Prove that God doesn't exist.

[bododie]

Then I guess Mom was an idiot huh? Explains you.

 

[Dawkinsrocks]

oh, insulting my mother?

That really is cheap.

But I will indulge you.

Answer this.

If I say 'I know it will rain tomorrow' would you accept this statement as true the next day if it didn't rain?

 

[Dawkinsrocks]

oh, and BTW just about all religion is passed on by parents brainswashing their children. You know that christian parents take their children to church as soon as they can and teach them about god at home. they certainly don't leave them to make their own mind up. Ditto for all religions.

That is why most religious people in the west are christians and most people in the middle east are muslims.

Most people in China are Taoists

Or do you think that by some miracle these different religions manifested themselves specifically in those regions?

If there was one true god surely he isn't sufficiently racist to only reveal himsefl in certain countries.

Yet another bus sized hole in the idea of religion.

You really have to suspend reason to be a christian don't you.

I wonder why god made believing in him so hard.

And gave so little (none) evidence of his existence leaving his poor flock to cling to arcane discredited pseudo-intellectual arguments for his existence.

 

[vyo476]

Oh yes, the good-doing RC church, the one that burned 800,000 men, women and children across Europe fopr the crimes of being eccentric, owning stuff their denouncers wanted, thinking the wrong thoughts.

Then there is the Pope telling the AIDS ravaged population of Africa that condoms are evil.

What about the refusal of the Pope to condemn his paedophile priets?

Then there is the massive wealth of the RC church taken from the poor.

I see what you mean.

They are a great bunch

Yes, I do think those things are horrendous.

But if this is all that you can see - if you don't allow yourself to see the rest of the picture and weigh the whole thing - then you, sir, are the one who is brainwashed.

Tell me, what is so terrible about a bunch of Catholics in my town who've never burned anyone at the stake, never spat in the face of AIDS victims, never involved themselves in pedophilia, and who aren't poor and therefore aren't being victimized by donating to the church?

 

[vyo476]

Then I guess Mom was an idiot huh? Explains you.

No personal attacks.

 

[Dawkinsrocks]

If you think a few pharisees shopwing off their good works cancels out all the evil that the church has done then we will have to agree to differ.

If the RC church gave up tomorrow and gave its wealth to the poor it would solve world hunger and the credit crunch with cash to spare

And a few choirboys would sleep easier too.

 

[The Scotsman]

Tell me, what is so terrible about a bunch of Catholics in my town who've never burned anyone at the stake, never spat in the face of AIDS victims, never involved themselves in pedophilia, and who aren't poor and therefore aren't being victimized by donating to the church?

........they're different!....they're normal middle class folks that go about their own business presumably not wanting or doing harm on anyone.....thus they are the epitome of the "establishment". Hence, anathema to those that are insecure with living in a wider world where people are comfortable with themselves and with those around them!

I don't believe in God but don't feel the need to deride those that do. Certain people have this almost missionary zeal to undermine the foundations of others values and beliefs in order to make their own miserable lifes complete; at least in their eyes!

In answer to the question vyo....nothing!

 

[bododie]

Dawkins. I don't know how many more times I have to say this for you to understand. Just because someone thinks that Jesus' message was better than Mo's doesn't make them a bible thumper. It doesn't even necessarily make them Christian. Jesus wasn't one.

You know that christian parents take their children to church as soon as they can and teach them about god at home. they certainly don't leave them to make their own mind up.

Well, all it takes is one instance to prove that wrong. My parents were two, and my husband and I are two more. So that's wrong.

Or do you think that by some miracle these different religions manifested themselves specifically in those regions?

If there was one true god surely he isn't sufficiently racist to only reveal himsefl in certain countries

Another history lesson. Read up on what the Asians did to Christian missionaries. I think Taoism is a great way to life your life. Basically: quit worrying about what you don't have, and appreciate what you do have". So why can't you just do that, while believing in the possibility of a greater entity, without being labeled? As I have said before, I consider myself a child of God, not any other label. You are doing the labeling.

You really have to suspend reason to be a christian don't you

.

Why, because you want to hang with people who have similar morals? Go to a Methodist church once. It’s more of a social gathering than demands to appease God. Catholicism is a different bird, IMO. The rules, the guilt trips, aren't about God. Any religion that tries to make you feel guilty about being human isn't about faith in God. It's about keeping people “sheeple”, and usually for taxation (middle ages) and donation (Now) purposes,

I wonder why god made believing in him so hard

.

It's not nearly as hard and defeating as waiting for man to come up with proof otherwise.

All you have done is spew about how stupid people who believe in God must be, but you forever have faith in man, a proven deficient being. Even history is being rewritten. History, that for all of modern times has been taken as truth because of "science". How can it be wrong now? They can’t even decide now when and who came to America now, because the changing date changed the geographical bridge. What next? Big Bang out the window?

I believe that what makes you have disdain for those who believe in God is that you think THEY think they are “looked after”, and they can’t prove that what is looking after them, is there. Not necessarily so. That’s religious doctrine, not faith in the existence of God.

Forever and ever God has been the beacon/exemplary standard for many to not get caught up in whatever changing moral concepts man thinks is O.K
Is God a concept or a being? The argument is moot. It always will be. You will never be able to PROVE me wrong, nor I you. The difference is that you think badly of those who believe in God, and I don’t care whether others do or not. What do you really win? The last word? Can’t see it, can’t touch it, therefore how can it have value? According to your way of thinking, it has none. So you win nothing.

