fairy tales and lies

[IATIA]

Not too many people have claimed to see Santa or UFOs, but millions upon millions have believed in God and christianity.  In fact, many if not most, of the greatest minds of western civilization in the last 2,000 years have been christians or theists of one kind or another.

Maybe "millions upon millions" have "believed in God", but millions have actually seen UFOs. And a number of them have even been "abducted".

According to the first United Nations international statistics report on the UFO phenomena in 1978, five percent of all Americans, more than fifteen million people, claimed to have seen a UFO. The UFO statistics registered only 1.2 percent of these cases. Then, a USA Gallop poll in 1996 showed the number jumped dramatically to 12% (roughly thirty-six million citizens specifically in the United States) of people who claimed to have seen a UFO. The Global number was then added up to about 50,000,000 (million) people.

BTW: In the whole history of the earth it is estimated that there have been under 200,000,000,000 people world wide. Not quite "millions upon millions".

[Lek]

Argumentum ad populem. Popularity =/= truth. The whole civilized world also used to believe the sun revolved around the Earth, until science proved that wrong.

It is also worth pointing out that the majority of famous scientists currently alive today cobsider themselves either agnostic or atheist. No matter how brilliantly intelligent people are, they are still susceptible to popular opinion, or simply being raised in a religious household. Most of them did not actually conduct tests or research to ensure that their God existed. Most were either raised in a religion or fell prey to its influence in their society. That is the reason most were theist.

Let's think about the spread of Christianity. How long ago did it start? Something like 2000 years ago. A time when science was primitive and people believed rain was the act of a deity. Since humanity as a whole was a lot more ignorant, it was easy for people to accept the religion. And there are a lot of appeals in it that were absent in other faiths, and that helped it spread, unrelated to its acual validity. So spread it did.

But the question more prevalent is, why is it still popular today? It MUST be true in that case. But no. You see, a fair majority of Christians are Christians for the same reason you are: they were raised into it. Indoctrinated from birth, and raised in an environment that encouraged and advocated that religion. The second majority are the people who live in a Christian area like America, who live in a society where Christianity is, again, encouraged. These people are absorbed into the religion by friends or family members. The third major portion of believers are those who are raised in a Christian-prevalent society and who "come to Jesus" in a period of hard times, whether it be money, school, or relationship issues. Religion is like a coping mechanism for these individuals.

This is why your religion is still popular. Because, you might have failed to realize, there are rarely, if ever, people who come into the religion by just talking with Jesus or meeting with him, never knowing him to exist in the first place. Jesus does not speak to anyone directly. They are either indoctrinated or they are influenced. Taught not to question.

So it isn't much of an argument to say that your religion is true because a lot of people believe it. You are Christian because you were raised in the right country. If you were born in India, you'd most likely believe in the Hindu gods. If you were born in Africa, you'd worship the deities of the African tribes. And if you had been born during the height of the Greek empire, you'd be believing in Zeus.

Does this make sense?

Yeah, it makes sense to a degree, but doesn't answer my questions nor fulfill my needs. Science leaves too many unfilled holes and unanswered questions. I'll need more than what science can teach me before I drop what answers my questions and makes sense of existence.

[Vincent]

Science leaves too many unfilled holes and unanswered questions.  I'll need more than what science can teach me before I drop what answers my questions and makes sense of existence.

And this is where theists and atheists often part ways. Science is without a doubt the path to understanding our universe, through trial and error, through inspection and skepticism, through hypothesis and investigation. Religion says, "THIS is the truth. Don't doubt it. Don't question it. We don't NEED evidence to back this stuff up. It just IS. Now, believe it." 

Science can admit when it doesn't know something, and certainly science does not yet have all the answers. There are no three words in the English language words more humble and more progressive than, "I don't know." Why? Because that leaves room for new discovery. And is it not more wondrous to anticipate and look forward to discovery, to be content with not knowing for a time, so that you may be able to trust the answer when it does come, knowing that the answer is based on logic, reason, and evidence?

You seem to operate under "god of the gaps". You see a gap in current scientific understanding, and you fill that space with god, and you think that logic works perfectly. "How did the Big Bang happen? God did it!" "How did we get here? God did it!" I suppose you can do that, if it helps you sleep at night. But pressing the easy button - the god button - can only satisfy the ever-progressing human race for so long, know what I mean?

[robvalue]

Lek: I find it sad that you'd rather have phoney answers than no answers. Religion thrives on how uncomfortable people are with the phrase "I don't know". In the end it comes down to whether you care about what is true or what is comfortable. While it is the latter, any kind of debate is entirely pointless.