It astounds me that so many of our species believe in an unsubstantiated concept without thought to the facts of our physical world...such a mass failure in reason is unprecedented for a species of our intellect. Why do so many people fail at reason? It makes no sense whatsoever. Us atheists can't be the only people able to, or have the ability, or clarity to see through this charade of stupidity. I fear for humanity.
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I've got the perfect response. With TV, cell phones, success, and being a powerful nation, with having ease and convenience at our finger tips, with religion having a free rein and the ability to brainwash our children into believing God will provide and our nation is blessed by God, most people are too lazy to do the work that would pull them out of the delusion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPHSXUS0_1c
Thank you. Truly.
...and where now, are the great men and women? Our world needs them.
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Our survival transcends our beliefs...why do people not see this?
@Dio Re: "If you had a radio station in America and ran broadcasts about how Islam and Judaism are just bullshit you would be shutdown so fast you wouldn't have time to blink." (And everything else in that post)
Damn, Dio! You hit that nail on the head with a sledgehammer! Bravo!... *clap-clap-clap-clap-clap...*....
We just need a proper support system: Some head atheist that lives in a big fancy house and tells everybody else what to do.
Ermm... wait a minute...
"Us atheists can't be the only people able to, or have the ability, or clarity to see through this charade of stupidity. I fear for humanity."
Throughout human history, and even now in most of the world declaring yourself an atheist was very unwise. Superstition is innate in us, and reason takes work and some knowledge, this gives superstition a leg up from the start.
Maybe one day, there are thankfully many societies that are to all intents and purposes godless, and whose populace live happy, content and decent lives.
@op
Pretend the Red Sox won its 99th World Series game in a row. While discussing whether or not they would win the next game, two schools of thought emerge.
1) How could anyone believe the Red Sox are good enough to win the World Series? Why are these uneducated Neanderthals pretending like they understand anything!?
Or
2) well, they’ve been doing pretty well so far, they seem to have the talent and have proven themselves by staying relevant for all of these years...I’ll bet they win.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why religion has been around for as long as it has?
@ Somebodies Hero
Sporting teams (and hey I LIKE the Red Sox....) Nothing to think about here because it is ......
A convoluted argumentum ad populum.
Dismissed. That is an 'F' mister. Retake the class. Start by looking up logical fallacies. Stop watching MLB and concentrate.
@old man
I’ll give you that, happy to hear you like the Red Sox! But I don’t think this is an appeal to the masses. We are talking a belief lasting 2000 years +. I find it hard to believe something completely fake would perpetuate itself for thousands of years. No? There has to be something there. Why all of a sudden isnit fake when it was true for that long???
Somebodies,
Using that logic, then there are quite a few religions truer than xtianity.
@ Somebodies Hero
Classic Argumentum ad populum. Are you sure you should be in this grade school class? here is the definition: You are arguing that religion survived because so many people believed in it for 2000 years...that is the classic fallacy
n argumentation theory, an argumentum ad populum (Latin for "argument to the people") is a fallacious argument that concludes that a proposition must be true because many or most people believe it, often concisely encapsulated as: "If many believe so, it is so."(Wiki)
Go to the bottom of the class. Start the whole year over and go to summer school before trying this nonsense again.
Oh an if your fallacy had any merit then Allah would also be true...or nearly so...and Vishnu, Ganesh...see where your childlike argument leads? Nowhere near where you wanted to go.
Paper not graded. Fail.
(Edit tags)
Astrology has been around a lot longer than that. People is dumb.
@SomeBODIEShero
Just to add on to what others have said:
Atheist has been around for 300,000 years. Unchanged, extremely simple, and every single one of us were born that way until we were ruined by our elders. Care to explain that in the same context you used your argument?
But if you want an answer to your 2000 year question it is pretty simple, it is a very effective con, that perpetuates by brainwashing children and people before they even gain the tools to think critically and think for themselves. And if that does not work, then by threat of violence and conquering. It is a vicious cycle/trap where the humans at the very top benefit from greatly.
Yes...stupidity.
