Is religion a good thing?

[gofaster]

Whatever you do, don't irritate the Ninjas or they might flip out and chop off your head.

And I won't even go into what the Jedi will do to you...

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[Ripsnort]

"Bring up" the topic, Fatty, not "question".

[popeye]

Religion seems to make some people mellow, and other people nuts.  So the answer is: "it depends".

[midnight Target]

Here is my take.

I have friends and family who are very religious. In most cases they seem happy and well adjusted. In some cases they are even better than that.

I have one friend up in Portland who has become a devout Christian. He seems so content with himself and his family, that he should be the poster boy for Christianity. I envy his level of contentment sometimes, but I'm sure I could never become as devout as he either.

Religion is a good thing for most people. It has been used in horrible ways by horrible people too. Overall I think it has been beneficial to most individuals who practice it.

Just keep it out of our schools and science books!

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by midnight Target

Just keep it out of our schools and science books!

Just as long as the liberals keep Homosexuals and Lesbians from telling kids "its okay to have alternate lifestyles" out of our schools, then ya got a deal.

[midnight Target]

Originally posted by Ripsnort


Just as long as the liberals keep Homosexuals and Lesbians from telling kids "its okay to have alternate lifestyles" out of our schools, then ya got a deal.

Sorry Rip, but that is just wrong. No one is saying it is ok to go get an alternate lifestyle. They are saying that you can still feel good about yourself even if you are different. Even you can feel good about yourself Rip.

[Ripsnort]

Okay, fair enough.  We'll start sending Priests to the schools to deliver the same message in their context.

[miko2d]

Originally posted by midnight Target
Religion is a good thing for most people. It has been used in horrible ways by horrible people too. Overall I think it has been beneficial to most individuals who practice it.

 That's what Voltaire said - something along the lines that if religion had not existed, it should have been invented for the ignorant lower classes.

 miko

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by miko2d

 That's what Voltaire said - something along the lines that if religion had not existed, it should have been invented for the ignorant lower classes.

 miko

See?  Proves my point posted earlier in this thread (below).

"In the 14 years of internet forums and newsgroups I've been part of, the non-believers always are the first
                            to bring up the topic of religion and bash it. Its an insecurity moment for them, and a self-centered "I'm
                            justified" attitude. They also tend to think that because they don't believe, somehow they envision
                            themselves with "higher intellect". Not all, but most. "

[miko2d]

Rip,
 You have to admit, Voltaire really was a very smart person.

 People who state that they are smart because they do not believe are not as smart as they wish - the world abounds with examples of religious smart people and people of above-average but unexceptional intellect who managed to realise the fallacies of religion.
 Temperament and character traits have a lot to do with accepting different worldviews.

 Still, many smart people rightly attribute their unreligiosity to their intellectual capacity combined with character traits of being inclined to think rationally and being able to face reality.

 Of course there are plenty of dumb people that believe that God does not exist because they were told so in the environment they grew up in. That kind of non-belief does not differ from any religion. If you call that kind of atheism a religion I would not argue. As someone said, it's just a belief on the scale from poly- to mono-theism one step further from polytheism.

  At the same time it is irrelevant to me. If a person cannot think, how could I care what he thinks?

 That is, of course only about intellectual aspect. Otherwise I may have reasons to care what he believes because it determines his motivations which may affect me - much like I care which way the wheels are turned in a car parked on an incline.

 miko

[Masherbrum]

Lower class?  How many of you that THINK this have the balls to say, "I'm Catholic, Baptist, Confuscist, Hindu, WHATEVER"?  

If you are, ACCORDING to Voltaire the genius, you are lower class.  Nothing like calling yourself a stupid bellybutton in public (if you practice religion, you are calling yourself with the Voltaire quote).  

Rip, let's get some sandwich boards and write stuff on them "Religion doesn't exist, and other things to that effect."

I'm Catholic and a toejamload smarter than the majority of the people I run across, and I'm a two-year degree holder.  Smart is easy, having Common Sense is another.  

K2

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Masherbrum
Smart is easy, having Common Sense is another.  

K2

Hehe!  I've always said that "Smart gets you a degree. Common sense keeps you alive!"

[AKSWulfe]

Common sense doesn't keep you alive, street smarts do.

Common sense is all relative anyhow.

Some people think common sense would be there is no God. Other people think common sense is there is a God.

While other people think common sense is to not believe either until a lifetime of questioning and answering is almost to a close.

See, all relative. Street smarts keep you alive tho, not common sense.
-SW

[Ripsnort]

Street smarts is a catagory under "Common sense".  But we can disagree on that too.

[AKSWulfe]

Yeah, after I posted that... I thought about it.

Yer right. Common sense and street smarts keep you alive.. depending on the situation you're in.
-SW