An Atheist and a Theologian walk into a bar.....
"They ask me to prove there is a God, a Creator, a Watcher, an All Knowing......I asked them to prove there isn't."
~B~
As smart as most people claim to be, not a lot of people are open enough to understand that they are as incapable of knowing the truth as the next person.That being said, it takes just as much faith to Not believe, as it does To believe.
"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness."
Dalai Lama
To claim that religions are dangerous because of its manipulations of written texts for the use of torture , division and war is redundant because one can very easily dispute the same evils have been done from non theist believers in the past and present without needing these manipulations of scriptures. I find that most haters of religions have had personal altercations with them and that's understandable because religion and its uses along with the actions derived from its uses are personal ,however, I do find it interesting how easily one can completely omit the many goods that has come from people devout to their religions, people that have done so much positive for humanity because they follow their organized religion- People who have freed themselves from addictions, tortures, crimes or perversions because they have found religion.
Once a true intellect weights out the good and the bad that comes from followers of religion you come to one ultimate truth and that is that it's people who choose to do good and bad regardless of their use of religion for an excuse. I do think however that it is a greater possibility of people who are restricted to the sort of moral obedience that is demanded by religions who tend to be more receptive to peace and love than those who are not but I’m sure that can be debated on an individual basis.
Christ taught peace and love and the acknowledgment that you, as a human will inevitably do wrong and hurt one another but that there is forgiveness of this. It is true, that his forgiveness is offered through his father , our God, but how does one interpret this? How can one possibly interpret this without knowing which definition of “God” to use? To me, God is the Creator of all. To me, God IS the universe and since according to
Carl Sagan ,
“we are all made out of Star stuff”
- we have all been created in his image just as it was written and since physics requires a catalyst to begin movement, something had to start the universe! I do believe there is a creator.
Most physicists are in agreement that there is a “black matter” or “black gravity” that accounts for 98% of the universe, although they can not see it or measure it, they know it’s there at all times and it is the driving force for the universe…...That alone, by science's own words is faith driven belief and has many similarities to the existence of a God and if there is the strong possibility of a God that not only matches what has been written in theological scriptures but also scientific theories, then it can not be out of the realm of possibility that there may be some truth to the world's organized religions. Yes, men have manipulated the teachings of our prophets, of Christ- they have done so bad at interpreting his teachings that it is sometimes unrecognizable but to say that Christianity as a whole or any religion as a whole is dangerous is bullshit. The real teachings of Christ is one and the same as those as Mahatma Gandhi, or Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) and that is of peace and unity.
Furthermore to say that religion has no place among philosophy and the sciences is ridiculous. The majority of early philosophers, most early scientists and a great percentage of scientists today have religious backgrounds or beliefs. Even during the Age of Enlightenment men had strong religious beliefs. Thomas Jefferson himself was a strong believer of the teachings of Christ and even wrote his own version of the New Testament omitting scriptures that were faith-based only and let's not mention the beauty that Religion has inspired in art, song and poetry.
Now, for my own personal reasons, though I have in the past and am a studier of religions, I am not a follower of an organized religion, I've been there and done that. I just think that religion is a personal choice,if it works for you and you are not being an a****** to anybody else then by all means. You will probably be no worse than the next person but rest assured, that doesn’t necessarily make you better either. Though I personally do not follow a religion, I will never tell a person to not follow their religion and I will never criticize them for it because in the end there is absolutely no proof that the writings of scriptures of any religion, though undoubtedly exaggerated, hold no truth. With the same respect however, there is no proof there the words of these scripture are correct as well.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Albert Einstein
In the end, the debating for and against religion is asinine. Most claims are that religion is the argument of which made up story to believe in. My belief is that the argument for and against religion is the debating of who has the most proof for and against theological scriptures or the existence of a god itself and that argument in itself is ludicrous once it's understood that there is no way to possibly answer these questions. I just don't understand why we can not all just let each other be and treat each other with the respect we want in return.
" When I do good, I feel Good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion."
Abraham Lincoln.
Religious people and non religious alike should be judged by their individual actions. There are many people who choose to be jerks out there and whether or not they use religion as an excuse, they will continue to be jerks until they reach some sort of universal enlightenment, to the same respect, there are many people out in the world who have found peace, acceptance and unity from the followings of orginised religions so if one must debate, debate on individual topics and not so much the "dangers of" or " ignorance in the belief of " religions. It may require you have more knowledge of the topics rather than the usual " you're stupid!" or " you're a heathen! " approach.
Until then, I don't see why religion can not be discussed in the same conversations as Science or with Philosophy, not so much in respects to its existence but rather on the morality, functionalities or effectiveness of individual teachings or in the case of science, as a road map to the pursuit of the ultimate quest for the answers to who, where , what, how and why.