The war against Scientology

[newusername 10+ year member]

Look at many of the accounts in the Bible (for example) which are integral parts of the story/myth/legend/religion. They are hardly what would be considered stories of good "morals". Many of them include genocide, discrimination, murder, ****, etc.

That is akin to ranking the plot of a novel as more integral than the theme. I don't think it's the story that means anything...it is the intended lesson or knowledge given through it's occurrence. I will grant that the challenge presented is the ability to discern meaning is limited amongst most (and more limited as time passes).

Can they provide a good moral compass ? Yes, if you ignore large parts of the story and pick-and-choose which parts you wish to follow in order to obtain your morals. But you don't need religion to have good morals. If the only reason you have good morals is because of your religious beliefs....that's a scary thought indeed. Lets hope an individual never loses those beliefs if they need them to act morally //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

It can be demonstrated that religion is not necessary for good moral and altruistic actions. So to tout that as a benefit of religion I think is a bit cockeyed.

For many, their religious beliefs are the driving factor in all decisions they make. But let's take that supposition further for a moment....even if only one person on this planet has good morals because of religion, is that not a good thing?

The meaning to my life is loving those who I hold dear and raising my children to the best of my abilities. I don't need a meaning beyond that.

As Richard Feynman said (not a direct quote, but the essence is intact); I'm okay with not having all of the answers. I live my life happily (for the most part //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif ) by attributing meaning to life from those things that mean the most in my life.

Read more Richard Feynman //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

I've never read much philosophical work from Feynman...don't know much beyond his famous lectures. Maybe I need to be reading more.

I guess I would disagree.

On an individual level, the value and purpose to my life is in my ability to love and to share. To pass knowledge and experience on to future generations so that they too can enjoy life.

In the grand scheme of things we are only as important as the [likely] hundreds of millions of other planets with living organisms on them.

And therein lies my mental conundrum. I, without religion, question carrying on life every morning I wake up. I find my life is unimportant and without value. And thus I do not question any person who gains fulfillment through religion.

Statistically it's true ! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

But on a more serious note, it goes both ways. Theists believe (no pun intended) they have something up on atheists. Hell, they believe they have something up on theists of a different deity.

I think the approach is different, but I agree it goes both ways. That's why I'm Agnostic. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

It's more a stab at the hypocrisy of religion than intelligence, IMO.
Like the guy I quoted rightly said.....If I worshiped a rock I'd be in a mental ward. But the worship of an "eye-in-the-sky" is mainstream and taken for granted. What's the difference ?

There is no difference. That is not the hypocrisy of religion, it is the hypocrisy of humans.

 

[UndercoverPunk 5,000+ posts]

Guys, this is Caraudio.com. Where going to need you to dumb it down. Our memebers don't like reading more than 4 lines of text at a time.

 

[Joe Mamma 10+ year member]

I would hate to think how the world would be without religion.

ok, so you would hate to think how the world would be without religion. lets put it this way, to get an idea of how the world would be without religion, all you have to do is:

"imagine no ******* bombers, no 9/11, no crusades, no witch hunts, no gunpowder plot, no indian partition, no isreali/palestinian wars, no serb/croat/muslim massacres, no persecution of jews as "christ-killers", no northern ireland "troubles", no "honour killings", no shiny-suited bouffant-haired televangelists fleecing gullible people of their money. imagine no Taliban to blow up ancient statues, no public beheading of of blasphemers, and no flogging of female skin for the crime of showing an inch of it."

--exert from "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins

remember, more people have been killed in the name of god than for any other reason. any time a whole bunch of holy people wanna get together and kill each other im a happy guy.

 

[95Prober 10+ year member]

My God = IDMAX's

 

[IamDeMan 5,000+ posts]

ok, so you would hate to think how the world would be without religion. lets put it this way, to get an idea of how the world would be without religion, all you have to do is:
"imagine no ******* bombers, no 9/11, no crusades, no witch hunts, no gunpowder plot, no indian partition, no isreali/palestinian wars, no serb/croat/muslim massacres, no persecution of jews as "christ-killers", no northern ireland "troubles", no "honour killings", no shiny-suited bouffant-haired televangelists fleecing gullible people of their money. imagine no Taliban to blow up ancient statues, no public beheading of of blasphemers, and no flogging of female skin for the crime of showing an inch of it."

--exert from "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins

remember, more people have been killed in the name of god than for any other reason. any time a whole bunch of holy people wanna get together and kill each other im a happy guy.

You are talking about extremist sects and their acts. There are many more peaceful followers than violent followers. Your math on that example is seriously flawed.

 

[Joe Mamma 10+ year member]

You are talking about extremist sects and their acts. There are many more peaceful followers than violent followers. Your math on that example is seriously flawed.

it has nothing to do with the number peaceful followers vs violent followers, the simple fact is still the same, which is that more people have been killed in the name of religion than for any other reason.

also, ironically enough, the majority of inmates in prison for violent crimes claim to be religious.

 

[bds0688 10+ year member]

They claim it because they are on their last legs in life and need a crutch.

That is to say, not all people who are religious need a crutch, or are violent, or extremist. I've been an atheist quite some time and I have never tried to tell someone they were wrong for being Christian. The same reason they can't tell me I'm wrong. No proof either way, and it's still all based on belief.

 

[Joe Mamma 10+ year member]

I've been an atheist quite some time and I have never tried to tell someone they were wrong for being Christian. The same reason they can't tell me I'm wrong. No proof either way, and it's still all based on belief.

im atheist myself, seems to be the most logical approach to it all. i, as well, have never tried to tell someone what the believe is wrong. how ever, i will state my opinion, and provide factual information in the case of a religiously based argument.

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

it has nothing to do with the number peaceful followers vs violent followers, the simple fact is still the same, which is that more people have been killed in the name of religion than for any other reason.
also, ironically enough, the majority of inmates in prison for violent crimes claim to be religious.

Link to corroborating evidence?

There are ~15,000 murders a year in the US (and that does not include attempted murder or similar forms of assault). How many of those do you think are directly caused by religion?

 

[Joe Mamma 10+ year member]

There are ~15,000 murders a year in the US (and that does not include attempted murder or similar forms of assault). How many of those do you think are directly caused by religion?

i never said, not once, that any of them were caused directly by religion. the only thing i said was that more people have died in the name of god than for any other reason.

 

[IamDeMan 5,000+ posts]

i never said, not once, that any of them were caused directly by religion. the only thing i said was that more people have died in the name of god than for any other reason.

I would have to think not. I think that is propagandic BS. Without religion there would be more and you would have NOTHING to link it to. That is MY point.

 

[Slammed 5,000+ posts]

 

[mileO98 10+ year member]

That shit is ****ed up. We ran these retards out of Croatia. Hubbard was a dumbfuck.

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSDBBNXH5CY

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/PROJECT_CHANOLOGY

http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2008/01/25...f-scientology/

http://whyaretheydead.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Harrison_Hotel

bunch of fuckin weirdo's!