Solar wrote:
Which very few people even among Christians or Muslims believe in today, and which totally ignores the many religions not having the concept of the all-powerful supreme being (like Buddhism, Shintoism, Wicca, ...).
I apologise for my incorrect use of language. I thought you could extrapalate the idea of "fictional things" from my point. Buddhist believe in a world beyond this one and a form of ascension, also in reincarnation. If someone told you they had these ideas and there was no organised religion you would think them mad, why think they are not mad simply because alot of people are stupid enough to believe it.
Shinto is simply the japanese showing there lack of advancement. They still use God like representation for concepts we understood post-egyptian. As for Wicca, if you class that as a religion you miss the meaning of the conversation. People who call themselves wicca are on par with people who honestly believe they go to Hogwarts. No religion that hasn't even existed for a hundred years will ever effect my argument. So all of your examples belief in obviously fictional concepts.
Solar wrote:
Jahwe or Allah, despite some of the stuff written in olden books, aren't about smiting someone down with lightning or erradicating the holy people's enemies with plagues and disaster, at least for most of those believing in them today.
Once again you miss my point, i am not trying to disprove any single point (God, afterlife, Zeus can shoot lighting bolts, the bible is all true) I am trying to express the belief that religion is a scam in any form and paramount to beliefing in hobbits and dragons..
Solar wrote:
For most people, "god", spirituality or whatever is basically a name they put on a vast array of concepts that are beyond our comprehension. Just for example, where does our feeling of "self" come from? Where does it go when we die? Is there really nothing left of the person I loved but a rotting corpse?
These ideas are simply lack of your ability to try and percieve. Our feeling of self... well that is so obvious i don't even see your point, i am positive i am not being told by any higher being who i am, it is simple fact. If you doubt that you have issues beyond this conversation. The self is obviously not a thing, so it goes nowhere, when you die, your brain stops working. I am sure you also belief that your computers soul goes to heaven every time you turn it off? Once again, you love a person for what they do and how you feel when they are alive... your feelings continue with you when they die, there is no spirit, this fantasy is foolish and though up by backward societies.
Solar wrote:
Science can give answers here. But even if you accept the scientific answer as a fact, you can still believe that your beloved is still somewhere, and find strength in that belief when otherwise reality would simply crush your soul with grief.
The weak and foolish require comfort. Exceptence of death brings strength and i dare not insult my dead friends and family by imagining them in some far off happy place when i should sue that room in my mind to remember there good on earth.
Solar wrote:
While I don't associate myself with any "set" religion defined by others, I am strongly influenced by the Wiccan religion, which IMHO perfectly sums up my whole view on religion in one of their central sayings:
"If it harms no-one, do what you will."
Why can you not believe this without associating yourself with Wicca. I aplogise for my above comment about "magik" etc if you think that Wicca does not have to associate with this, but ever "Wiccan" i know believes they can do magic and is generally a totally retard who needs to be shot. Personally i manage to harm no one, and infact i have in many cases throughout my life helped people above and beyond damage that my own actions would have caused, and yet somehow i'm not attached to any name.
Solar wrote:
So what if you think Ted follows you around? As long as it harms no-one (including yourself), why shouldn't he?
Troubles start if you try to convince people that everyone should believe in Ted, or believing in Ted keeps you from "functioning normally".
This is just you avoiding the fact that i am right. I do not think you or anyone else has the right to decide at what level my interaction with ted becomes "wrong". This would be like you telling me it becomes wrong if i try to convince you people who are real, are real. Clearly if i honestly beleive ted is real, then people will believe me just as little as they should be believed when they claim they are going to heaven.
I know i have helped your argument by saying Interaction with ted does not affect anything, but i hardly need mroe points to show how farsical religion is.
Solar wrote:
If I draw power from a tree, a flame, a rock or fresh air, and if I believe I am obliged to give back what I took (e.g. by cleaning a bit of countryside of debris), where is the harm in that?
Absolutely no harm in it. Good on you, like myself you like to be a good person. unfortunately i fail to see the connection to the argument. I am not discussing how not being scum is good, i am making the point, religion is absolute rubbish.