[mIssIng:nO]

Originally Posted by Xujhan

That doesn't make religion great; religion can only be great if it produces something greater than a secular society would. I see no reason to think that religion increases the amount of love and peace in the world, and many reasons to think that it diminishes them.

Then you are straight retarded, I can name one of the biggest charitable oraganizations off the top of my head and guess what, its Christian. How many Churches open up their doors for homeless people to sleep, how many have free meals for homeless people. I'd say thats a pretty good reason to think that religion increases the amount of love and peace in th world, and it took me about 3 seconds to think of that, I could easily do more but why?

Messages like "homosexuality is evil" and "women should be subservient to men" and "non-believers go to hell" and "humanity is sinful and deserves punishment"? Abrahamic religions preach love and peace, at times, but they contain many ugly messages as well. It's the latter that atheists object to. If there were a religion that said only "Be nice to others and don't fight" and nothing else, I would have many fewer objections to that.

People have different opinions on what they want to believe, I'm not going to think someone is less intelligent because of it. I may not agree with it, but they have every right in the world of believe what ever the hell they want. Its not a good message, but thats only in "my" view. Also, i'd be inclined to agree that Humanity needs punishment.

I saw him make no such claim, nor have I ever met any atheist who does. I have however heard many fundamentalists insist that all atheists must be immoral.
I didn't mean "him" directly, although "I despise religion, it causes so much pain and is responsible for stifling free thought to an unpresedented degree. It stands for the banishment of reason and critical thinking" pretty much shows he thinks religion brings peoples ability to think for them selves and unable to think logically (or critically as he put i) which is pretty much saying that religion equals lack of intelligence. and also. You haven't heard/met anyone who's made this claim, so it has no merit, but since you've heard Fundamentalists says Atheists are immoral it makes it true? So YOU have to hear something personally for it to be true? Damn, how far is your head up your ass if you think thats the case?

I have great respect for people who bother to educate themselves and think critically about the world; by definition then, I have less respect for people who don't. That you would say "no proof that it doesn't exist and no proof that it does" demonstrates that you don't understand the role that evidence and proof play in reasoning. Here are some other things for which there is neither proof for nor against: unicorns, faeries, leprechauns, Thor, Zeus, Sauron, Narnia, Atlantis, Klingons, etc. Essentially no one believes that any of those actually exist, and Yahweh is no more sensible a proposition.
I used the whole proof/no proof thing just to show that its stupid when people think someone is "less intelligent" for following a religion. Its like saying someone is stupid for saying a sports team is going to win the championship before the season even has began, there is no real way to make the claim either way, only can you piece the little bits of evidence you have together to make an decision on what you want to believe (Its obviously on a much, much larger scale)

Sauron is from the lord of the rings, Narnia is from a series a books with a related title, Klingons are from Star trek. Atlantis actually is a possibility as there is sunken areas of the world, Unicorns are just a stupid fairy tale, along with Faeries and Leprechauns. And yes, Yahweh is a more sensible claim because there has been more evidence pointing towards the possibility he does exist (whether the evidence is legit is up for grabs, but there still is) The fact that Faeries and such are just folk legends in most parts of the world, while any "diety" has information that can point towards a "real" existence, but I will agree with you, it does take blind faith for someone to accept it completely.

Also, stop grasping at straws, Sauron, Narnia, Klingons? Cmon man, also, No one worships anything else that you put there (unless you count Zeus and thor, but you yourself said no one follows) so once again, this was a grasp at straws considering it has nothing to do with the current topic, no one is following the word of the unicorn and claiming it to be the "right" religion, so once again no real point there, i understand that you gotta be sarcastic to stay edgy but really you can do better than that.

No one subscribes to Norse mythology, so it's past the point of being able to do any harm. When the world regards Abrahamic religions as nothing but old folk tales, they too will become harmless. I was joking...

I'm not even going to bother though. The fact that you'd even bring fictional characters into this argument shows that you just want to bash religion at any chance you get with pretty dumb claims.

I'm not even religious and I'd hate to call my self an atheist if it meant being group with people like you. I can understand wanting proof of something to believe it exists (i.e a greater being), which is why I personally don't my self. But you have to be very, very narrow minded if you believe that religion (ANY religion) does not do a huge amount of great in the world.

Also, since you've never seen atheists attack religious peoples intelligence, heres a link for you. http://www.chrisbeach.co.uk/viewQuotes.php?QuotePage=1