How has religion affected you?

[Jintor]

Just checking on Stern's statement that religion is affecting our daily lives more and more.

/edit AFFECTED! AFFECTED! Someone change the title, please...

 

[$kelet0r]

makes me hate it more :|

 

[Icarusintel]

It's actually a really good reference for things like short stories and poetry since everyone knows at least a little something about God and the Bible

 

[Raziaar]

Religion has been a good influence on me. I likely would be in a different place now if not for it. Almost assuredly a worse place.

 

[15357]

makes me hate it more :|

same for me.

 

[Drackard]

Hasn't affected me in anyway lol, am an Atheist (sp?) so i'm happy.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I think a better question might be 'how has religion not affected you?'

Well it formed most of my earliest conceptions of morals. /shrug

 

[Hectic Glenn]

I think a better question might be 'how has religion not affected you?'

Well it formed most of my earliest conceptions of morals. /shrug

QFT, very good point.

Although i have jewish blood, and i do not follow any religion, nor believe in a god, i think primary school telling me all those so fantastical biblical stories with morals and lessons of life shaped me into the person i am. Saying this, a child should eventually get their decision in what they want to believe, at some point.

 

[Raziaar]

I chose to worship an omnipotent being instead of fashion, money, material possessions, celebrities, etc.

Some people tell me I made a bad choice, others a good choice. :E

 

[rambler]

i dislike religion, but i don't dislike religious people (other than thinking they're just a bit thick). of course some religious stuff is bad, e.g. the pope telling african countries that are running rampant with aids that condoms don't work.

my great uncles and aunts were all killed in the concentration camps, my grandad escaped and all the remaining family turned their back on religion, not necessarily because of the war but just because they realised how stupid it is. i mean, c'mon, a guy who controlls everything and is everywhere and when you die you go to a lovely place blah blah blah.

 

[Raziaar]

i dislike religion, but i don't dislike religious people (other than thinking they're just a bit thick). of course some religious stuff is bad, e.g. the pope telling african countries that are running rampant with aids that condoms don't work.

my great uncles and aunts were all killed in the concentration camps, my grandad escaped and all the remaining family turned their back on religion, not necessarily because of the war but just because they realised how stupid it is. i mean, c'mon, a guy who controlls everything and is everywhere and when you die you go to a lovely place blah blah blah.

Thick? Spirtual beliefs has nothing to do with a person's general intelligence, my friend. There's only cooincidences. A thick person might worship a religion. A thick person might be an athiest. It works all ways. If you're talking about the silliness of what they believe in, thats a different story... but it shouldn't be labelled as thick. Again... spiritual things people believe in don't really fall into the normal realm of understanding and intelligence.

You get upset when people say things about you as a gamer, based on the actions of other gamers that could be entirely different from you but share a similiarity with you, right?

 

[gunny-man]

Hasn't affected me in anyway lol, am an Atheist (sp?) so i'm happy.

Same here

 

[rambler]

You get upset when people say things about you as a gamer

nope.

and i do get your point. i do. and i am open minded, hey there could be a god. but i really don't think so. and i'm not agnostic, i KNOW there is no god.

but i just can't help thinking that religious people, in the fact that they are religious, are just a bit stupid. sorry, i don't mean to be insulting but it's just what i think. i mean, come on! there is no god. just think about it for a second. there is zero proof that god exists. it's just not true.

hey, on the other hand though, a big green frog actually created the world. yeah, trouble is, he's invisible, and you cant feel or smell him. yeah, and he has infinite power. disprove THAT! and don't give me any of that faith crap, because faith, my friend, is the route of all stupidity.

 

[3ssence]

nope.

and i do get your point. i do. and i am open minded, hey there could be a god. but i really don't think so. and i'm not agnostic, i KNOW there is no god.

but i just can't help thinking that religious people, in the fact that they are religious, are just a bit stupid. sorry, i don't mean to be insulting but it's just what i think. i mean, come on! there is no god. just think about it for a second. there is zero proof that god exists. it's just not true.

hey, on the other hand though, a big green frog actually created the world. yeah, trouble is, he's invisible, and you cant feel or smell him. yeah, and he has infinite power. disprove THAT! and don't give me any of that faith crap, because faith, my friend, is the route of all stupidity.

K.........

Such a profound statement /sarcasm

I've been brought up by a christian family and i think it has very much shaped me into the person i am now, and has taught me many things, and i would like to think for the better.

