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RE: Can religion be positive
January 5, 2015 at 11:22 am
True. Although to extend the metaphor, if you find yourself in a situation where willow bark is available and aspirin in not, the right choice is willow bark.
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken."
Sith code
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RE: Can religion be positive
January 5, 2015 at 11:23 am
It can be good its how people use it.
Abrahamic religions can be good if they started actually loving one another without cherry picking.
If people were to simply edit out the parts of the bible with god doing horrific things and even killing then yes
it would be a good because now in this day and age use the bible as a tool for justified hatred and killing.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization join today.
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RE: Can religion be positive
January 5, 2015 at 11:23 am
And knowledge about willow bark's medicinal properties can be ascertained with utterly secular methods~
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.
- Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Can religion be positive
January 5, 2015 at 11:25 am
I suspect religion can be a positive experience for people and add real value to their lives. I feel the same way about gardening. Don't worry, I won't be knocking on your door to enlighten you regarding the joys of gardening though, and neither does every branch of Christianity.
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RE: Can religion be positive
January 5, 2015 at 11:34 am
(This post was last modified: January 5, 2015 at 11:35 am by robvalue.)
I dunno... sure it can have positive effects. Whether I'd say religion could be a good thing overall in someone's life, I'd say probably not. There's a big price to pay for selling your intellectual honesty out. Maybe some people don't care about that, or don't actually take the religion seriously enough to go that far.
To me, it's no different than getting comfort from an invisible friend who tells you how wonderful you are, except it has a lot of extra baggage and knock-on problems. And by being religious, you support faith and religion as a whole, so you may be having a bad effect on other people.
So on balance, I'd say KILL THEM ALL I'd say that it can have good aspects but is generally bad, and certainly cannot accomplish things that can't be accomplished better in secular ways. I'd view it as a kind of mental shortcut, that comes at a cost. At best.
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RE: Can religion be positive
January 5, 2015 at 11:47 am
(January 5, 2015 at 11:43 am)robvalue Wrote: Lots of mental images of carving up religious people.
ಠ_ಠ
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.
- Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Can religion be positive
January 5, 2015 at 11:52 am
(January 5, 2015 at 11:25 am)whateverist Wrote: I suspect religion can be a positive experience for people and add real value to their lives. I feel the same way about gardening. Don't worry, I won't be knocking on your door to enlighten you regarding the joys of gardening though, and neither does every branch of Christianity.
![[Image: 968890_10152887004312042_1245944440926726784_n.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=chickgeek.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F12%2F968890_10152887004312042_1245944440926726784_n.jpg)
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken."
Sith code
I'm in a funny mood today. Lots of mental images of carving up religious people. I'm the most passive person you could ever imagine, but my mind is often awash with all kinds of weird violence. Gets me through the day.
