(February 13, 2015 at 10:10 pm)Lek Wrote:(February 13, 2015 at 9:58 pm)Jenny A Wrote:
I didn't come as a result of discarding the God hypothesis. It came from studying nature and learning to apply the knowledge we found to make our lives easier.
What ancient people did with regard to god was to preform elaborate time consuming rituals, sacrifice animals, pour out wine and oil, and build temple and shrines. They wasted much man power on those activities. They also attributed much natural phenomenon to the gods, which is why they preformed the rituals etc.
If you stop at "god did it," you don't learn much. Secular thinking people advanced science. Religious people in Athens and later Christians harassed and or killed scientists because what they discovered conflicted with religion (Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, etc.) The only exceptions I know of where religion led to discoveries are in the areas of better war machines, church architecture, and magic stunts.
Quote: I'm sure that as early people were praying to their gods, they were busy searching for food, constructing shelters, making clothes, etc. - just as theists do today.
Yes and it is their secular activities that produced results, not their religious ones.
* * *
But we're way off track from the original post now. This little side discussion began because you argued that there was evidence of god in the world. Arguing that religion doesn't do bad things, won't get you there. What positive thing does belief in god produce?
Hint: Up until Christianity and late Judaism, morality and the after life were not the concerns of Western religions--crop fruition, child birth, and war winning were. The morality promoted in the New Testament is not original, and generally speaking it did not originate in religion.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
