Why are Atheists so set on Proving Christianity Wrong?

Originally Posted by teep

So that means you have to blatantly attack it?

This thread is a blatant attack on non-religious people - one post within the thread, which simply reflects what has been said multiple times in the thread anyway, isn't QUITE as bad as the thread itself being blatant flamebait.

^No, it's just and ignorant generalisation. The metal seemed to be set out on insulting a religion.

Originally Posted by teep

So that means you have to blatantly attack it?

<_< Well, you know, he has a point. I mean, it's harsh, and a little poorly worded, but the meat of it it's true. Christians worship a god who's more concerned about whos' kissing who than about the lives of people who're truly suffering. Darfur comes to mind. Or, going further back, the holocaust. The hell happened there? Where was god when the jews were being shipped off into the camps? Surely, his "chosen people" would be saved, or atleast killed before they could suffer like that. What just god can allow that to happen, and sit there and do nothing?

Personally, I think Christianity and other religions are absurd, but I don't try to prove Christianity incorrect. Christians have their beliefs and I have mine. I get along with Christians, as long as they don't try to prove their faith to me. I have no wish to become religious.

Well, I could very easily imagine a God that would allow the Holocaust to occur...but I think the point is that I could not imagine that same God caring about such trite things as homosexuality or sex before marriage. There seems to be a conflict here.

Originally Posted by Nietzsche

<_< Well, you know, he has a point. I mean, it's harsh, and a little poorly worded, but the meat of it it's true. Christians worship a god who's more concerned about whos' kissing who than about the lives of people who're truly suffering. Darfur comes to mind. Or, going further back, the holocaust. The hell happened there? Where was god when the jews were being shipped off into the camps? Surely, his "chosen people" would be saved, or atleast killed before they could suffer like that. What just god can allow that to happen, and sit there and do nothing?

I agree. I simply cannot believe the "God works in mysterious ways" rebuttal - it proves absolutely nothing.

@The Metal: I tend to agree with what you said. I just don't like the way you said it. There's a huge difference between saying "Christianity" and "You Christians".

Originally Posted by MDK

I agree. I simply cannot believe the "God works in mysterious ways" rebuttal - it proves absolutely nothing.

@The Metal: I tend to agree with what you said. I just don't like the way you said it. There's a huge difference between saying "Christianity" and "You Christians".

...I do admit that I said it a little harshly and may have phrased it wrong, but I don't like the idea of a God that acts the way the Christian God does. He seems like an egotistical, insane megalomaniac.

Take Adam and Eve for example. He gives them curiosity, then says there's this forbidden tree that they aren't allowed to go near, so they do out of the curiosity that he imprinted in their minds, and they get tricked into eating from the tree. God gets angry at them like it was their fault and banishes them to suffer in the real world. If God was all knowing he would have seen this coming and done something about it. It seem like he did it for giggles.

He's also a fascist. Why would he make the Jews chosen people? They've done nothing extraordinary, as far as I can tell they're just another ethnicity. But of course Christians explain this away with the whole "God is too complex to understand" thing. It's... odd to say the least.

Originally Posted by The Metal

...I do admit that I said it a little harshly and may have phrased it wrong, but I don't like the idea of a God that acts the way the Christian God does. He seems like an egotistical, insane megalomaniac.

Take Adam and Eve, he gives them curiosity, then says there's this forbidden tree that they aren't allowed to go near, so they do out of the curiosity that he imprinted in their minds, and they get tricked into eating from the tree. God gets angry at them like it was their fault and banishes them to suffer in the real world. If God was all knowing he would have seen this coming and done something about it. It seem like he did that for giggles.

Not to mention that they ate an apple off of the Tree of Knowledge. "Get smart? Get out."

Originally Posted by Sage of Earth

Not to mention that they ate an apple off of the Tree of Knowledge. "Get smart? Get out."

True. The Christian God is without a doubt a tyrant. Why else would he deny his people intelligence?

That's basically the way religion works, attempting to provide an explanation for circumstances. Take the ancient Greek religion for example - each of their deities represented a different thing. Some represented forces of nature, such as death (Hades) and sexual lust (Aphrodite). Others represented weather phenomenons such as lightning (Zeus) fire (Haphaestus) and wind (Aeolus). Others still represented functions in society and civilisation: war (Ares), orgies and merry-making (Dionysus), hunting (Artemis), agriculture (Demeter) Religion began as a primitive form of science, providing explanations for the forces of nature and the functions of civilisation, and the gods had to be worshipped in order to appease them and preserve of the these functions, lest everything descend back into chaos. These were the foundations for the god-fearing society - submit to these rulings or suffer the wrath of these unseen yet all powerful supernatural beings.

