Apolytonistas against Religion: who's with me?

[gamenaught]

Going by that definition, are there any secular nations at all?

Of course no nation is 100% religious or 100% secular but some are far more secular/religious than others.

[gamenaught]

The U.S. is a Christian nation masquerading as "secular".

Yep. There is a whole lot of truth in that statement.

[Jamski]

The US is a fundamentalist state, with the emphasis on fundamentalist.

OMFG I'm so funny

No seriously folks, if God was crack cocaine, they'd put all the priests in jail, y'know what I mean?

As for that Jesus - it wouldn't be so bad if the christian types actually did one thing that he said - I'm not asking for much, just one thing - I mean if BUSH is a christian, and the USA is christian, why didn't they turn the other cheek after 11/9/2001 and say,
"Hey, let's do like that Jesus dude said and love our enemy"
After which they would give a big party for Osama bin Laden to express their love for him. I'm imagining quite a love-in here

Ok, or those Muslims... they need to get over it. We really just don't care, ok? You're sending suicide bombers because God is Peace? Ok... whatever... but can you stop now, please, because we're not sure what your point is.

Bhuddists are good. I can dig that because its not a relegion, just a philosophy. Do good stuff - get reborn as a better person - its nice self improvement, and they don't blow you up / complain about being repressed / knock on the door and try and convert you. They're ideal, they just sit there in the mountains and think stuff and milk yaks and drink tea. I can really dig that, so long as they don't make a relegion out of it.

So who's left? Jews? They're just trouble makers too. "Oh, we're the chosen people of God!" Riiiiiight, that's why he dumped on you for 4,000 years, then is it? Unless it was just a huge masterplan to get sympathy and American dollars to spend on rockets to kill Arabs "Ha! I've been waiting 4,000 years to blow you up, Ahmed!"

What's left... umm... athiests - they suck too. Always telling everyone the obvious, or boring us to tears with the reasons why they're an athiest. I mean, come on! I don't go around telling you that I can breathe or something dull like that....

So... my conclusion... ummm... make God illegal, except in Utah, and send all the religious guys there where Tass will preach a seminar every week on mutal understanding and love.

Yeah.

-Jam

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Agathon


I never said that all religious people were evil. I just said it's time that the rational people put you in your place instead of sitting around and being polite.

Being rational and religious are not mutually exclusive. Look at Mr. Panda for example.

Personally, fundies frighten me, religious or not.

[Az]

I think there is nothing wrong with proposing the idea of a benevolent omnipotent god, what annoys me is the repetition of the lame arguments in his favor.

and yes, Aggie, progress is being attacked, on all fronts. The problem is that on that we fail to join forces. Once, most capitalists were on our side, and this made for the greatest time ever. Not for much longer. We're returning to the times of the small groups of intelligent priests manipulating gullible masses.

[DaShi]

Who told you about the Priests?!!

[Shogun Gunner]

Originally posted by Jamski
The US is a fundamentalist state, with the emphasis on fundamentalist.

No seriously folks, if God was crack cocaine, they'd put all the priests in jail, y'know what I mean?

Ok, or those Muslims... they need to get over it. We really just don't care, ok? You're sending suicide bombers because God is Peace? Ok... whatever... but can you stop now, please, because we're not sure what your point is.

They're ideal, they just sit there in the mountains and think stuff and milk yaks and drink tea. I can really dig that, so long as they don't make a relegion out of it.

"Ha! I've been waiting 4,000 years to blow you up, Ahmed!"

What's left... umm... athiests - they suck too. Always telling everyone the obvious, or boring us to tears with the reasons why they're an athiest. I mean, come on! I don't go around telling you that I can breathe or something dull like that....

Funniest post in the thread by far.

It reads like the transcript of a stand up comic's show!!!


Plenty of choice quotes for the signature block!

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Kaak
People who blame religion for the Crusades, witch hunts, etc, are either terribly daft, or simply blind. The same factors were behind those acts as all other atrocities in history: greed, ignorance, pride, hate, and lust for power.

How are you going to explain the Crusades, the Inqusition, and witch hunts without Christianity?

Originally posted by Kaak
To say that humanity has not benifited from religion would be a hard claim to fortify.

How did the world benefit from Judeo-Christianity and Islam?

Originally posted by Kaak
to wage war against an ideologies which promote peace and harmony with oneself and others is more propogation of hate that will lead to further suffering of the masses.

You can have the ethics without the superstition and the dogma.

Originally posted by Kaak
On a side note, it always seems to be the people with the largest egos and the greatest lust for power (or the appearance of importance) that crusade for agendas against ideologies that support a higher power.

That is strange, Mr George W Bush asserts to be a Christian himself.

Originally posted by Kaak
anyway, why waste time crying for a fall of religion when you could be aiming for a greater good, like eliminating hate?

Don't tell me there wouldn't be a lot less hate without the Protestants and Catholics going at each other with tongs and hammer.

[The Mad Viking]

Aggie:

I sometimes feel the same way.

Here are a couple of things to temper your rant.

1.
What you see in the media, as you are well aware, is not religion. It is hype, it is the most extreme and provocative views, selected by the media to sell, and carefully packaged to appear representative.

Most religious people are tolerant.

I think it is unfair to confuse missionary evangelicism with religion.

2.
This one I would like your views on.

We live in a time of moral relativism. I have lived most of my 43 years as a fervent supporter of individual freedom. Yet now, I begin to doubt.

Society has always had rules for individual behaviour that were designed both to strengthen society and to protect individuals within it. (Yes, and to support and protect the ruling classes.)

Is it good for individuals or society to have thousands of teenagers employed in the pornography business?

Is it good for individuals or society to have casinos all over the place, where people go to spend money they can't afford to lose while neglecting their families?

Is their really a logic to lotteries, where the bottom third of our economic bracket give half their disposable income back to the government, and once in a blue moon, for no rational reason, one of them becomes incredibly wealthy. (Although this only temporarily solves one of their problems, while giving them several more...)

Look at the ethics of reality tv. All we see is Machiavelli.

So- as a society - are we fit to govern ourselves? Without some higher authority, will our behaviour continue to sink into the cesspit of hedonism and unfettered self-interest?

In places where religion is strong, is society not also strong?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I doubt the removal of some, or all, religions would diminish the amount of hatred in the world on a long-term basis. We're nasty vermin, and we'll soon come up with something new. Those left-handers look like they need a spot of suppression, for starters.

[The Mad Viking]

UR

Please, you're smarter than that.

The Crusades were about power and money. That leaders used Catholicism to manipulate people in Medieval times is no more damning of religion than George Bush is damning of democracy.

So w/o religion, I'm sure some leader would have motivated Crusades based on fear mongering:
The Saracens are attacking our brothers the Greeks! If they fall, we will be next! They have catapults of mass destruction!

[DinoDoc]

You give too much credit.

[The Mad Viking]

@ dinodoc!

[kmad]

Atheism! yes!

I'd believe in God if I was given proof he existed (not this leap of faith crap). If you gave me a choice, I'd elect that a God existed. Such is not, therefore I'm an atheist.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Such a scathing retort. However will he recover?

I know... I can hardly breathe...