 

[vyo476]

If you think a few pharisees shopwing off their good works cancels out all the evil that the church has done then we will have to agree to differ.

I do not think that "a few parishes showing off their good works" cancels out all the bad things in the history of Christianity; do you think that all those bad things cancel out the good works of local parishes?

If the RC church gave up tomorrow and gave its wealth to the poor it would solve world hunger and the credit crunch with cash to spare

And a few choirboys would sleep easier too.

And the resulting crisis of faith would bring war, bloodshed, and anarchy. Face it, Christianity is a major part of a lot of people's lives - yanking it out from under their feet like a giant rug would, as a matter of logic, cause all of them to stumble and fall over, inevitably crashing into everyone else.

Scotsman said it best: "I don't believe in God but don't feel the need to deride those that do." I used to, don't get me wrong - but eventually I realized that that was simple bigotry. I don't have to subscribe to religion, but I can live alongside it.

That's what we call "tolerance."

 

[Dawkinsrocks]

There is already enough war done in the name of god.

And your point about you not taking your children to church is risible.

You know that the vast majority of christians do do this which is why religion is cultural.

I would tolerate religion if it were benign but it is vicious, thieveing and the promoter of ignorance.

Try being a woman in Afghanistan and see just how nice religion is there.

And don't right that off as fanatacism. It is what all religions have been like.

It is fine for you to tolerate this blight on mankind from your cosey armchair.

You just don't think about what is being done to people right now in the name of religion

 

[bododie]

Dawkins, you show your ignorance of life in America every time you open your mouth. Religion is cultural? Then take your Christian piety remarks to any Latin country. That is where you will find blind obedience to archaic religious rituals. That and any Muslim country. America is a magnet for EVERY culture, you'll have a hard time pinning a "cultural" label on Americans these days. You see, we're such a crappy domineering country that everyone hates, but can't wait to get into. Since these "foreigners" want so badly to be American, do they have the earmarks of what you think makes American's so heartless BEFORE they emigrate, or just after they get here. Gosh oh golly, maybe it's the immigrants that are making Americans lousy, not the other way around.....

You have a problem with religion being the promoter of ignorance. I say it is MAN who is promoting the ignorance, and not in the name of religion, but in the name of chauvanism. Your woman in Afghanistan is being mistreated by a MAN who has nothing to offer this world but his own selfishness and self promoting image.

And don't right that off as fanatacism. It is what all religions have been like.

The key word in that phrase is HAVE. You have America stuck in the 19th century. Don't judge us by your country.

You just don't think about what is being done to people right now in the name of religion

Sure I do. Persecution is being committed in the name of God. Nothing new there. However, it's being done by men to hold onto their alpha status in society, not because of love for God. And the winner today is.... Muslims. The mentality, and adaptability to a world where men don't get to push women around just because of a dangling chad is too much for these men. Do you get it? mankind. God isn't telling anyone to kill in his name. It's weak minded human beings. The kind that think man and science have all the answers.

 

[Dawkinsrocks]

Many religious Americans are stuck in the 10th century believing in creation and miracles and vengance and god favouring a nation.

 

[bododie]

Many religious Americans are stuck in the 10th century believing in creation and miracles and vengance and god favouring a nation.

Quite absurd. Dawkins, you just don't know what you're talking about. Plain and simple. I have new for you sugar, any given Sunday morning , MOST Americans are getting the beer and chips ready for the football game, not waiting for miracles from God. However, if you wish to continue hating Americans, you should actually learn a little TRUTH about the entity you hate. Just a suggestion.

 

[numinus]

Look, just because you have accepted as your lord and saviour someone who doesn't exist, who could not possibly exist in the guise depicted by christians and who, if they did exist would be a monster doesn't mean that your life is wasted.

Stop believing in this nonesense and you will feel a huge weight lifted from you.

I was brainwashed as a child to believe in all that crap in the bible and then when I got old enough to make my own mind up I put away childish things and have never looked back.

The truth beats the **** out of superstition.

Try it, you might like it.

Otherwise you will be singing songs to someone in the sky every Sunday until you die.

What a waste of life.

What the hell are you ranting about for, eh?

According to you, THERE IS NO FREE WILL. Everything that happened to you, happened through the immutable and infallible laws of the natural world. And try as you might, you can't do a flying fart about it.

And if $hit happened in your $hit of a life, then though $hit -- blame physics.

 

[numinus]

I do not think that "a few parishes showing off their good works" cancels out all the bad things in the history of Christianity; do you think that all those bad things cancel out the good works of local parishes?



And the resulting crisis of faith would bring war, bloodshed, and anarchy. Face it, Christianity is a major part of a lot of people's lives - yanking it out from under their feet like a giant rug would, as a matter of logic, cause all of them to stumble and fall over, inevitably crashing into everyone else.

Scotsman said it best: "I don't believe in God but don't feel the need to deride those that do." I used to, don't get me wrong - but eventually I realized that that was simple bigotry. I don't have to subscribe to religion, but I can live alongside it.

That's what we call "tolerance."

Very well said!

You might stumble here and there with this or that conclusion, but given this attitude, you simply can't lose.