not all atheists are arrogant fags...

the idea of religion is faith

one must believe that its there

without belief there can be no faith

just because u cant prove that somethings there doesnt mean that it isnt

the basis of christianity is faith

faith is the key to unlocking the 'wisdom of the holy trinity' or the 'wonder of God' and all that bollocks

without faith, there is no God

Pyggy, I'm glad you took the time to put this on CD. It's a very interesting question but one, I fear, can only be answered in a psychological, albeit simplistic, way.

People must have an explanation for things or nothing makes sense. If there is no other reasonable explanation then it must be the unknown. In our world, the unknown are God and Jesus...yes and sometimes even Satan. Hence, question asked, question answered and no further thought is required. Truly, I believe this to be true and most especially if one had no previous affiliation with faith or God.

Yeah, I agree. The reasoning behind religion is inherently illogical by design, since it's goal is to give people a reason for being, not to explain things. Granted, religions try to explain some things, but only to the extend that's necessary to give people that "greater" purpose.

Is anyone familiar with Sartre's idea of Abandonment? It's basically better wording of things we already know, but here goes:

"For Sartre, we are all free — radically free such that we experience the psychological strain of feeling “abandoned” and forced to take full responsibility for everything that happens, even though we may not really wish to.

The experience of “abandonment” derives from the unpleasant realization that there is no God to guide us — this causes within us the belief that without any absolute guide for morality or action, there can be no guide, no values, and no morality whatsoever. How can we possibly choose to do “good” when, prior to any choices we make, there are no absolute standards separating good from evil? In a sense, everything is permitted because there is no God to stop us from doing whatever we want, while at the same time there are no guides to instruct us about what we should want.

Without values, morals, or standards predefined in the universe or human nature, there is also no determinism when it comes to how we shall behave. We can choose whatever course of action that we want — we are free, but we are also condemned to be free because there is no way around taking absolute responsibility for what choices we finally do make. We cannot say that we picked one course of action over another because it is what God wanted, because it was in our nature to do so, and so forth. No, we can only say that it is because of what we wanted. Whether for better or for worse, the responsibility is ours and ours alone.

Abandoned but free, human beings must find their own course through the world and make their own choices about what they will value, what the differences are between good and evil, and what sorts of intellectual or social standards they will expect from one another. This, in turn, can lead to despair and anguish — freedom so radical is difficult to accept, especially when so many people are brought up to believe that they aren’t free and that there are absolute values and standards for them to rely upon. It’s not unlike walking along the high-wire at a circus without a net, and it is no accident that Sartre referred to the “dizziness” of freedom.

Of course, this does not mean that it makes no difference what we do or that we cannot judge what others do. The lack of an eternal human nature or of absolute standards of behavior does not mean that there is no common human condition in which we all reside and which creates certain constraints upon what we can do. When we act, our choices may not be constrained by external standards but they are constrained by external situations — all choices are, after all, made in the context of some situation an in relation to other human beings who will be affected.

Because of this, those who are affected have every right to evaluate those choices and comment if they are based upon error, bad faith, self-deception, ill will, etc. We have to create values because there are no values prior to our existence and because the meaning of our lives cannot exist prior to our having lived. This does not entail, however, that our lives and values can be entirely capricious and independent of their effects on others. Whatever we choose to do, others will be affected and they are free to react negatively — constraining us if need be. "

TL;DR: The decision to act without pretense of supernatural, moral or natural determinism begets regressive behavior, IMO. Homonymity with the psychological defense mechanism of regression is no coincidence-- we create a dominating father figure who we can rationalize has ultimate responsibility. We are the ultimate arbiters of our own behavior, which is simply too much responsibility to bear for theists.

i'd like to start by saying that the down voting was unnecessary...

most of the arguments were legitimate enough, so STOP the down voting.

fuckin' bastards.

I don't dis-believe in a god, but I'm mostly certain there isn't a god.

I love modern religion for the good it does. Food kitchens, disaster relief, et cetera... But for the most part I have been alienated by the extremist members of the Christian church. I would never be a Christian.

There have been religions which have come and gone for thousands of years, mostly based on agriculture and basic needs. I can't really discredit all the billions of human beings throughout history who have believed in a higher power, just because I've witnessed some pretty nasty people doing 'god's work.' There has to be a reason that the concept of religion was created so many years ago. And you know... it was probably greed. Maybe mental illness.

The number one, basic human need... is want. The want for food, the want for water, the want for sex. Same as any other being on earth. So maybe through greed, like the greed of the man who invented Scientology, a primitive man invented god. He said god was his father, and god wanted him to be king. That's how things start. As a lie. Then you can't undo your lie, so you elaborate, and pretty soon you're dead and everyone believed you and look at that, Religion.

I've always wondered where God came from. And Christians tell me, "it's too complicated for us to understand." Which is less than what big bang theorists say. So I'm sticking with science.

The truth is, we'll never know where it all came from. We're probably just a blip of the time-line of a future civilization, anyhow. Really, the only thing we can do right now is try to be happy. That's why my religion is happiness. If we forgot our commitments to figments, we could commit to each other. We could commit to picnics on our lunch hour with a bottle of strawberry wine. We could commit to educating all the world's youths. We could commit to ending the pain and suffering of people all over the world... instead of just praying for them. Amen.

As a Catholic, I believe in the Lord God and all his miracles. His son Jesus performed many miracles when he was on Earth such as healing the blind and curing various diseases and ailments. The acts he performed are widely talked about, and when it happens to a person who has heard of these miracles, they get so thankful they rack their brain for many possible explanations for their saving and most come up with the idea that the Lord saved them and decided they should have time on Earth. I think it's true, my prayers have been answered many times, but its based on the person's opinion