Religion=opportunity for control freaks.

Originally posted by sonhouse
This kind of thing started long before the present miasma of modern religions.

It happens whenever a person can give some half asssed explanation for something like lightning, thunder and the like, and that person is regarded as a shaman, village king or whatever.

During ancient days when people sought control over the public, religion was naturally ...[text shortened]... he words in a book is enough to totally dupe generation after generation of people. Pure genius.

to be fair, we have to classify religion as a type of ideology and rephrase your statement to ideology = opportunity for control freaks. but we have not reached an axiom yet. to further refine it, ideologies are just a set of beliefs. therefore,

beliefs = opportunity for control freaks.

the only shield to prevent yourself from being exploited by opportunists is to hold no beliefs.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I never was touched by a priest, appropriate or not. Comparative religious study as an 8 yo did it quite nicely.

It wasn't study per se but more like getting your nose rubbed in it.

Grandma telling me, who had already been going to the First Lutheran School in El Monte, California for 3 years, having been duly baptized in the Lutheran faith, was told ...[text shortened]... water as opposed to the sprinkles of the Lutherans and Catholics.

That was an eye opener.

so your views on religion are based on the ramblings of an old deluded and ignorant relative (and memeber of a fringe sect) told to you as an 8 year old boy? Okay that makes much more sense. 🙄

Originally posted by sonhouse
I think the ancient feminine religions led to a kind of emancipation of men, driven to come out from under the thumb of women, so modern religions could be thought of as some kind of payback for centuries of female rule. I think that started with the Minoans who had female gods and such, but the Theran eruption probably led to a weakening of their civilizat ...[text shortened]... then we are immature as a civilization.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

There are over 2 billion Christians worldwide, the vast and overwhelming majority are not a part of anything that resembles "Jim Jones" et al. The "rapture" sects are just that...sects, and they comprise a minimal percentage of all of Christianity. You need to do your homework and stop debating by hyperbole...it makes you look childish and ill-informed.

Originally posted by Doward
There are over 2 billion Christians worldwide, the vast and overwhelming majority are not a part of anything that resembles "Jim Jones" et al. The "rapture" sects are just that...sects, and they comprise a minimal percentage of all of Christianity. You need to do your homework and stop debating by hyperbole...it makes you look childish and ill-informed.

So the majority defends the minority? So it was ok for Catholic priests to completely destroy whole civilizations in their zeal to convert by force to Christianity? What is with you, how can you even begin to defend such atrocity? I wasn't railing just against Christianity, I am an equal opportunity railer. You don't think there are religious based atrocities going on as we speak? Right wing Christian nut jobs trying to force creationism to be force fed in a science classroom because they can't swallow evolution as a science? Other right wing nut jobs actually killing abortion clinicians?
I guess since there are only a few killings like that, it is ok?

So you think some charismatic character coming along can't mess with people's minds enough to start a Jim Jones kind of thing all over again? Using his version of religion to gain control over a group of people? What, you think that is such a minority of people that we can just ignore it?

Not in MY world. Like Void Spirit said, if you avoid belief's you won't be susceptible to such atrocities.

You pick and choose which part of my argument you want to take apart but ignore the larger picture of the basic immaturity of the human race.

Originally posted by sonhouse
So the majority defends the minority? So it was ok for Catholic priests to completely destroy whole civilizations in their zeal to convert by force to Christianity? What is with you, how can you even begin to defend such atrocity? I wasn't railing just against Christianity, I am an equal opportunity railer. You don't think there are religious based atrociti ...[text shortened]... nt to take apart but ignore the larger picture of the basic immaturity of the human race.

It was the left wing atheist nut jobs that rewrote the history that you believe
now. Intelligent Design is just as much science as evolution by random
chance. The left wing nut jobs are fighting hard to keep Intelligent Design
out of the classrooms because they are afraid of the competition. Other
left wing nut jobs are promoting the killing of innocent babies before they
can be born and that is alright because the mother should have the right
to have her baby killed as long it is part of her body, they say.

It is the irreligious that use religion to form cults like Jim Jones did in an
attempt to control others so they can gain fame and fortune. They are
actually performing the Devils work without knowing it.

Being 70 years old, you should know all about the immaturity of others.
But apparently maturity hasn't done you much good since you have
wound up an atheist with contempt for the God of the universe.

Originally posted by sonhouse
You pick and choose which part of my argument you want to take apart but ignore the larger picture of the basic immaturity of the human race.

This would be a good time to mention Homeopathy.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I never was touched by a priest, appropriate or not. Comparative religious study as an 8 yo did it quite nicely.

It wasn't study per se but more like getting your nose rubbed in it.

Grandma telling me, who had already been going to the First Lutheran School in El Monte, California for 3 years, having been duly baptized in the Lutheran faith, was told ...[text shortened]... water as opposed to the sprinkles of the Lutherans and Catholics.

That was an eye opener.

sonhouse, it's ok to cry, i am here for you. remember, it is never the victim's fault and you were a victim.

Originally posted by RJHinds
It was the left wing atheist nut jobs that rewrote the history that you believe
now. Intelligent Design is just as much science as evolution by random
chance. The left wing nut jobs are fighting hard to keep Intelligent Design
out of the classrooms because they are afraid of the competition. Other
left wing nut jobs are promoting the killing of innoce ne you much good since you have
wound up an atheist with contempt for the God of the universe.

Intelligent Design is just as much science as evolution by random
chance.

Firstly, wtf is 'evolution by random chance'? Oh wait I see, it's yet another scarecrow argument.

Secondly, there is no science whatsoever involved in the ID position. If you had even a vague understanding of what science actually is you could work this out for yourself.

Originally posted by avalanchethecat

Intelligent Design is just as much science as evolution by random
chance.

Firstly, wtf is 'evolution by random chance'? Oh wait I see, it's yet another scarecrow argument.

Secondly, there is no science whatsoever involved in the ID position. If you had even a vague understanding of what science actually is you could work this out for yourself.

It's funny none of these so-called Christians even acknowledged the total destruction of entire civilizations at the hands of the Spanish priests and the killing of thousands of Aztecs or the almost total destruction of Aborigines in Australia by British Priests, forcing them to attend white schools and live in white ghettos with the result of a huge number of aborigines turning alcoholic and the same with Amerinds and many other cultures around the world and the forced conversion to Islam going on as we speak in Africa.

I guess that is all just put down to 'doing god's work'.