Before going forward, I must acknowledge that my distaste for religion is a
very powerful meme in my mindspace, but i think I am trying to be objective.
God provides a sense of purpose: No, you provide a sense of purpose, and by
believing in and following a lie, you cheat yourself of the credit and the
truth. This leads to lack of self confidence and delusions of inferiority.
Religion gives us a sense of social cohesion: Yes it does, and when it is
someone of a different belief system, they are "cults". A Church may give
that sense of cohesion, but it teaches, very explicitly, to think in terms
of US vs THEM. If any of you attend such gatherings, which I unfortunately
have many times, then you will notice the extended family feeling. It is
real in the same way that the Nazis (put there for Prof. Tim) felt cohesion.
Here groups like this gain political strength and since the Church controls
the votes of so many people, Sodomy is still illegal in 11 states, all
minorities, gays, women, Atheists and hundreds of other groups live a life
of the oppressed. (many of us who are white males, can sneak through society
with only minor difficulty)
I get comfort from knowing my loved ones are in heaven: As a small child I
took comfort in the fact that Santa knew I was good and would deliver
presents on Christmas Eve. Of course I liked the security blanket that
provided, but I am happier now that I know the truth that my parents loved
me and knew I was good and did their best to provide for me. In other words
"The truth has set me free". Why take comfort in the loss thanks to God
instead of living every moment as though it will never come again. I have my
mouth around the peach of life and am sucking the juices fervently. Because
I have no security blanket for the dead, I enjoy every moment I can with
those I care about, knowing full well that the time will come when they are
gone. I have no ferstering wounds with anyone because I cannot aford to deal
with it in the "afterlife". The foundation of my philosophy (which is always
slowly shifting) is based upon the idea that we are here once, and have a
single opportunity to live well, treat others well, reproduce, teach my
children well, grow old well and die content in the knowledge that my life
is what I made it.
God gives us morals and truth: Only under threat of eternal punishment. What
morals originate in the Bible that were not in existence already, or basic
common sense? Since just about every statement regarding reality in the
Bible has proven to be utterly in error, what makes you think the Church is
a good guide? As far as I can tell, God is easily the biggest mass murder of
all time - excluding all the things we would call "acts of god". God killed
everyone on Earth with the flood, ordered the genocide of the Cannanites,
killed the cattle and first born male of every Egyption, brought us the
beauty of the inquisition, and most haneous of all - Brought Jesse Helmes to
the Senate!
Yes Religion can do many things, unfortuantely, nearly all of the things it
does are used for purposes of gaining territiory, killing the heretics,
oppressing the different or the weak. Religion is Evolution's way of culling
the population!
About the Amish - thanks to their small size and lack of new DNA, they are
an evolutionary dead end. An excellent study group.
Sodom
Bill Roh
Nathan Russell wrote:
> While we on this list often tease about god and how it's a harmless
> missconception, the god meme can be very dangerous for its followers in
> what *can be proven to be* the real world. The Amish, the Xian sect
> which doesn't use modern technology, feel that vacanition is a sin and
> some diseases which are virtually unknown in the rest of the US and the
> industrialized world still kill their children. They also are almost
> exclusively descendants of some eighty original settlers; a ban on
> out-of-church marriages and the obvious reluctance by outsiders to
> become Amish, coupled with church bans on counterception enforced far
> more strictly than those of the Catholics, has led to a highly inbred
> people who are vulnerable to genetic diseses, many fatal or
> debilitating, which are almost unknown outside of the Amish church. The
> Amish, while a good example of religion harming its followers, are
> hardly the only one. People have been killed and still are in
> religiously motivated wars. Terrorists often use religion as a
> motivating factor. Finally, the smothering influesnce of religion on
> thought is an issue which must continue to be dealt with.
>
> --
> Nathan Russell
> frussell@frontiernet.net
>
> "It is now time for the human race to enter the Solar System"
> -Dan Quayle on the possibility of a manned mission to Mars
>
> (Well, Danny Boy, the rest of us are already here, but we'll wait for
> you)