Hmm...I think that religion was made to be an explanation for things. Like, using greek mythos as an example, the Greeks didn't know what an earthquake or thunder or fire was. They didn't understand it, and made an explanation for it. I think that this applies to modern religions, and theories, also. The question of creation- Nobody can prove that their thoery or religion is true. Nobody knows that they are right (They might believe in it very very strongly, but it still could be incorrect). So, it is something ununderstood, and people made an answer, and explanations about creation. They can't prove it, but it is still a possibility.

So, I believe that until all questions are answered, religions, gods, and God will still be needed (Or at least existant). But I do not believe that they need to be there to put forth their argument, if they are disproved (Yet dissappear, they will not).

Quote from Schwa

Yes Penis Shaped Toilets are illogical but does every single great civilization all accross the world have them? No, in fact, hopefully, none of them do.

What I'm saying is that religion is not like a flood. Lots of civilizations have floods, so they build flood protection. Because it is naturally occuring and occurs all over.

But religion has no basis whatsoever in any sort of physical common occurence, yet it is common to the whole world. So the need for God must be wired into man's brain, not put there by outside forces. Like a flood.

Does that make sense?

I see what you are thinking, but just because religion is prominent across the world does not mean in must be wired into man's brain. It doesn't work that way.

Quote from Dragon077

I see what you are thinking, but just because religion is prominent across the world does not mean in must be wired into man's brain. It doesn't work that way.

But there's no other external reason for it to exist commonly.

It must be something it is commonly internal to man.

GODDAMMNIT SCHWA.

"It's the sole reason for the formation of religion. People don't think "Hmm, we need a way to get people not to murder each other, let's say that Zues doesn't like it." they say "Where does that lightning come from? Maybe a man throws it from the sky?""

Quote from Ash

GODDAMMNIT SCHWA.

"It's the sole reason for the formation of religion. People don't think "Hmm, we need a way to get people not to murder each other, let's say that Zues doesn't like it." they say "Where does that lightning come from? Maybe a man throws it from the sky?""

By silently ignoring you I am acknowledging that I am wrong and I misunderstood your post, kay?

Jeez;

But my points still stand.

Quote from Schwa

But there's no other external reason for it to exist commonly.

It must be something it is commonly internal to man.

Now, it doesn't. Just because it is prominent doesn't mean it is man's need.

The reason that religion is found all over the world isn't becaue we need religion, it's because we all have the desire to explain the universe.

Quote from Ash

The reason that religion is found all over the world isn't becaue we need religion, it's because we all have the desire to explain the universe.

But why religion? Why choose something so similar all around the earth that is so illogical strange and unreasonable.

It doesn't make sense.

Unless its something common to man.

You act as if people say "Hmm, lets explain it with religion", but that's not how it works. They create an explanation, such as an omnipotent being (Which is easy to imagine and thus very common) and that explantation is what we call religion.

They don't make religion, but what they do make is what we call religion, if that makes sense to you.

Note also that at the time of the creation of most religions, they didn't find it illogical. This was when people thought the Earth was flat and the center of the universe, despite the observations of many people.

Quote from Ash

You act as if people say "Hmm, lets explain it with religion", but that's not how it works. They create an explanation, such as an omnipotent being (Which is easy to imagine and thus very common) and that explantation is what we call religion.

They don't make religion, but what they do make is what we call religion, if that makes sense to you.

Well, why is it so easy and common to invent an omnipotent being/beings?

And your ****ing blah is flawed. Early religions were all about beings who were barely better than human, not omnipotent beings, at least in the greeks, monotheistic religions didn't occur until later.

Yeah, my wording was a bit wrong. The titans were stronger than the gods in Greek mythology, for instance. But still, misnomers aside, they imagine that powerful beings are behind it because of 3 factors:

A)They observe that they can't produce the phenomena
B)They have experiece with people in everyday life
C)They are open to superstition

You guys were confusing religion and spirituality.

Almost all early humans had some form of spirituality. They all felt that there was some kind of higher-then-human being/beings. Hopefully, we can agree on this.

Religion, however, is just an elaboration of that idea. It isn't really explaining how the world works. It's explaining the idea of spirituality and their theory of what the higher being is. The entire religion is eventually based of that primary idea. This is usually where religions finally differ from each other.

Quote from Delphinus19

Yes, but as they got more "civilized" they moved away from that. Most of our atheistical ideas are only 500 years old, where the Bible's ideas have been around for several thousand, along with alot of 'holy' ideas.

I'd also like to bring this up. I know it was a long while ago, but some of you might still be thinking this.

Just because you/your society is going through another dependency on science, doesn't mean that you can ignore all of history. You can't suddenly claim yourself more sophisticated just because your an atheist. You're just being an elitist and making an extremely bold claim.

Spirituality is an imporant part of human lifestyle, though. Even if it isn't religiously base.

I can't talk much about this now, I gotta go to school.

Oh Schwa. I see where were you getting now. That's good, you've explained the source of religion. It doesn't mean it's a need though, as Dragon said.

Also, people still believe in god(I'm not going to put an emphasis on Christianity, I'm talking about all beliefs) though science and progress have explained pretty much everything so far. I'm not taling about the ancient beliefs and how god existed.

What about from the moral point of view? Big Bang made a good point a few pages back, did anybody see it? What about crime, justice, relationships, forgiveness? Is something bad because the god says so or does god forbid something because it actually is bad?

Maybe the earlier explanations of world were actually for real, but they are not supposed to be taken literally now. Like Christians, for instance. They believe that it was God who created the man and the woman, but not out of nothing. They all still learn the theory of evolution and acknowledge it. Heck, I bet Charles Darwin was religious.
My point is, that all of those Bible stories(since we're talking about Christians) always had a moral message.

Quote from Dudeman.

You guys were confusing religion and spirituality.

Almost all early humans had some form of spirituality. They all felt that there was some kind of higher-then-human being/beings. Hopefully, we can agree on this.

Religion, however, is just an elaboration of that idea. It isn't really explaining how the world works. It's explaining the idea of spirituality and their theory of what the higher being is. The entire religion is eventually based of that primary idea. This is usually where religions finally differ from each other.


I'd also like to bring this up. I know it was a long while ago, but some of you might still be thinking this.

Just because you/your society is going through another dependency on science, doesn't mean that you can ignore all of history. You can't suddenly claim yourself more sophisticated just because your an atheist. You're just being an elitist and making an extremely bold claim.

I'm not going to go so far as to say that we are more civil (I don't think science is a mark of civility) but we certainly have a greater understanding of the universe.



And I've yet to see anyone explain why spirituality is so gosh-darn important.



Mantha, firstly, Darwin was an out-right atheist. Rumors about a death-bed conversation are a complete fallacy: he was an atheist to the end.

Second, bible stories DON'T always have a moral message. Many of them are just saying "This is what happens when you don't believe in God."

Lastly, people still believe in God in such great numbers because they are threatened from childhood onward about not beliving. OF COURSE they believe in God. Tell a child that he'll go to hell if he doesn't believe in santa and see how much longer he'll believe.