If God sent your child to Hell.

[Faith No More]

Indeed. Someone here has their Religious Views as; A drug like any other. It's a disturbingly close comparison.

It's me! 

Everything we do gives a neuro-chemical feedback to our brain.  We get positive rewards in our in the form of neurotransmitters when we do something that pleases us much in the way that drugs release neurotransmitters into our brain to get high.  Receiving those "mind rewards" causes you to want to repeat what released those neurotransmitters, so that's why drug addicts continue to use.  Those positive neuro-chemical rewards can also come from religion and religious experiences, and the person becomes "addicted" to them.  The unconscious mind will then manipulate the consciousness to use the same type of reasoning a junkie will in order to get its next fix.

It's eerily similar, and it's not uncommon for people to use religion to give up drugs.

[Iroscato]

"Logic is food. Religion is a drug"
- Iroscato, 30 seconds ago

[RobertE]

It's a very good point.

If I really believed any of this stuff, no way would I have children. No way! If there was the tiniest risk of them ending up being tortured forever, it would be inconceivable.

As it happens, I'm not having children anyway, but that's beside the point. I don't know how anyone who believes this stuff could bring children into that situation.

Unfortunately Rob, we tell them that Father Christmas is also bringing presents, or the tooth fairy has left them some small change for their teeth. It is this sort of nonsense that needs to be sorted first, otherwise they will not only continue to believe in the aforementioned, but also in God too should an occasion arise. My daughters are 12 and 13 years of age and have never been baptised. I will leave that upto them at the end of the day. Furthermore, my eldest said, a couple of years ago that she believed in God, now it is different. Next step, Richard Dawkins and his Christmas lectures translated into French...

[robvalue]

Excellent, sounds like you are a great parent

[RobertE]

I didn't actually persuade her, she just changed her mind just like that. So, I decided to leap at the chance of showing them both some animal videos on youtube and how some of them are related in spite of being totally different through evolution. I hope I have them hooked. Thanks for the complement too Rob.

[robvalue]

You're welcome

Oh sure, I assumed that you didn't try and pressure her. Unlike the stereotype, I doubt many atheists keep screaming at their kids that "you should be an atheist". You only have to promote proper thinking and be there to guide them. And I'm sure you would have accepted had they decided to go the religious route anyhow. But with a proper grounding in how to think and no indoctrination, it's a pretty good formula for a free thinker to emerge

I feel maybe theists assume atheism needs indoctrination because religion does...

[Nope]

Godchild answered that one in a similar discussion some time ago. According to him there's some divine lobotomy or brain amputation in stock for those who go to heaven. They will only have happy feelings and therefore not even remember their child. At least that's what I got from his reply back then.

Wat.
I cannot fathom the mind of any human who would be ok with that. That is horrifying to me in ways I can't articulate with mere words....

During an adult Sunday class that I attended, the teacher told us that we wouldn't miss or pity those in hell because we would be 'changed' once we entered heaven. We wouldn't, according to him, feel things like jealousy or pity. In other words, we would become sociopathic monsters. 

If Christian theology is true then those in heaven won't give a damn about anyone not part of their world. Most of Christian theology is actually pretty horrible when viewed from outside the religion.

[henryp]

All good people will go to heaven and all evil people will go to hell. 

For many of us, the idea of 'good' goes out the window when God does.  I'd be a stupendous person if I knew God existed.  I instead know he doesn't exist, so I stick with my own best interests instead.  

So this idea of "Just be good, and it'll work itself out" is a pretty lame attempt at inclusion, since it leaves out a bunch of people living 'badly' in a rationale way because God was dopey in his sales pitch.

[Faith No More]

For many of us, the idea of 'good' goes out the window when God does.  I'd be a stupendous person if I knew God existed.  I instead know he doesn't exist, so I stick with my own best interests instead.  

So this idea of "Just be good, and it'll work itself out" is a pretty lame attempt at inclusion, since it leaves out a bunch of people living 'badly' in a rationale way because God was dopey in his sales pitch.

[Iroscato]

All good people will go to heaven and all evil people will go to hell. 

For many of us, the idea of 'good' goes out the window when God does.  I'd be a stupendous person if I knew God existed.  I instead know he doesn't exist, so I stick with my own best interests instead.  

So this idea of "Just be good, and it'll work itself out" is a pretty lame attempt at inclusion, since it leaves out a bunch of people living 'badly' in a rationale way because God was dopey in his sales pitch.

So...wait.
You're saying you're a dick because you know there is no God? That's like a weird mirror image of theist sociopaths are only good because they believe their god is watching. How odd.