Do you believe in God?

[Rallywagon]

Yeah, but what happens when the parent is also the child?

i suppose you get a stronger understanding of why religion is so popular in the south? just kidding. How egotistical. Gods got a picture of himself with his other self to admire and flaunt himself.....

 

[Mr Tree]

I believe Jesus shows us God.

Care to elaborate? With only that statement and not how or what you meant by it, it's pretty hard to understand what message you wanted to convey.

 

[JKgo]

...You know, this image made me think for a sec. It was literally a second, though.

 

[Imari]

...You know, this image made me think for a sec. It was literally a second, though.

View attachment 724151

Lol. Why do people accept paid days off work? That's a real head scratcher, I'll have to get back to you on that one.

If someone offered me a holiday called Slaughter the Jews, Enslave the Blacks and Rape the Women Day I still wouldn't go to work. I might protest it, but I'm not going to protest it by going to work. I'll protest it by sitting at home, drinking beer and designing a repeat fire rotten egg cannon to be permanently trained on the front door of the tool that came up with the holiday.

 

[TenEightyOne]

...You know, this image made me think for a sec. It was literally a second, though.

View attachment 724151

Or get up on days named after them?

 

[Famine]

Or get up on days named after them?

Pagan deities at that.

Today is the day of Frigga, Norse high goddess and deity of foresight, the 23rd of the month of Mars, Roman god of war. I'd have thought Christians who think like that questioner would want the months named for the apostles and the days of the week named for... I dunno, the six people present at the Nativity and God on Sunday.

Happy Melchiorday, the 23rd of Peter! Is everyone looking forward to Joseph tomorrow? I can't wait for Bartholomew Fools Day.

 

[zzz_pt]

Isn't every day of the week a celebration of a particular god?

Sunday -- Sun's day
Monday -- Moon's day
Tuesday -- Tiu's day
Wednesday -- Woden's day
Thursday -- Thor's day
Friday -- Freya's day
Saturday -- Saturn's day

Every theist, regardless of their belief, wakes up everyday "celebrating" some god to the same degree that atheists "celebrate" religious holidays.

 

[photonrider]

^ What's that in Chinese?

Wonder what the veddahs called their day-ties.

 

[Rallywagon]

^ What's that in Chinese?

Wonder what the veddahs called their day-ties.

You talking about tiu's day? I suggest clicking the link...

 

[Danoff]

Excellent deconstruction of the ridiculous claim that morality comes from religion:

 

[panzerlied327]

People seem to be really adamant on whether He exists or not, but I don't care. Honestly, I'm not a spiritual person in any way but being brought up as a Catholic I do still enjoy the traditional values. I still go to mass with my parents, but I still think the stuff in the Bible is bunk. I'm a history major and part of what I do is deal with sources of texts from thousands of years ago. And those, sources from the middle ages are hard to prove enough, so imagine how much harder it is to prove that a source that is even older with supernatural claims is to prove real.

But actually I do believe in God, here is a picture of him.

 

[Rallywagon]

People seem to be really adamant on whether He exists or not, but I don't care. Honestly, I'm not a spiritual person in any way but being brought up as a Catholic I do still enjoy the traditional values. I still go to mass with my parents, but I still think the stuff in the Bible is bunk. I'm a history major and part of what I do is deal with sources of texts from thousands of years ago. And those, sources from the middle ages are hard to prove enough, so imagine how much harder it is to prove that a source that is even older with supernatural claims is to prove real.

But actually I do believe in God, here is a picture of him.

Surely you have a bad picture... this is god...

 

[MatskiMonk]

People seem to be really adamant on whether He exists or not, but I don't care. Honestly, I'm not a spiritual person in any way but being brought up as a Catholic I do still enjoy the traditional values. I still go to mass with my parents, but I still think the stuff in the Bible is bunk. I'm a history major and part of what I do is deal with sources of texts from thousands of years ago. And those, sources from the middle ages are hard to prove enough, so imagine how much harder it is to prove that a source that is even older with supernatural claims is to prove real.

