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Just Don't Get It
#21
RE: Just Don't Get It
(December 1, 2011 at 3:23 pm)Xavier Wrote: I just can't understand why people still believe in religion.
As young as 10 I can remember being forced to say prayers and sing hymns in school and even at that age thinking it was all a load of nonsense.

I just don't get why so many people don't reach the point when they grow up of disbelief in Christian beliefs, given the lack of evidence. Its beyond irrational.
I have also been wondering this. I've also been wondering why so many people are not smart. After years and years of thinking, I've come to the conclusion that it's probably the same reason.
"Sisters, you know only the north; I have traveled in the south lands. There are churches there, believe me, that cut their children too, as the people of Bolvangar did--not in the same way, but just as horribly. They cut their sexual organs, yes, both boys and girls; they cut them with knives so that they shan't feel. That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling. So if a war comes, and the Church is on one side of it, we must be on the other, no matter what strange allies we find ourselves bound to."

-Ruta Skadi, The Subtle Knife
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#22
RE: Just Don't Get It
(December 2, 2011 at 1:55 pm)Minimalist Wrote: As in so many cases, I think H. L. Mencken explained it best.

God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in His arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos: He will set them above their betters.

he also is quoted:

A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there. ~ H.L. Mencken
[Image: Evolution.png]

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#23
RE: Just Don't Get It
Quote:I've also been wondering why so many people are not smart.

Religion endeavors to keep them stupid. It's good for business when the dolts don't think too much.
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#24
RE: Just Don't Get It
(December 5, 2011 at 11:11 am)LarissaAnn Wrote:
(December 4, 2011 at 3:00 pm)Thor Wrote: Your "purpose" is to live your life as best you can. You were created to reproduce and continue the species. Next question....

Oooh God! Don't encourage him!

You're right! I should've told him that his purpose is to make burritos and clean bathroom stalls!

Science flies us to the moon and stars. Religion flies us into buildings.

God allowed 200,000 people to die in an earthquake. So what makes you think he cares about YOUR problems?
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#25
RE: Just Don't Get It
(December 1, 2011 at 3:23 pm)Xavier Wrote: I just can't understand why people still believe in religion.

Because the world is filled with fools who are morbidly afraid that smarter people might see through their foolishness and get ahead of them.

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#26
RE: Just Don't Get It
As we can see from earlier posts, some men of faith are inclined to believe in their religion out of yearning for some kind of purpose in life, while gravely avoiding the quest for the truth of their claims. It's not merely about intelligence; was not the majority of atheists once believers? It takes only the right tools to become an atheist - the proper mental tools required for breaking free from the degrading and childish shackles. Smart people can believe in religion; it shouldn't mean that if they believe in God, they're not smart; it just shows that the belief system is highly complex, and hollow words like 'stupid', will never even clip the real matter of what's going on.
Religion can intrude on anyone, because it's such a powerful delusion that it's so often hard to see through its thick wall of bullshit.

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#27
RE: Just Don't Get It
(December 6, 2011 at 3:03 pm)JollyForr Wrote: As we can see from earlier posts, some men of faith are inclined to believe in their religion out of yearning for some kind of purpose in life, while gravely avoiding the quest for the truth of their claims. It's not merely about intelligence; was not the majority of atheists once believers? It takes only the right tools to become an atheist - the proper mental tools required for breaking free from the degrading and childish shackles. Smart people can believe in religion; it shouldn't mean that if they believe in God, they're not smart; it just shows that the belief system is highly complex, and hollow words like 'stupid', will never even clip the real matter of what's going on.
Religion can intrude on anyone, because it's such a powerful delusion that it's so often hard to see through its thick wall of bullshit.

I just don't understand how smart people can believe in religious and supernatural myths though.
Surely smart or intelligent means a person won't believe far fetched claims in the absense of any evidence whatsoever.

And I don't think religions thick wall of bullshit is anything but extremely easy to see through in the best of times.
You'd have to be deaf. Religion just screams bullshit.

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#28
RE: Just Don't Get It
(December 6, 2011 at 3:44 pm)Xavier Wrote:
(December 6, 2011 at 3:03 pm)JollyForr Wrote: As we can see from earlier posts, some men of faith are inclined to believe in their religion out of yearning for some kind of purpose in life, while gravely avoiding the quest for the truth of their claims. It's not merely about intelligence; was not the majority of atheists once believers? It takes only the right tools to become an atheist - the proper mental tools required for breaking free from the degrading and childish shackles. Smart people can believe in religion; it shouldn't mean that if they believe in God, they're not smart; it just shows that the belief system is highly complex, and hollow words like 'stupid', will never even clip the real matter of what's going on.
Religion can intrude on anyone, because it's such a powerful delusion that it's so often hard to see through its thick wall of bullshit.

I just don't understand how smart people can believe in religious and supernatural myths though.
Surely smart or intelligent means a person won't believe far fetched claims in the absense of any evidence whatsoever.

And I don't think religions thick wall of bullshit is anything but extremely easy to see through in the best of times.
You'd have to be deaf. Religion just screams bullshit.
I'm thinking of the vast majority of atheists who were once believers, but abandoned their God, from reading certain books and learning how to dismantle their God. They didn't perhaps become smarter; Matt Dillahunty was a fundamentalist Christian for over twenty years, and he is now a prominent and well known atheist; one of the most revered; see the Atheist Experience. Nikola Tesla was a Christian, and a great thinker - a genius, if you are aware of his achievements. I know believing in supernatural claims may seem absurd, but is not the reason you weren't a believer because you've learned to think rationally? Others haven't, but they may be a lot smarter than most atheists. William Lane Craig is - he is well known - a believer and he is extremely smart, although there is a perpetual dispute over his sanity.
What I'm suggesting is that one can be smart and believe in utter nonsense. Being indoctrinated doesn't mean that you're not smart. Again... the majority - tell me if I'm wrong - of atheists were once believers; if one labels them as 'stupid', then would one cease to try and change their views? What's the point then, if that is the case?
Only now is humanity starting to loose religion and abandoning dogma; if one is a flat-earther, then I think it is safe to assume they aren't necessarily bright - or they may just be under a grave misunderstanding.


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