Christianity instead attempts to explain why there is suffering in the world, and the given explanation is that our ancestral mother and father disobeyed God and that we are being eternally punished for it.

Since the advancements in the sceintific field have explained much of what religion originally set out to do, religion now simply provides a system of beliefs and guidelines by which to live. Sadly, this often means propogating one's own belief system, such as saying that non-believers will burn in hell for not believing. This is where religion breaks down - there are so many of them that conflict between them is inevitable.

Originally Posted by MDK

That's basically the way religion works, attempting to provide an explanation for circumstances. Take the ancient Greek religion for example - each of their deities represented a different thing. Some represented forces of nature, such as death (Hades) and sexual lust (Aphrodite). Others represented weather phenomenons such as lightning (Zeus) fire (Haphaestus) and wind (Aeolus). Others still represented functions in society and civilisation: war (Ares), orgies and merry-making (Dionysus), hunting (Artemis), agriculture (Demeter) Religion began as a primitive form of science, providing explanations for the forces of nature and the functions of civilisation, and the gods had to be worshipped in order to appease them and preserve of the these functions, lest everything descend back into chaos. These were the foundations for the god-fearing society - submit to these rulings or suffer the wrath of these unseen yet all powerful supernatural beings.

Christianity instead attempts to explain why there is suffering in the world, and the given explanation is that our ancestral mother and father disobeyed God and that we are being eternally punished for it.

Since the advancements in the sceintific field have explained much of what religion originally set out to do, religion now simply provides a system of beliefs and guidelines by which to live. Sadly, this often means propogating one's own belief system, such as saying that non-believers will burn in hell for not believing. This is where religion breaks down - there are so many of them that conflict between them is inevitable.

Which is precisely why some people advocate its abolition altogether. There's no need for it anymore.

Originally Posted by Sage of Earth

Which is precisely why some people advocate its abolition altogether. There's no need for it anymore.

Agreed. Religion is obsolete. In order to continue advancing as a species we need to abandon it. Its because of religion that stem cell research is not allowed in some states, and why cloning isn't allowed in most countries.

Originally Posted by The Metal

Agreed. Religion is obsolete. In order to continue advancing as a species we need to abandon it. Its because of religion that stem cell research is not allowed in some states, and why cloning isn't allowed in most countries.

Agreed. All religion does now is cause trouble. After all, religion is the reason we're dealing with Al-Queda right now. Religion is the reason stem cell research is not progressing as much as it could, and the people protesting against stem cell research are protesting against a cure for my diabetic sister and father.

Religion was used to explain things that primitive humans did not understand. Now that we have science to explain those things, what is the point of religion now?

Originally Posted by Sage of Earth

Which is precisely why some people advocate its abolition altogether. There's no need for it anymore.

So one might think, but there are two sides to every coin.

I spent at least fifteen years of my life in Nairobi before I started going to college. Large parts of it are destitute, and the people in those parts are desperately poor. They tend to be very religious, and for the mostpart, Christian. They are uneducated, live in desperate circumstances and have large families of children that they cannot possibly raise healthily, and with HIV rife and the concept of STIs and contraception unknown, many of them die prematurely. If they don't believe that there is a paradise waiting for them at the bitter end, what possible reason could they have for living?

We who live comfortable lives and receive a good diverse education can confidently contemplate things like religion on a much higher platform and determine for ourselves whether or not they are plausible or even necessary, but in many places, religion is all that a person has.

Originally Posted by MDK

So one might think, but there are two sides to every coin.

I spent at least fifteen years of my life in Nairobi before I started going to college. Large parts of it are destitute, and the people in those parts are desperately poor. They tend to be very religious, and for the mostpart, Christian. They are uneducated, live in desperate circumstances and have large families of children that they cannot possibly raise healthily, and with HIV rife and the concept of STIs and contraception unknown, many of them die prematurely. If they don't believe that there is a paradise waiting for them at the bitter end, what possible reason could they have for living?

We who live comfortable lives and receive a good diverse education can confidently contemplate things like religion on a much higher platform and determine for ourselves whether or not they are plausible or even necessary, but in many places, religion is all that a person has.

True but look at it this way. Doesn't they whole "I may be dying, but at least I'll go to heaven" mentality basically destroy any chance that these people have of trying to get their governments to do something about their condition? They don't need to worry about the future, as long as it ends in them going to heaven.