Well, all the evidence indicates that religion evolved as a defense mechanism against the unknown. But there's a real simple way to figure it out: THINK. If it doesn't make sense to you, it's probably because it is BS, pure and simple. You just have to be objective and include your own belief system in that critical thought process, and I guarantee you it will start to fall apart in front of your very eyes. A Christian will say that Islam is false and BS, and a Muslim will say that Christianity is the greatest scam to ever befall mankind. A Jain will say not to kill even flies, and the Pastafarians will just get high and laugh at them.
And pretty much everyone *IS* an atheist when it comes to gods other than the one you believe in. If you believe in Jesus, by default you do NOT believe in Allah, and of course nobody believes in Zeus today (or Huitzilopochtli, for that matter). I just go one god further.
Once you understand why you don't believe in Apollo, you will understand why I don't believe in Yahwe.
BTW, has anyone tried today's new ROMs? :-D
I was under the impression that religious arguments were banned?
However, so much nonsense is being spouted that I thought I had to provide some clarification.
a. Muslims believe in Jesus (peace be upon him) as a prophet, and we believe Allah (literally "the Lord" in Arabic) is the same God worshipped by all the monotheistic faiths and possibly more. Allah is the name for God used by Arab Christians.
b. An argument was made in an earlier post along the lines of "God is loving. God says he will punish some people in hellfire. Therefore, God must not really be loving and therefore religion must not be true." This argument has so much stuff wrong with it, I just don't know where to begin and I wouldn't even be able to fully express everything that's wrong with it in a 1000-word essay.
Here are two points that should be enough: 1. The notion that God is loving is not universal. Some religions believe God loves everything unconditionally, some believe that God is loving but does not necessarily love everybody, and some have no reference to the idea that God is loving. 2. God being Loving does not mean that no-one should be punished. Parents love their children, that doesn't mean they should never punish their children. For Muslims, the punishment of hellfire acts a deterrent to sins for those at a lower level of faith i.e. those who rely purely on material carrots and sticks to perform good deeds.
c. It was mentioned earlier that if people just think, they will stop being religious. That kind of arrogance just confuses me. Surely you aren't suggesting that over 90% of the world who adhere to religions are inferior to you in that they are unable to think?
The Qur'an, the holy book of the Muslims, repeatedly encourages Muslims to reflect and ponder upon their surroundings and on the book itself. For example:
Will they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah they would have found therein many contradictions (4:82)
Will they not meditate on the Qur'an, or are there locks on their hearts? (47:24)
One thing which has always puzzled me is why atheists have morals or a sense of righteousness. Surely if there is no God, there is no punishment, and so one should just behave in whatever way is most beneficial and fun for him/herself. Instead, atheists often give money to charity and perform altruistic deeds. It makes no sense :S. Surely if they reflected and thought about their surroundings, they would scrap those morals that prevent them from enjoying life to the max.
