Religion Is Not The Root Of All Evil...

Root of all evil?! Religion is obviously not the root of all evil. Such statement is ridiculous and as a matter of fact, close to nothing in this universe is the exclusive root of anything in particular. I’ve often come across this saying in my discussions about what religion does to people, why it bothers many of us who don’t believe any of it and most importantly, how we can accelerate its slow but steady demise (at least in the western world). So we know how diverse religions can be. They can't all possibly have been created with evil intentions. But organized religion makes evil (and quite a few times good too...) very easy to spread and cultivate since it tells people that truth does not need to be backed by concrete, logical facts to be true. It doesn't incite people to put themselves and their beliefs back into question. It's a lot of mostly unprovable statements presented as solid facts (sometimes fallaciously claimed to be proven) since your birthday. You're used to it because it's been artificially made part of your reality.

Doubt, in most successful religions, is considered a mere moment of weakness... when in reality, it has consistently shown to be the very basis of wisdom. Faith allows people who don't know all the answers to think that they do. It is usually not a choice you make, since you get labeled with it from the day you're born. As absurd as it can be when we stop to ponder over it, we’ve generally become accustomed to such words as “Christian child”, “Muslim child”, etc. This labeling allows wars to continue over centuries, simply because atheist babies were unknowingly assigned an opinion about existential *** they probably shouldn't have had to care about until 20.

Unless you're lucky enough to be confronted with many conflicting ideas as a teenager, and develop some critical thinking abilities by yourself, chances are you'll just spend the rest of your life, babbling logical fallacies one after another, unable to acknowledge even the most logically demonstrable arguments. You’ll prefer to dismiss facts when they make you uncomfortable. Greek philosophy probably wasn't your favorite subject in college. Aristotle is not your homeboy; Jesus (who says if you don't accept him you'll die and by the way he loves you) is.

Root of all evil? Not really... But it is often used on people as a tool for spreading it. I’m sure you can think of many examples from your own beliefs, whether they be religious beliefs or not, when you have acted irrationally, because of things you had learned but never thought about. Realizing this later, you came to the conclusion that your old point of view (most likely the one you were taught as a child) needed to be adjusted to the modern world you live in. That's called critical thinking. Congratulations if so. See? You can do it too!

You know what... Religion will not die tomorrow, it just doesn't need to die now. Just as much as China doesn't need to become a democracy tomorrow. Keep your religion if it makes you feel good, safe, comforted, but please do yourself a favor and think about how not questioning it can affect your reasoning capabilities. Hopefully, religion will improve rather than regress, and whatever it is called when it does improve, whether it still even is religion or has become raw philosophy, it will definitely be for the better.

Edit:

I'm not that much interested in discussing religion as I have done it a lot and there are other things I like to do too. I did compose this as the ideas came and thought I'd share it with FFXIAH as well (there are some smart people here). I think it reflects that I am able to change my mind and adapt my opinions by listening to people of different backgrounds. If you care to read, please do so. If you care to discuss it, please do so. Please do not hate me for only posting this and abandoning the discussion. I've made it a new thread mostly for visibility. And if that's not okay, please feel free to delete it.

If you genuinely want to discuss of it with me, feel free to PM me, I like interesting and polite debates.

In before shitstorm/9 pages.

Stop it!

No! :)

Ok lets get one thing clear:

There are three types of people:

1. Those who believe in religion
2. Those who do not.
3. Those who are on the fence.

The first and second types YOU WILL NOT PURSUADE TO CHANGE THEIR MIND.

The third type is TOO STUPID TO MAKE UP THEIR MIND.

Conclusion:

You can't change anyone's mind so stfu with religion threads.

Oh its another one of your rag on religion threads.

Shockingly--as per these forums--I think you may have just been able to talk about religion without trying to start a flame war.

Immature statement. Being indecisive isn't anything to do with stupidity.

He/She has started a number of these threads. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd make links to save everyone the trouble of actually posting, because it's all been said before many times.

:D

Zombie thread? Zombie thread.

Uhh, Yes it does. Are the facts about religion changing? No. Make a conclusion or admit you're too stupid to make up your mind.

As someone said in another thread, one of the plethora of answers is humanity. We are our savior, and our own demise.

For *** sake why you do you keep making these stupid threads? Grow up already

So your openly saying all Agnostic people are stupid?

I would rather think that perspective plays a major role in one's decision. And not having made a decision yet could imply that you are very careful about such an life-impacting choice.

what facts?
and in regards to the OP:
just seems like a good old RANT RANT RANT.
you didn't want to discuss anything.
i was raised atheist, tried christianity from around 13-15, decided it wasn't for me at 15 because I wasn't being honest with myself.
After that rather than focusing on something as morbid as the afterlife I focused on my life, my values, what I didn't agree with and what I agreed with.
I can't back something that I can't be sincere with, sadly religion is something I'm not going to have sincerity for, not how I was raised or how I learned. I'd rather not say I'm on the fence, I'm more on the "I am young, I live in the present and I don't give a ***about the afterlife"

Pretty much this.

Religion threads go round and round and round, annoy everyone, and get nowhere. Just like this:





There is also this to consider:

Excelior has all the answers!

What should I believe?!

Religion is a lot like politics. You either believe or you don't. If you're christian denying jesus means you go to hell. You can't 50% believe in jesus, you either do or you don't. Almost all religion leaves no room for being on the fence. There isn't a single religion where you do not have to swear your loyalty to god in order go to heaven. If you only 50% believe in god then you get the same benefits as if you only 0% believed in god. There is no middle ground, make up your *** mind. This is just like those people who are undecided voters. GOSH, I just can't decide if I'm a republican or a democrat today. The issues don't change, the facts don't change, either acknowledge the facts and make a decision or choose to be indecisive and let somebody smarter than you make a decision IE. be stupid.

I stopped right there.

you see things waaaay to black and white.

1. religious belief
2. atheistic belief
3. agnostic belief
4. I don't give a ***either way, I do what I want when I want and how I want belief.
I define my reality, you do not.

Ok then you've made a choice. I'm glad you're smart enough to make a choice for yourself and I don't think you're stupid. If you're waiting there for somebody else to give you the answers because you can't make a choice for yourself then I'd say you were stupid.

Threads about religion are the root of all evil.

wat.

I simply don't know whether there is a higher power or not, therefore I wouldn't put myself on either side. Both religious and atheistic arguments have viable counter points and I'm open to both. That doesn't make me stupid, it just makes me open to both sides of the argument. Going to heaven or hell is a moot point, we're talking about core belief of a higher power, not any eternal rewards from being part of a certain religion.

Psyence is just trolling, make a thread that will get a reaction then walk away...time to add it to my block list!

I thought it was girls that were the route of all evil . ..