But actually I do believe in God, here is a picture of him.

Surely you have a bad picture... this is god...

And before ya know.. these two theists are already beginning a Holy War!

BURRRRRNNNNN THEMMMMMMM using SCIENCE!

 

[panzerlied327]

Surely you have a bad picture... this is god...
View attachment 739936

I swear I'm not afraid to launch an LS crusade.

And before ya know.. these two theists are already beginning a Holy War!

BURRRRRNNNNN THEMMMMMMM using SCIENCE!

Yes but I can prove than an LS3 is superior to a 20B using science. There's a reason you see RX7s with LS engines but not Corvettes and Silverados with Mazda Rotaries.

 

[Rallywagon]

I swear I'm not afraid to launch an LS crusade.


Yes but I can prove than an LS3 is superior to a 20B using science. There's a reason you see RX7s with LS engines but not Corvettes and Silverados with Mazda Rotaries.

You see rx7's with 20b's too, and anyone smart enough to swap a 20b isnt stupid enough to put it in a bow tie...

 

[Imari]

Yes but I can prove than an LS3 is superior to a 20B using science. There's a reason you see RX7s with LS engines but not Corvettes and Silverados with Mazda Rotaries.

Because why would you put a good engine in a bad chassis? There are rotaries in basically every good chassis known to man. They're just less common because rotaries are rarer, more expensive and require some actual work rather than "drop it in and weld it up".

 

[Danoff]

Lots of great stuff in this video.

I was particularly interested when Dawkins muses at one point in there about why there have been no atheists elected to congress in the US, and believes that there must be some who are lying.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/atheists-in-congress_n_3944108.html

The article points out that Barney Frank admitted he was gay in congress, and 25 years later only after retiring admitted atheism.

 

[Brett]

Lots of great stuff in this video.

I was particularly interested when Dawkins muses at one point in there about why there have been no atheists elected to congress in the US, and believes that there must be some who are lying.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/atheists-in-congress_n_3944108.html

The article points out that Barney Frank admitted he was gay in congress, and 25 years later only after retiring admitted atheism.

There are likely ones like me that went to church growing up, but have fallen away from attending/believing. I am generally uncomfortable when people ask me what my beliefs are when it comes to religion because I could care less what theirs is, except for when it compels them to be cruel.

 

[HenrySwanson]

There are likely ones like me that went to church growing up, but have fallen away from attending/believing. I am generally uncomfortable when people ask me what my beliefs are when it comes to religion because I could care less what theirs is, except for when it compels them to be cruel.

What do they do that is cruel?

 

[Mr Tree]

What do they do that is cruel?

I somewhat agree with his post so I can give my take.

First of we're talking exceptions so this is not your average believer. But some religions refuse medical care for their children on religious grounds that's start. In the middle east we've got people suicidebombing because they believe something.

Their are excesses in religion as there are in.every group and those that believe in these forms of religion should 'interest' us as we need to stop those actions.

 

[Scaff]

What do they do that is cruel?

The most obvious example would be using religion as justification to limit the rights of others.

 

[Joey D]

What do they do that is cruel?

Terrorism and a justification for wars if you want to look at the global scale.

On a more personal level, people use their religion to justify sexual abuse and violence. There are also people who disown their own children and kick them out on the street simply because they're gay, have an abortion, or just stop attending a place of worship. Oh and lets not forgot stealing money, especially stealing money from the government, which really means they're stealing money from me - Utah is famous for this.

Religion is pretty awful for the most part.

 

[TexRex]

Oh and lets not forgot stealing money, especially stealing money from the government, which really means they're stealing money from me - Utah is famous for this.

Or stealing money from, you know, believers. I'm looking at you, Mike Murdock.

 

[HenrySwanson]

Terrorism and a justification for wars if you want to look at the global scale.