People may slate religion all they want, but it's a personal choice whether you believe or not, and as far as they are concerned they aren't losing out by not doing so, which makes you wonder why some people bother insulting those that do, when they could just keep their mouths shut and go about their merry lives happy in the knowledge that their is no god as far as they are concerned. I don't feel the need to mock those that don't believe, so why should they....

 

[rambler]

because the people who want to keep their mouths shut don't come to a discussion board?

i wouldn't expect you to understand, after all, you are religious.

ZING!

i'm just joking buddy.

 

[Nat Turner]

All religions are false. Therefore they don't affect me.

 

[TheHamster22]

K.........

Such a profound statement /sarcasm

I've been brought up by a christian family and i think it has very much shaped me into the person i am now, and has taught me many things, and i would like to think for the better.

People may slate religion all they want, but it's a personal choice whether you believe or not, and as far as they are concerned they aren't losing out by not doing so, which makes you wonder why some people bother insulting those that do, when they could just keep their mouths shut and go about their merry lives happy in the knowledge that their is no god as far as they are concerned. I don't feel the need to mock those that don't believe, so why should they....

Well in some ways it's not really a persons choice, but more the choice of the people that brought them up. True you get people that don't become religious from religious families, or even convert to another at some point; but theres definately a corralation, so there can't be complete freedom in choice in that respect.

Anyway, religion has affected my life probably in some way, like it probably helped me form some early morals like the other folks said but I in no way believe in any religion.

 

[Que-Ever]

I probably wouldn't be as nice as I am now. Also, I probably would've made mny more of those "serious" mistakes other kids get into at my ade (sex, drinking, etc...)

 

[CptStern]

it only affects in as much as it invades my life ..especially since I dont have a choice as to whether I can completely ignore it as far too many religious groups have attached themselves to social issues these days

I mean we cant swing a cat without hitting some group somewhere trying to moralize some segment of society/culture

 

[Nat Turner]

I probably wouldn't be as nice as I am now. Also, I probably would've made mny more of those "serious" mistakes other kids get into at my ade (sex, drinking, etc...)

I've never been religious (my parents aren't either), and haven't made any serious mistakes. I don't think there's a correlation.

 

[Ome_Vince]

Right, i've seen some stupid remarks in my life but stating all religions are false and there is no god is about the same as saying we all spawned out of a cuckoo's clock.
There never being proof there was a god doesnt meen there IS a god, but doesnt meen there ISNT a god.
Claiming people that believe in a god = dumb is wel, no comment other than ->LOL.

I respect all Atheists, and believe everybody is entitled to his/her own beliefs. Only 90% of the Atheists i meet seem to think they are superior and know how the world works ( we can invent jets and cars, so god is bs). Let me unravel a little something for you: WE KNOW JACK SHIT! its funny but true. 99% of all medicine is "accidentally" discovered during random experiments. 9/10 scientific discoveries get proven false or inaccurate years later.
With every step we discover ( or think we discover ) there are even more questions lined up. A scientist would say: we are only creating MORE questions instead of less. Nevertheless science is helping us understand the world.
I'd like to go into this more, but i have other things to do .

True, there might be a god, and there might not be a god. Only thing i agree on, is that most religious stories are build on top of each other ( gotta love reading mythology ) and become bs stories. Doesnt meen the source = not true...

In short, Atheist or not, you can think what you want, god or no god, its still all BELIEF.. Its all about what YOU believe, and no opinion is worth more than another until there is at least a shred of evidence...

And you gotta thank religion for at least one thing: most of our everyday values and respect spawns from our religious cultural background which "indoctrinated" "love each other".
We all see suicide bombers and fanatics and like to generalize. There is also so much good coming from religions. Look at Mother Teresa and other religious people dedicating their life to helping the poor and making the world "better" ( how corny it may sound, its true).
I prefer such a world anyday over a world of ego and anarchism.

 

[Drackard]

Well in some ways it's not really a persons choice, but more the choice of the people that brought them up. True you get people that don't become religious from religious families, or even convert to another at some point; but theres definately a corralation, so there can't be complete freedom in choice in that respect.

It differs really, My Mum is Christian ( I think ) and my dad is something else, however they chose not to argue what religion i should be and decided that it would be best if the decision was left to me when i was old enough to understand. However i chose to remain an Atheist, but that doesn't go to say i don't believe in God, as i do.

