Greetings

[Justtristo]

Welcome!

[Thantor]

I've never spoke with any gods, or at least I don't think I have. I don't know anything about deities, they could all be sociopaths or be unable to meaningfully communicate... or just not exist.

I'm pretty sure that all the evil done in the name of religion is the fault of the people involved, and not the religion itself. However, I'm not exactly an expert on the subject.

How do you verify a vision? Whether it was sent from "god," or just a product of my own mind, or even a combination of the two doesn't change the fact that it happened and that I found it meaningful at the time.

Either way, I am certainly not trying to use it as evidence of my position. Only as an explanation for why I believe the way that I do. Honestly, I don't think it matters what you believe as long as you're decent person.

[Justtristo]

I'm pretty sure that all the evil done in the name of religion is the fault of the people involved, and not the religion itself. However, I'm not exactly an expert on the subject.

Not necessarily, Steven Weinberg said once "Without [religion] you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things it takes religion." Because The Holy Bible and Quran have their gods advocating stuff which would be considered morally wrong in our modern society.

In the West the enlightenment and spread of rational thought throughout society has eliminated much of the nastiness of religion. Before the enlightenment the west had things like women being executed for suspicion of being witches because of some verse in Exodus saying a sorceress shall not live. While in the Islamic world where such an enlightenment has not occurred, in my opinion monstrous evil is being committed because Allah said so.

[downbeatplumb]

Not necessarily, Steven Weinberg said once "Without [religion] you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things it takes religion." Because The Holy Bible and Quran have their gods advocating stuff which would be considered morally wrong in our modern society.

In the West the enlightenment and spread of rational thought throughout society has eliminated much of the nastiness of religion. Before the enlightenment the west had things like women being executed for suspicion of being witches because of some verse in Exodus saying a sorceress shall not live. While in the Islamic world where such an enlightenment has not occurred, in my opinion monstrous evil is being committed because Allah said so.

But allah didn't "say so" did he, it was those pesky theists putting words in its mouth again wasnt it.

[thesummerqueen]

Oh, welcome!