I'll leave it at that. Have you ever heard the phrase "be right and miserable or be wrong and happy"?

I think this applies to a lot of the planets population, and I would argue that their is a need by the majority of the population to believe in some religion that has a promise of an afterlife.

This explains, at least in part, why so many people are religious. From a psychological standpoint, I understand how people take comfort in religion. I personally cannot take comfort in anything that doesn't pass the smell test but remember in one of my other posts I talk about thinking critically and how the masses do not think critically about many issues, if any. Religion would fall under this rule and in addition to the critical thinking problem there is the added incentive to hold onto relgious beliefs for the psychological reasons and for the ease of life reasons (get along with other religies, cultural functions such as funerals, all the rest).

So I think there are many reasons so many people are theists despite the fact that all religions must use faith and faith alone as a crutch to sustain themselves in the face of dying ideas. Religions rise and fall just as nations do, they rise during a point when there ideas are believable and slowly they die as their ideas and explanations die. New ones rise until they to become obsolite.

But in light of all this, I do not begruge any person who is religious and wishes to stay religious as it brings them happiness. Good for them!

One issue that is coming up is the separation of religion from a moral construct. Some of the theists are hinting that an Atheist cannot have a moral construct and this can only come from a devine power. I disagree. This is a big issue, and much like the "Atheist" definition, it can cloud the larger debate. If the theists are permitted to continue falsehoods like these in their premises, it gives them much more power for statements like "Atheists Cultures cannot survive" and "Atheists cannot be moral."

HD

• A Moral Construct - stormcrow - April 12, 2001 - 02:47 UTC
  • On average atheists are smarter than theists - johnpowell - April 12, 2001 - 21:52 UTC
    • Could be - stormcrow - April 13, 2001 - 00:04 UTC