Pope Francis defends atheists

[pocaracas]

You're making me write more... -.-'
I'm going to break these quotes in a more readable way. Hope you don't mind.

1. There are several religions
2. Religions do not share gods... although some of those gods seem to have a common predecessor.

2. Religions have different concepts of who God is. Only one of them is true.

Or none... Never forget that perfectly valid option.

3. Any religion has origins in a very specific location, at a very specific time... often in a very small group of people. Sounds like a brewery of fiction.

3. The Judeo-Christian faith begins with the creation of man and woman. Why would anyone want to make up a religion for ulterior motives? We are all seeking an explanation for why we exist and why the world exists. Christianity does not have the flavor of any myth. Thousands died defending the truth and refusing to convert to another religion. It does not make sense if they died for a lie.

Thousands keep dying for other faiths... what makes their deaths any less (or more) valid than the deaths for your faith?

And when I spoke about the origin of a particular religion, I didn't mean the creation myth of said religion. I meant where and when in the actual world that myth arose.

4. I'd expect a god worthy of that title to present itself to everyone in a similar fashion.. instead, we get different groups of people with different sets of gods... a sign that someone in that group of people made it up... and spread the word. If you want to counter this with god showing up to different people in accordance with their local specifics, then you're full of it, because this god of yours would be just plain stupid to do that, for it would have (and has) resulted in inter-religious conflict.

4. God revealed Himself to man through the prophets. Finally, He sent His son to reveal God more fully. A God who loves us would not want to keep us in the dark.

Yeah... prophets... see below, in mental problems. About his son, talk to Min... he's much more knowledgeable on where that myth came from than me.

It wouldn't keep us in the dark? Would it provides us with different lights so that we'd fight over who has the right light?
Would it keep us in the dark for some 20~30 thousand years?

5. All religions claim a few miracles that happened in the past and about that small group of people that made it up in the first place... Sounds like something made up with the sole intention of providing "proof" for the gullible.

5. Catholics have recorded miracles for 200 years. Why would they make it up and risk damage to their credibility? They have no motive to make it up. I have experienced some miracles myself. They happen all the time.

awesome.... the gullible then manufacture their own miracles, based on their own lack of knowledge to explain perfectly natural phenomena... awesome self-perpetuating mechanism.
Do tell: what miracles have you experienced?

6. All accounts of human-god interaction are remarkably similar to what is reported by present-day people who require psychological attention.

6 "require psychological attention." So you don't believe in anything that is supernatural? Anyone who relates supernatural events is crazy? Explain why supernatural things are not possible.

No... you explain why it's possible. The burden of proof for those supernatural events is on the person claiming them, not on the person who doesn't buy it.
If magic is possible, then... I'll have some of that, please!

7. Religion evolution.... first we got animism and shamanism, then polytheism, then monotheism. If there was (an) actual god(s) that actually showed itself(themselves) to the people, then it(they) must have done so to those first shamans... so they would have to be ones who got it right... Everything else is just quackery.

7. [T]he Judeo-Christian faith goes back at least 6000 years. True, other religions have elements of truth, but that does not mean they have the whole truth the way Christianity does. Christianity is the most rational and logical of all of them. On top of that, none of their founders claimed to be God or rise from the dead like Jesus did.

It's funny how the muslims say exactly the same thing about their Allah.

And I'm willing to wager most, if not all, other adherents of any other faith will claim something like that about their particular faith.

Which one is right?... If any...

Oh and animism and shamanism go back more than 10 thousand years...

There must be more points, but I can't remember more right now... those are enough

Now your present day miracles...
Miracles of treatments of misdiagnosed illnesses are just dumb. -..-'
I want proper miracles and no discrimination: all amputees get their limbs regrown overnight! That would be a proper miracle.

It's late. I don't have time to write more tonight.

Fair enough... we'll wait.