Do we still need religion?

Because they deny science and follows the teachings of religion.

@thegerg: I need to know your religion before I can comment about it.

...Yes like all those people who followed Andrew Wakefield /s

No, people are just shit bags. If they didn't have religion they would still find a way to be awful

That's and anecdotal statement, but if you wanna play like that..

@Fightingfan: 9 times out of ten, this is usually the response I get from people when I tell them I'm an atheist.

"So you don't live for/believe in anything then?" No I just don't prefer to use religion as a scapegoat for taking personal responsibility and I don't think there's a magic place you go to when you die if you just believe hard enough. Without the threat of an alternative/hell, would anybody be christian for example? I don't think so, or at least not to the extent that it is today.

I believe in people and the way the world in front of me works because at least I have a rudimentary understanding of those things and understand how they function.

Gamespot should seriously consider banning all topics dealing with religion. These religious topics just go around in circles. You the atheist saying "F religion, we don't need it. Religion has caused all the worlds problems". Then you got theist nuts saying crap like " you better believe in God or you going to burn in hell for eternity you Godless heathens."

I mean it is the same discussions and post over and over again.

You know what the world needs more of? Not caring what others believe.

I know that religion has both, produce lots of good and cause much death. But I feel the amount of good that has been produce overthrows the amount of suffering it has cause. I know lots of religious people (not all mind you) do good so they can be sent to the paradise afterlife. And I have faith in humanity that we could still do good without religious pressure, but maybe not as much as now. Like with me, I help people because I want to help them. Not so it's another thing to put down on my resume on things I did good in my life.

Everyone follows a religion weather they acknowledge it or not.

@thegerg: As I have said several times, all major religions spread hate. You may choose to only follow certain teachings of the religion, but the overall religion spreads hate.

No matter your personal beliefs (I'm not religious)...no one can deny how important "faith" is for the entire world. I remember hearing a stat in my psychology class, that 95% if the entire world believes in a religion. That's a ton of people, and if for some reason that faith went away, a lot of people (as sad and pathetic as this is to say), would feel like they don't have a lot to live for. For a lot of people, Religion is the reason they get out of bed in the morning. Some people only go to bed at night and wake up in the morning to go to work because the idea of someone watching over them, protecting them, guiding them....being able to contact their loved ones who have passed just by thinking about them....it can be all that keeps them going. Without religion, without faith...the entire world would be a wreck. Morals would go out the window. The economy would tank, suicides would reach an all time high.

Now, believe me, I think that's all pretty silly (sad, actually), and I'd love to think that we can all put aside archaic beliefs that have been shoved down our throats since youth. That we can all be objective, that we can live our lives for us and the people around us who we love and care about, and push forward not for a god who may or may not exist, but for the good of mankind. For the good of our futures, to ask questions, to pursue the truth and unlock the questions and riddles of the universe.

But that just isn't going to happen. People believe in what they want because it makes them happy, and there's nothing wrong with that. No matter what you say about religion, as many terrible things happen because of it, it's good for the sake of man's sanity really does outweigh the bad. Even though it holds us back at times, and puts a ceiling on what we can achieve moving forward, it's still probably the most important thing in human society. I don't see that changing for a very, very long time, if ever.

If you're religion is one of the major one then it bothers me because of the hate it spreads. That's the answer I've been trying to tell you this entire time.

I already did. When I say every religion I mean the major ones. I count the minor one as cults and sects. They are not relevant to my argument.

lol this thread again.

While I think religion is silly, I find your comments equally silly.

uh, yeah

god needs to nerf CEOs

OP as ****

"Killed by Admin"

You see that new Dota 2 update? Looks hnghhhhhhhhhh

It depends on the religion and the people. Humans need pure religion to have a connection with G-d.

This is going to depend on whether people think religion is just a sociological phenomena or if it is actually making claims about and establishing norms according to something that is actually real. The naturalist will see it one way, and the dualist or idealist will likely see it another. So.. this is basically the whole non-supernatural vs. supernatural argument.

havent been on dota for a few months (needed a break - was playing waaaay too much)

will check out

I have answered your question several times. If you follow a religion (the major five by my definiton) then it bothers me because each of those spread hate.

As I said, my definition of religion only mean the major ones. I don't count the other ones because they are so irrelevant that they don't have any major impact in society. That's why "every" only means the major five. I'm against religion deciding the rules in society and that's why I don't like it.

If you are going to try and argue that my definition is wrong then feel free to, but have stated why I define it that way and I will not continue the discussion. This thread should have died long ago.

By my definiton of religion it's only five, thus every, but as I said I'm not gonna continue this discussion as it is going nowhere.

that feeling when thegerg is the more reasonable person in a debate

somewhere between horror and confusion

I have tried to tell you several times that I don't have any problems with minor religions because they have no impact on society. The reason for your confusion is that I've had this debate before where we established that religion means the one who has an impact. This was with someone else of course IRL, and I realise that I made a mistake by thinking that everyone agreed to the same definition as me and the one I discussed this with. I should have established what I meant in the beggining and I apologise for making that mistake. It's stupid and I really should have realised that. So I'm gonna try and make it easy for you:

I have been in a debate before where everyone who debated had agreed that the definiton of religion in our debate only apply to the major ones, as it was those we were discussuing because of their impact on society. The minor ones where irrelevant in that discussion and therefore not defined as religion in our debate. I made a mistake and decided to use the same definition in this debate, but only I used that definiton and I havetherefore caused confusion since you didn't use the same definition as me. It is all because of me and I admit it was stupid. Now here is my clear answer: I'm bothered by the major religions because of their impact on society, but not the minor ones because of their lack of that impact. I believe all the major ones spread hate and some of the minor ones do too, but I'm nt bothered by them because they don't impact my life as the major ones. If you follow one of the major one that bothers me, but if you follow one of the minor ones then I'm not bothered.

Is that a satisfying answer or do you want me to specify what bothers me about each of the major ones?

We know what it means, but we changed it for convinience for that debate.

I'm gonna stop repliying after this post as it is obvious that you have nothing better to do than dissecting posts to see if you can find pointless things in them so you can make another post and get a response. You remind me of how my brother was as a child. If you started a discussion with him it would never end.

The debate we had only focused on the major religions and it was easier to say every religion than every major religion. We were just lazy.

So, why do you talk with dead people?

No we don't need it anymore, it is totally backwards, untrue and stupid. The faster we abolish it the better for human species.