If everyone was atheist

[Catholic_Lady]

1. We've been over this question. ;-)

And you haven't provided an answer. Why christianity?

We've gone over this... refer back to your PMs! ;-)

2. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. I don't think there's anything to lose.

Yea. Just time, money and effort.

If it has improved my quality of life and made me happier, than I don't think any of those things were a waste.

3. Not at all.  I don't think that just because someone doesn't believe something, that it isn't true.

That's not the case.

There are 21 major religious groups in existence today. Christianity is one and it has 44,000 denominations.

There are 2 billion christians in the world.

That's 2/6. It's 1/3. 33% is hardly a good result of something that is supposedly the truth.

If your specific version of this specific gods really wants us to believe, he's doing a terrible job.

If it's the truth, we should be able to teach that conclusion without having to be indoctrinated into it.

How can you simultaneously believe you're right in the same beliefs your parents taught you and acknowledge that parents decide over what the child believes?

I'm sorry but I don't understand your logic.

You're saying that since 33% (as opposed to a larger #) of the population is Christian, then it must not be true. I don't see how that's a good argument, I'm sorry. A lot of people don't believe or know about a lot of things they were not taught. Evolution being one of them. It doesn't mean it isn't true.

4. Probably because they will never be told? Lol. This is rare. The vast majority of people in civilized societies have/will.

But there are people who won't. What with them? Hell?

No, I don't believe so. A person can still live a life of virtue without knowing God. I don't believe these people are going to Hell.

I will teach them what I believe. When they reach a certain age, they will most likely seek deeper reasons to believe than "just because mom and dad told me about it." They will then either choose to stick with it, or take a different road.

That's not what will most likely happen unless you teach them critical thinking.

Hint: teaching them to believe is not teaching them critical thinking. Those two are mutually exclusive.

Religious people can have critical thinking too, you know. ;-) I disagree that having a religion automatically makes a person not have critical thinking skills. On this it looks like we will just have to agree to disagree.

I wasn't, just hadn't gotten to it yet. :-)

You seem to do it a lot. You still haven't told me how you solve the problem of infinite regress.

I apologize if I have missed it. I don't know what that is.

Yes, that's what I said lol. "Family influences can play a big role in people's perception of things." I am no different.  

I'd like to think I would, but who knows. Probably not.

Most likely not. Most likely you would have never even considered it had you been born in Saudi Arabia or Jordan.

So you don't see any problem with the fact you only believe your religion to be true because your parents told you it is?

I do see a problem with that. I think people need to make sure they believe what they do for reasons other than just "my mom told me."