It's really just as simple as proposing the question "Why?" Such as: When "god" was making us, WHY would he even implant the ability to be violent? WHY even create such a thing as war, poverty, murder, rape, etc. ?? WHY sacrifice your son to cleanse a retched people, when you could've just created a perfect people in the first place?

Because those things are part of god's plan, duh!

Yes haha. All apart of "gods" divine plan!

Yes, that is the question, isn't it. And frankly, easy to ask too. But when you are taught that you're not supposed to ask why, that religion and a god is a "fact", a constant in your life, it could be very hard. To quote Morpheus from the Matrix:

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it."

Insert any old religion in the place of the Matrix, and you'll get why religion is so powerful. The masses fight for it, not ready to be unplugged and ask "Why?!".

I'm guessing that the most frequent theist response would be something along the lines god didn't create war and rape, humanity did. Of course the point they're missing is that if god is all powerful, and it was his creation that created something, then god himself is responsible. The tendency though is to claim all the good for god and leave all the blame for evil on humanity.

True. I myself wouldn't degrade myself as to take the blame for something I have no power to change.

(June 21, 2011 at 4:58 am)FaithNoMore Wrote: I'm guessing that the most frequent theist response would be something along the lines god didn't create war and rape, humanity did.

That's because many do not read the Bible, they just regurgitate what they have been told is in the Bible. They miss stuff like Isaiah 45:7 because preachers don't want you reading stuff like this: I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (KJV)

If the Bible is the literal word of God, then it is tough to read this any other way than "God creates evil. He did it."

(So if the LORD creates evil, what is Satan's and Hell's purpose? And how does humanity get the blame for evil, when the LORD created it?)

I will leave the lack of preaching on Isaiah 66:11 up to the student who chooses to follow up on it, but it is very sexy.

Kudos for asking questions!

Now if only every religious person did the same rather than blindly following like sheep we might actually be getting somewhere.

I think it's amazing how even young people can understand how ludicrous some of the ideas are behind something such as the bible. Yet grown men in their 50's will continue to defend it.

I guess we're all stupid and must be missing something :S

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My favourite question/s is Why does god choose only certain people to spread his message? Why does he not just speak to us all simultaneously to clear up all doubt?

(June 21, 2011 at 4:58 am)FaithNoMore Wrote: I'm guessing that the most frequent theist response would be something along the lines god didn't create war and rape, humanity did. Of course the point they're missing is that if god is all powerful, and it was his creation that created something, then god himself is responsible. The tendency though is to claim all the good for god and leave all the blame for evil on humanity.

Then there's two questions that should be asked of Christians in this case:
1) Why didn't God bother to put a failsafe in Man to ensure that, in the event that something did go wrong, the actual problems that would result could be minimised?
2) How exactly does sending a man to die no less than four millenia after the events in question count as a failsafe?

A central question is not so much why does this particular belief system or that one exist - important though that is - but why religion itself ? And I believe that this has its roots in - of all things - evolution. Because at some point in our development we realised that we were the most intelligent member of the animal kingdom. We then made the logical but erroneous leap from assuming that intellectual superiority equated to moral superiority and that we deserved more than all other sentient beings. This culminated in us quite happily suspending the laws of biology for our convenience.

But what exactly is so terrifying about spending all of eternity in a blissful state of non-consciousness ? Why does that perfectly reasonable and rational proposition fill so many with dread ? So much that they have to invoke metaphysics to convince themselves that their imaginary world really exists. Try explaining to a theist that they are a biological entity, a finite biological entity that lives and dies like every other biological entity on the planet, and they will simply refuse to accept it. They cannot and will not comprehend their own mortality as it really is.

It is supremely arrogant of us as a species to demand special treatment merely because we happen to be in possession of a larger brain. As a matter of fact we probably have less right to claim superiority over others, given the fact that we have not been here all that long. Birds and reptiles were on this Earth well before us. They have a greater claim to this planet than we do. We really are incapable of seeing the bigger picture. All we are is advanced bacteria at the end of the day, because that is what we all evolved from. Such a shame that many are blissfully unaware of this and have to reference religion in order to feel comfortable about their own existence.