 

[Raziaar]

I mean we cant swing a cat without hitting some group somewhere trying to moralize some segment of society/culture

We rely on you to fill in some of that moralizing. Thou shalt not invade other countries, etc. :dork:

And you gotta thank religion for at least one thing: most of our everyday values and respect spawns from our religious cultural background which "indoctrinated" "love each other".
We all see suicide bombers and fanatics and like to generalize. There is also so much good coming from religions. Look at Mother Teresa and other religious people dedicating their life to helping the poor and making the world "better" ( how corny it may sound, its true).
I prefer such a world anyday over a world of ego and anarchism.

Well said.

 

[Nat Turner]

Right, i've seen some stupid remarks in my life but stating all religions are false and there is no god is about the same as saying we all spawned out of a cuckoo's clock.

No, it's not. Religious dogma (like purple aliens living on Mars) is false until proven true.

There never being proof there was a god doesnt meen there IS a god, but doesnt meen there ISNT a god.
Claiming people that believe in a god = dumb is wel, no comment other than ->LOL.

There is a small correlation between religion and IQ, but it's nothing significant. Also, there's no point in believing in something when there's no evidence for it. It's just plain illogical.

I respect all Atheists, and believe everybody is entitled to his/her own beliefs. Only 90% of the Atheists i meet seem to think they are superior and know how the world works ( we can invent jets and cars, so god is bs). Let me unravel a little something for you: WE KNOW JACK SHIT! its funny but true. 99% of all medicine is "accidentally" discovered during random experiments. 9/10 scientific discoveries get proven false or inaccurate years later.

Um, almost all medicine is developed at pharmaceutical companies. Stating that 99% is accidentally discovered is plain WRONG. 9/10 of scientific discoveries do NOT get proven false. I point to your functional computer as evidence.

True, there might be a god, and there might not be a god. Only thing i agree on, is that most religious stories are build on top of each other ( gotta love reading mythology ) and become bs stories. Doesnt meen the source = not true...

No, most religious stories are not connected. Sure some are, but theres tons of different cultures with their own religious beliefs.

In short, Atheist or not, you can think what you want, god or no god, its still all BELIEF.. Its all about what YOU believe, and no opinion is worth more than another until there is at least a shred of evidence...

Yes it is all belief, but there's no point in believing something without evidence. I could believe in purple space invaders living on comets, but I have nothing to back that up, so it's just pointless to believe it. The same goes with religion.

And you gotta thank religion for at least one thing: most of our everyday values and respect spawns from our religious cultural background which "indoctrinated" "love each other".

This is false. People are mostly decent by nature, and don't need common religious morals. Look at African tribes, they function well as a community without Christian beliefs.

We all see suicide bombers and fanatics and like to generalize. There is also so much good coming from religions. Look at Mother Teresa and other religious people dedicating their life to helping the poor and making the world "better" ( how corny it may sound, its true).
I prefer such a world anyday over a world of ego and anarchism.

Mother Teresa is dead. Also, religion has greatly slowed down scientific progress over the centuries. There is no connection between secularism and anarchism by the way.

 

[CptStern]

We rely on you to fill in some of that moralizing. Thou shalt not invade other countries, etc. :dork:

it's not like you make any sort of statement condemning the slaughter of iraqis ..someone has to do

and I dont moralize ..I give mental kicks to the head in an attempt to knock some sense into people, but you can hardly call my opinions behind the war in iraq moralizing

oh and I completely reject the notion that morality has it's roots in religion ..if that were true why does every culture have the same reaction to murder? Sure it may have been appropriated by religion but man instinctually has a moral center that isnt formulated by religion

 

[dream431ca]

How has religion affected me....well there is one thing that pisses me off. People who think they can find proof of god with science.....!!!! NO!!

What the hell is wrong with these people? The most stupidest excuse I have ever heard for someone who has no religion is "God is not proven so I don't believe in any god." Lets get one thing straight. Religion is about faith and not science..FAITH!!! Come on people. And I'm also pissed off about people who want to find the holy grail or the ark of the covenent because they were in the bible....I hate people who treat the bible as a history book looking for historical facts that happened who knows how long ago. The bible is exactly the same as the hyroglyphics on the egyptian walls that describe a story and teach you about the religion...not historical fact. It's the same as people reading the story of "halo" and then looking through big telescopes to find the ring in the book (or in this case the game). Utter nonsense. Some people have to get their brains checked.

 

[Solaris]

Right, i've seen some stupid remarks in my life but stating all religions are false and there is no god is about the same as saying we all spawned out of a cuckoo's clock.
There never being proof there was a god doesnt meen there IS a god, but doesnt meen there ISNT a god.
Claiming people that believe in a god = dumb is wel, no comment other than ->LOL.

