Originally Posted by onedayy

Arguing against the existence of God is just a waste of time.
No matter how convincing your arguments are, they are going to be meaningless to a believer.
Even the brightest scientist in the world would not be able to convince a true believer.
Why? Because you're speaking a different language. Religions don't speak 'empiricism' as we normally do in Science, and their language is simply the words of God.
To them, whatever the God says is right and true.
So whatever we, the ones who pursue Science, say to them is absolutely meaningless.
In scientific view, the believers have a 'theory' that can never be tested or be falsifiable. So again, whatever they say to us is absolutely meaningless since science puts no value in such theories.

That being said, although I am not religious to any degree, I still find some values to having religions. You mentioned that "religion is just a way to put distance between people of different ethnic backgrounds", but I disagree. Different culture is what really puts distance between people of different ethnic backgrounds, and religion, quite ironically, can actually break some of those cultural barriers. For example, many White people, Asians, and Black people are Christians, and so they can be quite interactive. Of course, you would be right if we were only considering some of the other religions that are kind of restricted to limited groups of ethnicity.

Recently, I've heard this rumor that religion is fading away in many developed countries (I haven't checked this out myself though)
Since science is the only thing that is improving everyday, I have this strong belief that religions will eventually disappear in distant future before human civilization disappears. But again, humans are weak, and we need some Godlike figure that we can really rely on. So I'm not 100% certain with my belief sometimes. One thing I can guarantee, though, is that the number of believers will decrease eventually, at least in developed countries.
Just be patient if you don't like religions

^ Heresy. what's this religious "theory" that can never be tested or falsified?

Why doesnt the world just completely abolish all forms of religion?

Because it's not that easy. Religion has been a huge part of society for a very long time. It's where the law came from and is still heavily present in the world today. You can't just "chose" to end religion. Plus their are clearly still many religious people out there. You say that religion is fading away. Yes, it probably is...just let it happen and stop complaining in the meantime.

Sorry but just gonna let everyone know now, you are just worshiping a fictional novel that people hundreds of years ago wrote. Why not stop praising some holy ghost

Seriously? I am not a religious person by any means but you don't need to be disrespectful about it. Let people believe what they want to believe and get over it.

The people are not understanding the real meaning of the religion. All religions have the same aim and they are developed for the human benefit. When people understand this the world peace become possible. But comparing to the past now the problems because of the religion are less.

Originally Posted by onedayy

Arguing against the existence of God is just a waste of time.
No matter how convincing your arguments are, they are going to be meaningless to a believer.
Even the brightest scientist in the world would not be able to convince a true believer.
Why? Because you're speaking a different language. Religions don't speak 'empiricism' as we normally do in Science, and their language is simply the words of God.
To them, whatever the God says is right and true.
So whatever we, the ones who pursue Science, say to them is absolutely meaningless.
In scientific view, the believers have a 'theory' that can never be tested or be falsifiable. So again, whatever they say to us is absolutely meaningless since science puts no value in such theories.

That being said, although I am not religious to any degree, I still find some values to having religions. You mentioned that "religion is just a way to put distance between people of different ethnic backgrounds", but I disagree. Different culture is what really puts distance between people of different ethnic backgrounds, and religion, quite ironically, can actually break some of those cultural barriers. For example, many White people, Asians, and Black people are Christians, and so they can be quite interactive. Of course, you would be right if we were only considering some of the other religions that are kind of restricted to limited groups of ethnicity.

Recently, I've heard this rumor that religion is fading away in many developed countries (I haven't checked this out myself though)
Since science is the only thing that is improving everyday, I have this strong belief that religions will eventually disappear in distant future before human civilization disappears. But again, humans are weak, and we need some Godlike figure that we can really rely on. So I'm not 100% certain with my belief sometimes. One thing I can guarantee, though, is that the number of believers will decrease eventually, at least in developed countries.
Just be patient if you don't like religions

The current mainstream religions are just at the end of their "life", but you can be sure there will be more religion that will spawn. That's just how things work.

Greek, Egyptian, Norse stuff became mythology as Abrahamic religions took over, and now they're fading. In a few thousand years, some new religions will find their way. Mind you, Buddhism and Hinduism are perhaps the oldest active religions right now and they've been evolving into a more accepting ideology. Maybe the relatively newer religions will also follow suit in the future.

Originally Posted by Afzal

The current mainstream religions are just at the end of their "life", but you can be sure there will be more religion that will spawn. That's just how things work.

Greek, Egyptian, Norse stuff became mythology as Abrahamic religions took over, and now they're fading. In a few thousand years, some new religions will find their way. Mind you, Buddhism and Hinduism are perhaps the oldest active religions right now and they've been evolving into a more accepting ideology. Maybe the relatively newer religions will also follow suit in the future.

Interesting.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'spawn' though.
I find it quite odd that a religion can ever spawn out of nowhere.
Wouldn't that, then, suggest that religions are all made up by humans?

If you meant that the contents of the religions are improving to better fit the new knowledge that humans have, then I also find this rather ironic because that would imply that humans are editing the words that the God had left.

