why would only one person IN ALL OF TIME get this amazingly huge privilege? If there were, at the very least, ONE person who had any sort of definitive proof that God exists, then why would they keep this information to themselves? Did God not want anyone else having proof?
It seems there are only two explainations based on this logic:
1.) God doesn't exist.
2.) God DOES exist.
If #1 is true, the author of the Bible is an asshole for making shit up.
If #2 is true, then God is an asshole behind a stupid red curtain, and doesn't want anybody to know he's nothing more than a fraud.
If anyone is offended, keep it to yourself, because I'm not going to sit here and argue over it. You are free to believe what you would like to believe about God and/or relgion, and besides... I don't care what you believe, because I can't prove you wrong, and you cant prove yourself right. We just believe completely opposite things, and I'm not going to try to convince anyone to believe anything they don't already believe. My conflicting beliefs may offend you. Yours offend me. Leave it right there, because it doesn't need to be a problem. I may sound like I'm being an asshole, and that may be true, but my belief is just a harder pill to swallow for those whose beliefs it seems to attack. It's not an attack, or anything, so don't get defensive. You can't say anything to me about it that will have any convincing effect in any ways, and it's the same the other way around, which is why I'm not trying to convince you. It may not seem like it, but I actually DO respect everyone else's beliefs. This is a very important thing to me, that I would not infringe on anyone's right to believe what they want to believe. Your beliefs are no different than mine. The only defensive response to this post that I would even consider potentially valid is one that proves me wrong. Nobody is right. Not me, not you. I don't expect anyone with a conflicting view to consider my arguement valid in any way. Any attempt to invalidate my belief is just as intrusive as me doing that to someone else, epsecially since Religion isn't spoken from the mouth, but from the ass.
Religion is like shooting a gun in the dark while falling down the stairs. On top of that, there's no target... what the hell are you shooting at?
Original Reply
------------------------------------------
--PARDON MY TANGENT--
Ask that stupid woman why God is the ONLY thing for which you don't need any proof of existence. Ask her why Catholosism interprets the bible as non-fiction. Ask her if Aesop's fables are based on true events, as well. Also, if she doesn't believe in Santa Claus, she is doing nothing but contradicting herself by believing in God. Everyone knows Santa doesn't exist, right? Little kids don't count. If God exists, why couldn't Santa? While we're at it, we should create some more figments of imagination and say that we don't need to question the existence because FAITH IS ENOUGH.
So... Atheists only choose that path so they can do what they want? Last time I checked, Athiests have infinte freedom in their beliefs because they aren't forced to follow books that are hundreds and hundreds of years old.
Far be it from me to even think about attempting to infringe on anyone's right to believe what they'd like, but at the same time, anyone who considers FAITH to be a predominant factor in their lifestyle is in need of a seriously rude awakening.
So let me get this straight: Catholisism is based on believing without ANY proof aside from entirely unreliable and information. Sounds like every OTHER cult. Then again, it's not a cult, because of how many people are being suckered into it.
"We have an old book, it MUST be true! People were incredibly smart back then, what with all of the scientific knowledge they had! The odds are in our favor that out of the INFINITE number of possible things to make up and believe in without ANY sort of proof, ours is correct because SOOOOO many people believe it."
It's a shame that Dr. Seuss didn't write the Bible... after all, as long as I BELIEVE what I'm reading is true, I MUST be right. Right? Two billion people CAN be wrong. There is NO reasonable explaination (nor will there ever be) as to why God is the ONLY thing that people believe in without ANY definitive proof.
I'm not attacking Catholisism in the sense that I'm demanding Catholics prove that they are right. I just don't understand how God is the only thing you can believe in without proof to yourself.
I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the people that are susceptible to being taken advantage of by those who prey on the gullible and naive, are in fact deeply religious.
I'm not terribly surprised that I don't really know anyone that has, at the same time, a non-negotiable priority to any sort of entirely-faith-based religion... and a efficient sense of practicality. I don't need to be proven wrong, because there are exceptions to every rule. Sure, people need something to believe in; a motivation to carry on. But, at the same time, does anybody really need to live by someone else's creativity?
Let's assume for a moment that God exists. If the Bible was written by God, wouldn't that be proof that God exists? Of course, believers would claim that God 'gave' this information to whoever DID write it. Why live on faith if you have even the SMALLEST shred of proof? If the Bible was written by man, then someone either had some non-reoccuring proof/insight, made it up, or was certifiably irregular. Why would only one person IN ALL OF TIME get this amazingly huge privilege? If there were, at the very least, ONE person who had any sort of definitive proof that God exists, then why would they keep this information to themselves? Did God not want anyone else having proof?
It seems there are only two explainations based on this logic:
1.) God doesn't exist.
2.) God DOES exist.
If #1 is true, the author of the Bible is an asshole for making shit up.
If #2 is true, then God is an asshole behind a stupid red curtain, and doesn't want anybody to know he's nothing more than a fraud.
If anyone is offended, keep it to yourself, because I'm not going to sit here and argue over it. You are free to believe what you would like to believe about God and/or relgion, and besides... I don't care what you believe, because I can't prove you wrong, and you cant prove yourself right. We just believe completely opposite things, and I'm not going to try to convince anyone to believe anything they don't already believe. My conflicting beliefs may offend you. Yours offend me. Leave it right there, because it doesn't need to be a problem. I may sound like I'm being an asshole, and that may be true, but my belief is just a harder pill to swallow for those whose beliefs it seems to attack. It's not an attack, or anything, so don't get defensive. You can't say anything to me about it that will have any convincing effect in any ways, and it's the same the other way around, which is why I'm not trying to convince you. It may not seem like it, but I actually DO respect everyone else's beliefs. This is a very important thing to me, that I would not infringe on anyone's right to believe what they want to believe. Your beliefs are no different than mine. The only defensive response to this post that I would even consider potentially valid is one that proves me wrong. Nobody is right. Not me, not you. I don't expect anyone with a conflicting view to consider my arguement valid in any way. Any attempt to invalidate my belief is just as intrusive as me doing that to someone else, epsecially since Religion isn't spoken from the mouth, but from the ass.
Religion is like shooting a gun in the dark while falling down the stairs. On top of that, there's no target... what the hell are you shooting at?