Why is saying there is no god and there all relgions are false, to any degree as stupud as saying we are spawned out of a cuckoo's clock?
There is zero proof that a god exists, none. So if you have no evidence, its stupid to reach a conclusion that requires evidence. However the lack of evidence supports the theory that there is no god, becuase that requires no evidence except the lack of evidence itself.

Absense of evidence is evidence of absence.

 

[dream431ca]

Why is saying there is no god and there all relgions are false, to any degree as stupud as saying we are spawned out of a cuckoo's clock?
There is zero proof that a god exists, none. So if you have no evidence, its stupid to reach a conclusion that requires evidence. However the lack of evidence supports the theory that there is no god, becuase that requires no evidence except the lack of evidence itself.

Absense of evidence is evidence of absence.

Read my post above you my friend. Religion is not about proof, it's about faith. Evidence is pointless in religion. Religion is not a science, so don't go to science to look for a god, cause you won't find one.

 

[Ome_Vince]

No, it's not. Religious dogma (like purple aliens living on Mars) is false until proven true.

There is a small correlation between religion and IQ, but it's nothing significant. Also, there's no point in believing in something when there's no evidence for it. It's just plain illogical.

Um, almost all medicine is developed at pharmaceutical companies. Stating that 99% is accidentally discovered is plain WRONG. 9/10 of scientific discoveries do NOT get proven false. I point to your functional computer as evidence.

No, most religious stories are not connected. Sure some are, but theres tons of different cultures with their own religious beliefs.

Yes it is all belief, but there's no point in believing something without evidence. I could believe in purple space invaders living on comets, but I have nothing to back that up, so it's just pointless to believe it. The same goes with religion.

This is false. People are mostly decent by nature, and don't need common religious morals. Look at African tribes, they function well as a community without Christian beliefs.

Mother Teresa is dead. Also, religion has greatly slowed down scientific progress over the centuries. There is no connection between secularism and anarchism by the way.

Ok let me start with:

1. Your assuming to much. For somebody that only believes what can be proven.
Comparing religion with purple aliens on comets is rediculous.
Always false until proven true? If you want to get philosophical, how can you prove you exist? Sounds weird but religion didnt come falling out of the blue.
Jesus Christ DID exist, pruple aliens on comets didnt. What you are doing is "assuming".

2. Its not about "believing there's something without any proof", your missing the point completely. If i believe Pluto is made out of chees thats illogical.
Where we came from, who created us, what goes on beyond space. Thats belief, wheter you believe there's a natural cause or unnatural ( a god ), it all comes down to the same thing-> what do you think that happened. Big difference..

3. You should talk more with doctors. Any idea why none of the doctors get their eye's lazered? ( they all walk around with glasses ). Lazering your eyes is burning away parts, and doctors themselves know better and dont know what this will result in in the future -> side effects? Penicillin is another example of random discovery. Laboratories do research for medicine, but i think your unfamiliar with how they do it: let me explain it in cartoon style:
"hey john, this desease makes your eyes pop out. Ok lets take this lab rat, give him the desease and then spray it with this crap, lets see what happens -> boom. Rat explodes, microscope time-> lets try again".
Ok thats a little over the top, but experiments arent called "experiments" for nothing you know. I suggest go looking into the creation of most medicine.
We're not in the "era" of "hey, this desease causes this -> microscope, lets fix this". Once we really understand every gen of a person, can we start researching this way, before that its trial on error...

4. "There is a small correlation between religion and IQ, but it's nothing significant" wtf is that? I'd say there's a correlation between a low-IQ, assumption and generalisation.

5. I never stated most religious stories are connected? I said most stories are buildups on previous stories....

6. People are descent by nature????? OMG people are ANIMALS by nature! Dude i suggest going back into page 1 of your history book and showing me how vikings, Huns, barbarians and even the first version of man were descent by nature! We're cattle, thats right, but we all step on each other to make it to the food first! And looking at how many people got massacred and how, i dont think your statement makes even a little sense..
Religion was the first barrier on that, humanism carried on. Now standard society is the barrier.

7. Do you have any proof of religion slowing science down? You think the pope not accepting certain scientific discoveries or banning them slowed science down?
This can be split into 2 sections:
-Which era contained the biggest scientific discoveries and advancements in Europe? During religious times, or not? You see, we're all a bunch of barbarians until the Roman Katholics united Europe and organised it. From there, you see technology sky-rocketing and Europe becoming "world leader in power and technology". You see great advancements not only in technology but also in society and culture.