If common sense were actually common, more people would have it. My GF called me about the Earthquake in the Philippines. She lives in Batangas, well outside the epicenter. She happens to be religious. First she was freaking out about the earthquake and possible tsunami as their house is on the coast. My response, "Relax, God never makes mistakes, he is only killing the people he wants to kill." This was repeated in several ways along with, "I am glad you are all okay." Then she came up with the "We are all so thankful no one was hurt." I am sure she was talking to the neighbors. Ha ha ha ha .... "Let me get this straight. You are thankful God sent an earthquake and only killed people and destroyed the homes of people you don't know? How CHRISTIAN of you!!! "I finally got the "Yes honey you are right." and she changed her assertion to .... "I am happy we are all safe." Well, that worked for me so, "Yes honey, I am happy you are all safe too." And then we made plans for what could be done to prepare for the next earthquake. (Bottles of water, milk powder, non-perishable foods, and a water proof container.) WHY? "Because you can't trust a magical God who is going to turn around and stab you in the back without warning! If he is there, which he is not, he does not deserve worship."
@Cognostic
Yeah most of the time the extreme hypocrisy most religious followers have is amusing to me. But if it is a family member talking to me about it, it does take considerable effort to not *eyeroll* and have patience with them,
I do like your solution though, I have even done similar my self, let them double down on the hypocrisy and sit back and wonder if they will ever even notice, even just a little.
@Cog Re: "Let me get this straight. You are thankful God sent an earthquake and only killed people and destroyed the homes of people you don't know?"
Here ya go. Maybe this could help you better illustrate your point... *chuckle*...
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That image reminds of another Hitchens quote:
"When religious people see someone less fortunate they are often heard to say there but for the grace of god go I, when what they really mean is there by god's grace goes somebody else."
Here is a serious thought. Consider the trolls we have had on the site lately. Then take a trip deep into the Christian faith..... I agree it is sad... but we have to face facts. SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lORCuR84-_8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LACyLTsH4ac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXLqDGL1FSg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkAKvz_wIDM
Yes...just my point. Why the failure in reason?
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Ya know, it is obvious to me at this point you folks are totally disregarding all the marvelous breakthroughs religion has provided for Mankind over the centuries. (See attached list) Complete lack of appreciation. Such a shame... *shaking head in disappointment*...
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Seen it, but still chuckley.
@ Tin-Man
As doG said, seen it, still love it. I for one can APPRECIATE the fact that religion has not been able to disprove science.
What I find shameful is that religion is always spewing its brain diarrhea that it is the bestest and greatest thing to ever happen to humanity when religion is actually humanity's worst enemy.
rmfr
I agree and would go further by saying I think that religion is the only real danger to survival of or planet and future of our species on this planet or elsewhere. The word poison is apropos.
Because it resides in the mind, my only hope is that our further evolution of reasoning abilities will overcome its hold.
@doG: It astounds me that so many of our species believe in an unsubstantiated concept
Sorry to be a pessimist, but I think religion persists because it's tapped into one of our survival traits--our ability to suspend disbelief about things that are not real. It's a parasitic disease of our evolved minds.
More than any other species, we have the ability to plan ahead. Our ancestors could predict that if they went to the big valley beyond the next range of hills when the leaves started to turn brown, there would be a herd of migrating buffalo/deer, etc. Right now the herd might not be real, but our ancestors could think ahead to when it would be. That was a big advantage.
Language is another fiction. Words like "cow", "deer", "fish" have no real relation to the objects they describe. They're just sounds. But we agree to give them meaning because it's useful for us. Language lets us make plans, share information, and talk about things we can't see.
So here we are with these wonderful abilities to look ahead, share ideas, accept useful fictions, imagine future situations. And then along comes this vampire-like idea called religion that can tap into these abilities and twist them to its own advantage. It uses our ability to make plans about hunting bison to convince us that we should make plans about getting into sky-fairy's cloud cuckoo land. It uses our willingness to suspend disbelief about fictions like money to trick us into swallowing the wafer and wine crap. It uses our language faculty through the words it creates to represent its no-existent entities.
And the worst of it is that we do these things to ourselves, because religions and their gods only exist in human minds.
Ageed