On a more personal level, people use their religion to justify sexual abuse and violence. There are also people who disown their own children and kick them out on the street simply because they're gay, have an abortion, or just stop attending a place of worship. Oh and lets not forgot stealing money, especially stealing money from the government, which really means they're stealing money from me - Utah is famous for this.

Religion is pretty awful for the most part.

Can you expand on that (I'm guessing it's to do with Mormons)?

 

[UKMikey]

Religion is pretty awful for the most part.

Looking at it from the point of view of a lifelong atheist I understand how religion can be good for people's mental wellbeing if it stops them despairing about, say, what happens to them after they die.

I'm even prepared to concede that organised religion contributes towards social cohesion in that the proportion of wealth distribution it encourages which isn't going into cathedral repair and/or televangelists' bank accounts would, in a religion-free world, have to be handled by the state and the rest of the voluntary sector.

The counterargument is of course that all these good works in the name of [insert deity here] are in fact entirely due to the efforts of human beings down here on earth. I haven't really got an answer to that one.

 

[Scaff]

Can you expand on that (I'm guessing it's to do with Mormons)?

Churches and religious organisations in the US can apply for an get tax exemption.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/09/22/lets-tax-churches/#74199506322b

Utah being heavily Mormon is a good example of this.

On a UK based not, the Church of England is also tax exempt.

 

[ImaRobot]

Utah being heavily Moron is a good example of this.

Don't have to be so rude, Scaff

 

[Scaff]

Don't have to be so rude, Scaff

Well that's an interesting autocorrect!

 

[HenrySwanson]

Looking at it from the point of view of a lifelong atheist I understand how religion can be good for people's mental wellbeing if it stops them despairing about, say, what happens to them after they die.

I'm even prepared to concede that organised religion contributes towards social cohesion in that the proportion of wealth distribution it encourages which isn't going into cathedral repair and/or televangelists' bank accounts would, in a religion-free world, have to be handled by the state and the rest of the voluntary sector.

The counterargument is of course that all these good works in the name of [insert deity here] are in fact entirely due to the efforts of human beings down here on earth. I haven't really got an answer to that one.

Physical wellbeing as well, apparently:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...du-buddhist-life-expectancy-age-a8396866.html

 

[Scaff]

Physical wellbeing as well, apparently:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...du-buddhist-life-expectancy-age-a8396866.html

The skeptic in me always has issues with how the press tend to 'interpret' research papers.

The actual paper itself is a lot less enthusiastic about that link.

"Does religion cause longevity … or … does good health inspire religious involvement? There is no causal relationship in either direction established by this study …
our data are correlational in nature and only collected at one time point. As such, it is impossible to disentangle the direction of the effect: whether religious involvement increases longevity or healthier people tend to be more religious

Obituaries don’t truly reflect reality, we don’t really know how religious these people actually were or what they believed …
obituaries may not be subject to the same biases as self-report, they may be subject to their own biases such as the obituary writer self-enhancing on behalf of the deceased or those who are well liked or have stronger social connections being more likely to have obituaries

Other factors that impact longevity are not included, we don’t have the full picture …
obituaries do not include demographic factors (e.g., race) or health behaviors (e.g., smoking) that influence longevity

It is also possible that people who are religious might also be more inclined to have relatives that publish an Obituary
our samples may not be entirely socioeconomically or educationally representative. Although these factors limit the generalizability of our findings, they likely restrict the range of our variables, and thus bias against the results

We don’t actually know what these people actually believed or practised. They may simply be people who had religious relatives ..
obituaries fail to reflect the relative degrees of involvement in various activities, so they may overemphasize, underemphasize, or even leave out aspects of a person’s life. This issue is particularly relevant for obituaries lacking a mention of involvement with a religious institution. It is not entirely clear who falls into this category. Individuals without religious information in their obituaries might be atheists, agnostics, or a member of an unaffiliated group such as the “spiritual, but not religious.” Alternatively, individuals without religious information in their obituaries might be religious, but not as closely associated with the institution as those for whom religious identity is mentioned in the obituary."



https://www.skeptical-science.com/people/do-religious-people-live-longer/