-Is technology really good for mankind? Lets for a second change the real world around and say : ok religion slows technology down. lol, ah well ok, lets pretend its true. I bet you a small village of Africans, with no cars, 9:00-17:00 jobs, airplanes, pills etc has a much higher % of "happy" people then the stressfull time of technolog.

But as mentioned in the first section, religion slowing technology down is a myth, and dont bring up incidents, take general numbers throughout time.

8. "There is no connection between secularism and anarchism by the way."
Dude, another assumption. I am pro secularism! i think thats the only way religion would/could work and minimizing "mis-usage".
My comment was on society, an anarchist society, which we're all growing back to only caring about ourselves, more and more people fall into depressive states. Ever check the suicide numbers lately? Doesnt seem like our current progress is doing mankind any good...

 

[Solaris]

Read my post above you my friend. Religion is not about proof, it's about faith. Evidence is pointless in religion. Religion is not a science, so don't go to science to look for a god, cause you won't find one.

Faith isn't logical at all.

It's just I belive it becuase I do, why not be a Muslim instead of a christian? Or a Buddhist, or a Satanist they all rely on faith and have nothing more to support themselves par faith.

 

[dream431ca]

Faith isn't logical at all.

It's just I belive it becuase I do, why not be a Muslim instead of a christian? Or a Buddhist, or a Satanist they all rely on faith and have nothing more to support themselves par faith.

But religion is not meant to be logical with proof or evidence...it's simply a belief, whatever religion it is. The support of the religon is not from evidence of the existance of a god, it's support comes from the people, the actual followers of the religion. The more people, the more influencal the religion becomes attracting more people to it.

 

[Ome_Vince]

You know its funny how atheists always point to the Katholic church and say, "you see how intolerant they were, they burnt people for herresy, and they had crusades etc. Religion is the foreman of intollerance"

And if you check this topic and read all the comments, you get this:

-Religious man/believer : "ah well, if somebody else believes there is no god, its ok, people can believe whatever they want"

-Atheist: "religion is stupid, purple aliens on comets blabla, corelation between IQ and religion"

So i ask, who's the intollerant? Who's assuming? Who's claiming the other is wrong? Many of these fingers pointing and blaming at religion come from humanities nature, and the coolness about nature is, afterwards we want to blame it on something. In this case: religion.

 

[CptStern]

6. People are descent by nature????? OMG people are ANIMALS by nature! Dude i suggest going back into page 1 of your history book and showing me how vikings, Huns, barbarians and even the first version of man were descent by nature! We're cattle, thats right, but we all step on each other to make it to the food first! And looking at how many people got massacred and how, i dont think your statement makes even a little sense..
Religion was the first barrier on that, humanism carried on. Now standard society is the barrier.
..

point 6. ...crusades, inquisition, genocide of the Armenian people, St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, Massacres of Indian Independence, Russian Pogroms, the Mountain Meadows massacre, Bosnia, East Timor, Ivory Coast, Jonestown etc etc ..cruelty/murder/mayhem at the hands of people who've "found" god

 

[dream431ca]

point 6. ...crusades, inquisition, genocide of the Armenian people, St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, Massacres of Indian Independence, Russian Pogroms, the Mountain Meadows massacre, Bosnia, East Timor, Ivory Coast, Jonestown etc etc ..cruelty/murder/mayhem at the hands of people who've "found" god

all I can say is PWND!!!! Stern the ultimate backlash!!

 

[satch919]

Over the years, I've begun to loathe religion and its backward teachings. It creates a lot of problems for mankind.

 

[dream431ca]

Over the years, I've begun to loathe religion and its backward teachings. It creates a lot of problems for mankind.

The only thing that creates problems are the extremists...they guys who walk around and yell "IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD, YOU GO TO HELL!!!1!!!" So it's not religion's fault that people are like this...the people choose to be like that, and I hate those people cause if they really did follow an actual religion, they wouldn't be doing that.

 

[CptStern]

yes but mainstream religion doesnt help much either

 

[Raziaar]

it's not like you make any sort of statement condemning the slaughter of iraqis ..someone has to do

I object to the unlawful slaughtering of innocent civilians. I feel awful every time it happens. THe people that are supposed to be dying are the military people only, but unfortunately that doesn't always happen as planned.

 

[Ikerous]

I go to church every sunday for the great music. So i guess i can say, religion has given me a nice afternoon once a week.

(And you guys argue a lot...)

 

[dream431ca]

I go to church every sunday for the great music. So i guess i can say, religion has given me a nice afternoon once a week.

(And you guys argue a lot...)

What do you expect?? this is a descussion of religion and you can't talk about religion without an arguement.