In general, I am not sure how a religion can ever 'evolve'.

Originally Posted by onedayy

Interesting.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'spawn' though.
I find it quite odd that a religion can ever spawn out of nowhere.
Wouldn't that, then, suggest that religions are all made up by humans?

If you meant that the contents of the religions are improving to better fit the new knowledge that humans have, then I also find this rather ironic because that would imply that humans are editing the words that the God had left.

In general, I am not sure how a religion can ever 'evolve'.

Through heritable variation? Duh!

Originally Posted by onedayy

Interesting.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'spawn' though.
I find it quite odd that a religion can ever spawn out of nowhere.
Wouldn't that, then, suggest that religions are all made up by humans?

If you meant that the contents of the religions are improving to better fit the new knowledge that humans have, then I also find this rather ironic because that would imply that humans are editing the words that the God had left.

In general, I am not sure how a religion can ever 'evolve'.

Not only suggesting, this is EXACTLY how religions are made. They are children's stories blown way out of proportion.

i don't believe that religions are fading. the only religion that MAY BE losing its believers is likely christianity (ONLY in developed countries--but still isn't fading) because people are suddenly becoming atheists. and i don't understand people who think that religion and science stand against each other. this isn't true. not ALL aspects of any religion defy science, some agree with them actually (besides the 'idea' of god obviously). actually there are scientists out there that believe in religion in one form or another, i remember watching a video about this in one of my classes if i find it i will post it.

EDIT: religions are EVOLVING, they aren't fading, there is a difference.

Originally Posted by BenDover

Not only suggesting, this is EXACTLY how religions are made. They are children's stories blown way out of proportion.

I don't think it's fair to speak in this way. Religious scripture and doctrine is a complicated creation that takes many hundreds of years to get to what it is today. Spiritual practices are a culmination of philosophical, intellectual, and otherwise exploratory musings of regular people of the times... they are explanations and attempts at finding meaning in an otherwise mysterious universe. It may be easy for you to say they're children's stories blown out of proportion but when somebody who believes those things reads that it can be offensive and belittling.

Originally Posted by BenDover

So been thinking a bit lately about all the different religions existing, and how people get so up in arms over which religion is the right religion. Wars are started over religious beliefs which i cant help but find completely juvenile and ridiculous.
Why doesnt the world just completely abolish all forms of religion? Sorry but just gonna let everyone know now, you are just worshiping a fictional novel that people hundreds of years ago wrote. Why not stop praising some holy ghost, and instead work on creating a more open community where we dont have the barriers that religion seems to cause between people. In my opinion, religious slander is far worse than racial slander.
Religion imo, is just a way to put distance between people of different ethnic backgrounds, so why keep these barriers up when we should be striving towards a unified future? Just a bit of a rant i wanted to make, make of it what you will!

you're just gona have to learn to live with it. the same way that believers learn to live with non-believers! just because you don't believe in it doesn't mean you're right. and you writing this on macinsiders isn't going to change centuries of beliefs.

Originally Posted by RyanC

I don't think it's fair to speak in this way. Religious scripture and doctrine is a complicated creation that takes many hundreds of years to get to what it is today. Spiritual practices are a culmination of philosophical, intellectual, and otherwise exploratory musings of regular people of the times... they are explanations and attempts at finding meaning in an otherwise mysterious universe. It may be easy for you to say they're children's stories blown out of proportion but when somebody who believes those things reads that it can be offensive and belittling.

Paraphrasing your comment, they are folk tales. People could believe in talking dogs and that doesnt mean i have to respect their opinion. There is no evidence to prove this theory of creation, but there is solid evidence backing science. With all the evidence against the existence of God or any other messiah/deity, "believers" just are too afraid to face the facts that their beliefs of an afterlife have been shaken by the scientific evidence that disproves numerous aspects of their religion

Originally Posted by kitty1

i don't believe that religions are fading. the only religion that MAY BE losing its believers is likely christianity (ONLY in developed countries--but still isn't fading) because people are suddenly becoming atheists. and i don't understand people who think that religion and science stand against each other. this isn't true. not ALL aspects of any religion defy science, some agree with them actually (besides the 'idea' of god obviously). actually there are scientists out there that believe in religion in one form or another, i remember watching a video about this in one of my classes if i find it i will post it.

EDIT: religions are EVOLVING, they aren't fading, there is a difference.

How much does a religion (or anything) have to evolve before it cannot be distinguished from it's original state?

That is exactly how "new" religions are formed, through gradual change in existing ideas. The aspects that "don't defy science" probably have nothing to do with science, but society. Many recent religions are targeted toward controlling (if I may say so) the society and as Machiavelli said, religion is an important tool to do that.

Originally Posted by kitty1

you're just gona have to learn to live with it. the same way that believers learn to live with non-believers! just because you don't believe in it doesn't mean you're right. and you writing this on macinsiders isn't going to change centuries of beliefs.

Do realize that atheism is also centuries old. Nothing is really new in religious beliefs at this point.

Religion is fine... I can respect that.
But some religious trolls coming up to me insisting that I should believe in Jesus is just idiotic.

This is why I love Neil Tyson