Atheists, Agnostics, and Anti-theists of ModDB
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A group for those without religion, as well as those who oppose it. Atheism and Agnosticism and Anti-theism.
Religious Children
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I remember doubting my religion when I was very young (4 and up). Since kids always think their parents are right up until a certain age you'll believe their half-assed answers.
What's funny, but sad though is that even as a child I had some common sense, over people who were much older than me (leads me to believe religion suppresses common sense).
For instance, I remember when I was first being 'indoctrinated': I was being told a few stories from the Bible, I started asking questions my Dad couldn't answer and then I exclaimed that how would I need God and then my Dad EXPLODED at me, causing me to cry. I was ONLY 4 years old at the time (possibly even 3), and I still remember that exact event.
Flowers grow out of my *** too
Well, when I said to my parents that I was agnostic, the only person who ran at me was my mother. My father accepted normally.
For me, my Dad would go ballistic. His belief has led him to believe in all kinds of anomalies. For instance, he also believes in giants, unicorns, and mermaids. Giants and unicorns are mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible (he's a literalist in every sense) so he believes they existed. His preacher one time told him he believed in mermaids and that they were wicked, so naturally my Dad follows what the delusional dude says. Dinosaurs? Nope. Weren't mentioned = they didn't exist.
You could hold dinosaur bones in front of him with real stuff to show that it existed and how old it is. He would just make up an excuse like, "Those are fake", or "Those are probably another animals" etc.
Much organized religion does suppress common sense, just as many of our institutions do.
This is because, while most are created with the intention of improving conditions for some part of society, all institutions are susceptible to perversion at the hands of someone who only seeks to increase their own power.
Don't blame the church for screwing with your head, blame the man who has taken control of the church. (Though this is not to say that every church and institution is corrupt.)
In my current perspective from originally being a Christian and slowly turning into an Atheist, I look back on a lot of instances and just see things differently now than how I originally perceived them.
Also, delusion can lead to accidental suppression of common sense, which I see is common in every church I've been to. I can believe there's a unicorn watching me and say I eventually somehow convince my friends there is one, did I lie to them? Not really, I was just being stupid.
The only way for organized religion to prevent itself from collapsing is to lie, decieve, and indoctrinate the offspring of their followers.
I can't imagine this some people scared to tell their parents they just enjoy life and don't believe? that's just the thing that almost everbody does here in my country almost nobody goes to church or only old people.
Over here in America, it's Jesusland. My parents are devout in their faith so much that I'm pretty sure I would get punished...no wait...******* beaten for telling them I don't believe in their God.
wow that really sux, that many people dont have free choice (well, if they do, still have to hide it from parents). I wonder why people cant accept other, especially their own children.
Until I'm 18, I have to blow off arguments over religion with them with, "Ok, I'm not Atheist, I'm just not sure is all".
I even had my sister hit me over the head for asking her certain powerful questions she couldn't answer (which she quickly reverted back to the ol' "It's faith" and you will only understand if you "Let it cloud your mind") so I know what to expect when you challenge a religious persons devout faith.
There is a big difference between saying "I am Christian" and being a Christian.
"I even had my sister hit me over the head for asking her certain powerful questions she couldn't answer..."
I'd like to say that I LOVE philosophical arguments, and would like it if you would share some of those 'powerful questions', for the sake of said arguments.
Q. How did God come into existence? Where does it all begin? A powerful, complex being couldn't have just appeared out of nowhere!
Q. Why did it take God 3 days to create the Earth when he is said to be all-powerful? Same thing goes for creating the stars, light, animals, etc.
Q. Why did the light (sun) come before the stars? From a human POV at this time, the sun was thought of not as a star. God should know that the sun is a star, he created it.
Q. It took 3 days to create the Earth...and one day to create the stars? The billions of tiny specks in the sky were just specks to us. An all-powerful being would've known the actual size of these 'tiny specks'.
Wow; way to make my brain hurt:
Please don't think I'm holding out on answering. A combination of thinking, writing, and laziness is why I haven't posted answers yet, but they should be up within the next couple days (it's essentially an article already, and I'm not even done with the first question).
Thankyou!!!
I'd like to say now that I don't proclaim to KNOW the right answers to any of these questions - I'm merely speculating...
A1: I suggest two potential answers: either something caused God to exist, and their are forces and laws that sepercede him - or God has always existed, and created everything (including laws and forces), superceding everything himself.
God was created: This would have to mean that God came to be either through the intelligent construction of another entity, or through natural processes, e.g. evolution, that supercede those laws that were created by God. Moreover, it would mean that God would not be all-powerful (though from our relatively powerless perspective, he'd still probably be all-powerful in effect), and that there would be the possibility of many gods existing under a set of natural laws. There is, however, a problem with this theory: what would have created those laws? Bluntly, if something (God or nature) hasn't existed forever, we may simply be unable to comprehend its beginning, as we are bound by the laws that it has created, and it is not.
(Continued in separate comment for length)
God is eternal: This would have to mean that God existed before anything else did, and existed forever. It would also mean that God is completely unbound by any law of nature or the will of any superior being, as he would have created every law and everybody. There could be no other gods, as God would be all-powerful, and nothing else could contend with him. As for what caused him to exist, it would be most likely that God simply existed forever. Furthermore, this theory suggests that God would have created time, and thus supercedes it. Our minds are rigged to think of everything as having a beginning and an end - we are constantly subject to the law of time and thus, may not be able to consider existence outside of its influence.
What I'm trying to say is that, if God is eternal, there is not a need for him to have come into existence, nor to have "appeared out of nowhere". His existence would validate itself.