I am atheist & research shows religion is important.
Yes, religion is important, and I will talk about how/why this is so.
Let's see if anyone can prove me wrong here.
Who knows, maybe I'll learn something, and or maybe I'll teach something.
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I'll play, in what way(s) is important?
I don't want to give out the answer immediately.
I would rather slowly coax the answer out, it's one way of teaching, to not spoon feed what research seems to say the answers are.
Here's a question, did we always have science as it exists today or science in modern times?
Who knows, it's possible to a degree... the domestication of maize for agriculture is dated back to almost 10,000 years.
It's highly plausible, we are after all curious primates that can use hand tools, work in packs/groups, communicate, learn, teach others etc...
Perhaps a primitive form that has evolved.
religions have been taught by many writers who INTERPRET true happenings into what they THINK the message should be. this is why there are so many different beliefs. this is also why there so many conflicts thru out the world.i could go on in depth but first
i want to establish only factual beliefs ( beliefs that CAN be proven). working with proofs cannot be denied, thus conclusions will
be agreed upon much more quickly.
RULE # 1: something created all that we can see, feel, taste, touch, and hear. (i am not saying a god is the creator but there is a force which we can't identify at this time that created what we witness every day).
RULE # 2: believe nothing that cannot be proven.this pertains to just about everything that most religions try to convince us know and we don't.
i am new to this site,but i have done considerable research and will follow up at a later time. to be truthful, i don't even know how to post. my user name will be corsair leader. looking forward to presenting some extraordinary factual evidence for all to examine.
corsair leader.
@coarse liar
What proof do you have that all that we can see, feel, taste, touch, and hear was created?
many atheist believe our very creation, US, came from nothing. 1 atheist said nothing has energy. therefore what their saying is there is something in nothing. an oxi-moron.
what i express from here on is what i believe. not proof but a possible belief derived by using 1 of our gifts called intelligence.a creator of such profound mastery and abilities, created the most perfect item which is the atom. this kind perfection, to MY way of thinking didn't just happen. non believers fail to explain how this extraordinary little thing exists that they cannot see,but do not question its existence, just put it aside with no explanation. that little atom is the foundation of all that exists.
the question we should be exploring is what is the purpose of life. when we ask that question, NOW, we can discuss many proofs
that cannot be denied. that can be researched, tested, and examined by scholars or anyone who wishes to discredit the material.
if you consider yourself of average intelligence and open minded enough to explore some truly amazing events, let me know and we'll discuss some amazing things that just might show you another way to find answers to your many unanswered questions.
what proof do i have? none, but my intelligence which tells me something from nothing is not possible.
TransgenderedHeathen: "I am atheist & research shows religion is important."
Your assertion. You prove it.
rmfr
I'm wondering if any other atheist here can objectively measure religion's value. What I'm saying is, I think religion has contributed objective value and valid data is out there that shows this, that's independent of my input. I'll chime in with more details later of course.
How do you "objectively" measure value? Value is relative to the observer. Some things that I find valuable others will not, and vice versa.
General relativity talks about subjective reference frames, but we all know general relativity is an objective measure or scientific account of those subjective reference frames.
Uh, GR has nothing to do with the value we place on things.
Relativity isn't the sole purview of physics.
"GR has nothing to do with the value we place on things."
Nitpick - It does, GR shows we have independent reference frames, or literally distinct ways that things can be valued.
"Relativity isn't the sole purview of physics."
No it isn't, but is a theory that has remained valid in physics.
I don't see how any of what you said changes the validity of what I said before.
I have no dog in this fight; but perhaps I'll argue that what is important is not religion but the things that compose it, community, structure, spirituality, etc. Insofar as a religion incorporates these and other things it will have positive value; or as it loses these, or adds bad things it will have a negative value.
Summary, its the components of religion that are important, not religion itself.
Interesting points, i would counter that we evolve into communities with morals and structures like most species of the animal kingdom.
Spirituality is the obviously one out, but that forms another argument in the way of is spirituality important?
In whatever ways it has a positive effects on your life. Similar to friendship, it has benefits regardless of your ability to live without friendship.
So you could likely argue a case that spirituality is desirable to humans in some ways, but not necessarily of grave importance.
I do agree, aspects of religion are important, but what I'm talking about has a very crucial condition involving time.
I think some of us will need another hint.
I'm at a loss attaching time and religion together. (Unless you actually accept religion as true and believe you only have a limited amount of time to do something before you're judged. But, since you said you're an atheist that can't be it...)
"I'm at a loss attaching time and religion together. (Unless you actually accept religion as true and believe you only have a limited amount of time to do something before you're judged. But, since you said you're an atheist that can't be it...)"
Exactly, that can't be it. Think a bit more keenly about mankind, and the evolution of knowledge. This maybe a good hint.
I think the topic is to vague, we need a bit more input from the OP.
I agree. See my response above about evolution of knowledge.
TransgenderedHeathen: "I agree. See my response above about evolution of knowledge."
And this is where?
rmfr
TransgenderedHeathen it is not appreciated when you play such silly games. You have made an assertion and refuse to even provide a tangible subject.
That being said, I will offer my opinion. Religion was the binding agent between diverse communities. Different towns, nations, and cities may even be hostile to each other, but since they had religion in common, it was a foundation for communication and helped the peace process.
@TransgenderedHeathen:
Smallpox is important. It wiped out entire populations and changed the course of history, but it helped to make America great.
Fascism is important. It led to wars and genocides, but at least the trains ran on time.
Religion is important. It held back scientific and technological progress and was the justification for every kind of atrocity, but it was a unifying force for ancient civilizations and created some of the world's most profitable tourist attractions.
Which of these important things is worth keeping?
"Which of these important things is worth keeping?"
Science is also important. I'm going to venture to say you wouldn't refute science as worth keeping.
Also, religion was not justification for every kind of atrocity. Out of all 1,763 known/recorded historical conflicts, 7%, had religion as their primary cause, and the rest were secular in nature.
TransgenderedHeathen has been removed, they are the same troll that has been removed 4 or 5 times now, generally known as Avant Brown.
/e on a side note: the idea that the number of conflicts in recorded history can be expressed with 4 significant figures has to be in the running for the craziest shit ever post on AR.
@Nyarlathotep: TransgenderedHeathen has been removed
Bugger. I just wasted five minutes replying to hesheit.
number of conflicts in recorded history
There were probably many more than that in the 20th century alone.
@TransgenderedHeathenOut: of all 1,763 known/recorded historical conflicts, 7%
Where did that information come from? It sounds like a statistic to me.
And note that I didn't say every atrocity. I said every kind of atrocity. Name a kind of atrocity that religion hasn't been used justify.
Of course we should keep science. What we should lose is our tendency to enslave science to nationalism and paranoia.
I don't believe that religion has any positive aspects that cannot be achieved by other means.
TransgenderedHeathen, you're not wrong, religion is important, just like sexism, terrorism, murder, theft etc. etc. are all important. So what?
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