I am stunned religion hasn't been abolished yet

[Agnostic1]

Religion, sadly, will never go away. No matter how much science you put forward, religious followers want to control people with their beliefs. I often wonder how many religious people would pass a lie detector test that they DO, in fact, BELIEVE and that religion isn't just a handy label to put on yourself to have (imagined) moral hierarchy. Every religious person I have ever known is a hypocrite and goes against their own beliefs and they always have some lame excuse or they just throw dirt over the problem. I am so tired of people saying they are going to pray for me when it is ALWAYS said in retaliatory sarcasm. If you're going to REALLY pray FOR me then great! I could use a LOT more money, thank you. I want to live to be 125. I want to have a huge birthday party, every year attended by celebrities, I want my kids to have their every dream and wish come true and I will keep you updated so you can make sure when you 'pray' for me that you don't miss anything.

I feel like religious people have all the rights in this country. They can start churches and don't have to pay taxes. The closest thing we have to an Atheist "church" is the Universal Unitarian church that STILL has sermons based on cult or sect spiritual beliefs. AND, of course, all religions are welcome to attend a UU church. Where is the church of science? Or maybe not a "church" since religious folks have coined that term but maybe a gathering place for atheists? I would go every week if I could find one. 

I recently joined a MeetUp for Atheists. I am waiting for them to approve me!

[Jehanne]

Religious faith meets too many social, group, family and individual needs to disappear any time soon. For instance, religious faith reduces stress in young children. After all, what does one say to a young child who is dying of cancer? In addition, for many, religion is an aphrodisiac, and for some women, a social deterrent to male infidelity, and if that fails, a coping mechanism.

The list is almost endless, but, in the end, no reason, no matter its utility, causes a god to spring into existence.

[brewer]

They have a golden ticket, atheists don't have a golden ticket.

It's tough for some to give up existing forever. And it's possibility is easier to accept in an echo chamber.

[onlinebiker]

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

Denis Diderot

[T.J.]

Some beliefs die hard.

[Agnostic1]

They have a golden ticket, atheists don't have a golden ticket.

It's tough for some to give up existing forever. And it's possibility is easier to accept in an echo chamber.

Well, I am one of those far out Atheist Agnostics that believes in life after death. I don't believe in death at all actually. I believe life continues in a different form that we can't see and it is a natural consequence of evolution. I also think savants get their gifts from the universe and I think that is science as well. I'd like to start my own church! lol

[brewer]

Some beliefs die hard.

McClane? Is that you???

---

They have a golden ticket, atheists don't have a golden ticket.

It's tough for some to give up existing forever. And it's possibility is easier to accept in an echo chamber.

Well, I am one of those far out Atheist Agnostics that believes in life after death. I don't believe in death at all actually. I believe life continues in a different form that we can't see and it is a natural consequence of evolution. I also think savants get their gifts from the universe and I think that is science as well. I'd like to start my own church! lol

They offer an existence after death with the same consciousness. It sounds like you're talking about alternate life after human physical death which most atheists would agree with. Our stuff gets recycled. If I've misunderstood please correct me.

Not sure I agree with the 'savant gift from the universe'. I think ya get what ya get, no 'gift' involved. You might need to expand on that also.

[The Grand Nudger]

An afterlife is a superstition, not a religion. The reason that we haven’t abolished religion is that it’s not possible, and fwiw, any justification for why religion shouldn’t be, itself, amounts to a religious position or analog.

We’re just talking about the taboo and forbidden.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Religion, sadly, will never go away. No matter how much science you put forward, religious followers want to control people with their beliefs. I often wonder how many religious people would pass a lie detector test that they DO, in fact, BELIEVE and that religion isn't just a handy label to put on yourself to have (imagined) moral hierarchy. Every religious person I have ever known is a hypocrite and goes against their own beliefs and they always have some lame excuse or they just throw dirt over the problem. I am so tired of people saying they are going to pray for me when it is ALWAYS said in retaliatory sarcasm. If you're going to REALLY pray FOR me then great! I could use a LOT more money, thank you. I want to live to be 125. I want to have a huge birthday party, every year attended by celebrities, I want my kids to have their every dream and wish come true and I will keep you updated so you can make sure when you 'pray' for me that you don't miss anything.

I feel like religious people have all the rights in this country. They can start churches and don't have to pay taxes. The closest thing we have to an Atheist "church" is the Universal Unitarian church that STILL has sermons based on cult or sect spiritual beliefs. AND, of course, all religions are welcome to attend a UU church. Where is the church of science? Or maybe not a "church" since religious folks have coined that term but maybe a gathering place for atheists? I would go every week if I could find one. 

I recently joined a MeetUp for Atheists. I am waiting for them to approve me!

 Religion will continue to exist until people find something better to replace it if you're poor. Food seems to work for quite a few.

When societies become affluent and its people educated, religiosity tends to decline, being replaced by say secular humanism. 

True believers are impervious to facts and reason.  The reason is simple; religious belief is based on faith. It is the antithesis of reason and the scientific method.

Be very interested to know what percentage of antivaxxers also have deep and abiding religious faith.


Addendum: I have no desire to live until I'm 25, unless I could be at least as physically fit as now, (I'm74) and keep all of my marbles. Right now I'll be thrilled with another ten OK years. Have no desire to live until I'm 86 as my father did and die by inches with arteriosclerosis, as he also did. Nor to live to 92 as my mother did and be totally dependent on others and have to wear a nappy. (diaper) By the time my mother died, she could no longer walk nor dress herself. Yet she remained lucid until the day before she died, exactly one month short of her ninety third birthday. Truly, I'd rather die than to go into one of those horrid god's waiting rooms. If I do, it won't be by choice. Pretty sure I'll be a real cunt about it.

[The Grand Nudger]

It doesn’t have to be. There’s no reason at all that a religion can’t be both reasonable, and scientific. Some are, they just don’t have the same traction that Iron Age myths have built over the centuries.