No, I’d like a reason for believing in a god. It doesn’t have to be logical.
There are plenty of illogical reasons out there - just pick one. Believers all over these forums can provide you with a whole lot of them.
Well, if Star Wars has followers who actually think that what occurred in the books and movies are true, then yes, you could say its a religion. In that case, its like asking “what’s the difference between Christianity and Islam?”.
Exactly. The difference between religion and no religion is a matter of FAITH. The faith that you put in God.
And faith is illogical, idiotic, and dangerous.
Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion.
How is believing in something that has not evidence or despite the evidence good?
If scientists worked on faith you would probably be living in some grass hut, shitting in a hole, starving to death and dying at an early age by disease.
BAD GRAMMAR OVERLOAD
you’re simply a moron, not because you don’t have faith but your brain is probably underdeveloped and you don’t know what “illogical, idiotic, and dangerous” really means.
THANK YOU![/SIZE]
Finally, an answer. Thank you very much.
Yes, perhaps, depends on what you do with it.
It’s neither good nor bad. It’s what you do with it.
wat
He means that if faith had won over science, there would never have been such a thing as technical, agricultural, hygienic or any other form of progress.
Example:
Imagine that for years and years farmers and peasants during medieval times had observed that they got sick less frequently, the more raw fruits and vegetables they ate. Especially apples. One day, however, a Christian priest comes along and tells them the story of Adam and Eve, condemning the apple as a “sinful fruit” and telling them they should never eat it.
Afraid of God’s vengeance, they stop eating apples. More of them get sick in autumn and winter, effectively decimating their numbers, damaging their health and reducing their lifespan.
They never dared to doubt, so they died. They were good believers. Really good at believing.
That’s just an exaggerated example, but maybe you understand the point. If religion had always held sway over science, we would still believe that the earth was flat, and that the sun revolved around it, as did the whole universe. We would still grow no older than 40, and lose our teeth and hair at 30. And of such a thing as a computer no living soul would even dare or at least be able to dream.
We owe all the luxury and freedoms of our modern civilization to those who stood up AGAINST religion, who DOUBTED instead of BELIEVING. Who asked unconvenient questions, rather than nod and say amen to some other guy’s bullshit.
Religion, on the other hand, has also been used to accomplish some mighty beautiful things. The magnificient domes and cathedrals of medieval Europe, for instance, would never have been built, were it not for the power of faith and devotion that the Catholic religion had inspired in the simple, hard working people. Those cathedrals, of course, served only to empower the Church and generate money for the Vatican and for local potentates, but still, they ARE beautiful. And an example of what an excellent driving force religion COULD be - if put into the right direction by the right people.
This assumes that religion always (or in large part) has malicious intentions. Sure there are some quite malicious things done in the name of religion depending on how you interpret things, but the religion and holy scripture itself is amoral. Once again, it’s what you do. The priest is doing something malicious in the name of religion even if he feels he is doing good by the farmers.
Religion does not hold sway over science. There are anti-science religious people but there are anti-religious atheists, too. If either try to impose their will upon others, they are malicious even if they have good intentions.
And I don’t agree with the idea that religion uber alles would lead to believing the earth is flat and all that stuff. A great many scientific things came from the ardently religious. In fact, the scientific method, the backbone of all science, was formed by a Muslim (Ibn al-Haytham).
However, religion uber alles does lead to a great many demons and terrors in this world and these extreme religious folks have a tendency to distort and manipulate their choice of religion to do their own personal bidding (for example, if Islam is the religion, they’ll distort the Qur’an to turn it into a command to destroy all non-Muslims; if Christianity is the religion, they’ll distort the Bible to turn it into a command to destroy all non-Christians).
Most scientists today are nonreligious but, yesteryear, that wasn’t the case; Galileo was devoutly Catholic, for example. His findings went against the Church and he was punished for that, but his opinion was that science was how God operated. They’re not mutually exclusive in my opinion.
It’s when you EXCLUDE science that you begin to have problems…
No it does not - though I would agree that it has often seemed to be the case. At best, it assumes that ignorance, born from religious indoctrination, can cause serious harm. You don’t need to agree with me on that one. I know that it is a fact, even without you agreeing. History and modern day news are full of proof.
Which was exactly my point.
Ignorance of any brand can cause serious harm if one is willing to remain in ignorance. Religion does not mean one remains in ignorance, however (though too many are quite willing to wallow in it), and the exploration of the scientific realm could be considered to be an exploration of God’s realm to learn more about God and love him.
Then I agree with you. 
Please note: I am an ardent atheist; militant some would say (and have said). I do not deny this. I am a militantly strong atheist. This does NOT mean, however, that I’m anti-religious. It is my opinion, based upon evidence, that religion is actually science’s friend – that scripture makes the real world more palatable. (Spoonful of sugar and all that.)
The problem, however, is if people rely on old scripture as everlasting and that anything new that came out since the writing is somehow AGAINST their scripture is outrageously stupid in my opinion. To me, the Bible and Qur’an have good things in them for the time they came out and for today, but it must be remembered that they were written ages ago and that the world is a different place now than it was then (thanks, in large part, to religion).
The only good thing I discovered in ANY so-called “holy” scripture so far is the part about “not doing shit to other people that you don’t want people to do to you in return”.
That part doesn’t need thousands of pages, though. Nor a religious doctrine, ceremony, a concept of “sin” or “heaven and hell” or the threat of judgement day.
And it is the part that was most often ignored by the majority of so-called “Believers” in the course of history. The rest is just morality tales and mind manipulation. And a whole shitload of adulterous and gory, very explicit content.
I completely agree with you, very good statement 
yup you’re right, the problem is not with Islam but the problem is with how “we” understand it, and I told you guys 1000 times already that we believe in science and what scientists discover everyday is amazing thing, it is written in the Qur’an and the Hadiths that we “MUST” learn and teach we MUST !
there is an old arabic saying which roughly translate : ask for Science even if it were in China
p.s Danson and Daniel, you guys are one of the only non-religious people that I truly respect their views and opinions, am for real
Eh? Why don’t you generally respect the views and opinions of non-religious people?
why should I ? most of them that I interacted with are degenerate morons who think they know everything about the universe and are close-minded retards.
but that doesn’t mean all of them are like that, I hope I could find other non-religious people that are like those folks I mentioned before.
To a lot of people, those that follow a book or person are considered close-minded retards.
I for one find religion a very fascinating cultural thing to observe. I’m an apathist/agnostic myself, so I don’t really have an outspoken opinion pro or contra religion, I just chose not to live by the values of a scripture or spoken word because I simple do not care for it.
I have no issues with you or any religious person following a religion, because I fully agree with the statement that religion is a good guide for those that don’t seek to abuse it for their own benefits (which happens far too often, mind you).
However, I do experience difficulty in understanding how you can just come to a conclusion that the Qu’ran is in fact the final word of God when there’s no evidence backing that up at all. You just assume it is because someone else told you it is true, and someone else probably told that person that it’s real. Yes, the Qu’ran may just be the final word of God, but chances are equally high that it isn’t. For each evidence you come up with, there’s evidence stating the opposite.
There’s just no way that both groups can prove that the holy scriptures are really the words of God or just tales that started leading their own lives over the centuries.
If you judge them like that, it’s not wonder you don’t get nice responses from them.
People are people, don’t just judge them because they have a different outlook on life.
religion is an uncontrollable magnificent power.It is beautiful and disgusting You can control billions of people. But it could be dangerous if it falls to the wrong hands