no it doesnt. everyone is an atheist. " When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." http://godisimaginary.com/i28.htm There are literally thousands of religions being practiced today. Here are 20 of the most popular, along with an estimate of the number of followers: Christianity: 2.1 billion Islam: 1.3 billion Hinduism: 900 million Chinese traditional religion: 394 million Buddhism: 376 million African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million Sikhism: 23 million Juche: 19 million Spiritism: 15 million Judaism: 14 million Baha'i: 7 million Jainism: 4.2 million Shinto: 4 million Cao Dai: 4 million Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million Tenrikyo: 2 million Neo-Paganism: 1 million Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand Rastafarianism: 600 thousand Scientology: 500 thousand [Source: Encyclopedia Britannica] If you believe in God, you have chosen to reject Allah, Vishnu, Budda, Waheguru and all of the thousands of other gods that other people worship today. It is quite likely that you rejected these other gods without ever looking into their religions or reading their books. You simply absorbed the dominant faith in your home or in the society you grew up in. In the same way, the followers of all these other religions have chosen to reject God. You think their gods are imaginary, and they think your God is imaginary. In other words, each religious person on earth today arbitrarily rejects thousands of gods as imaginary, many of which he/she has never even heard of, and arbitrarily chooses to "believe" in one of them. The following quote from Stephen F. Roberts sums up the situation very nicely: "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." A rational person rejects all human gods equally, because all of them are equally imaginary. How do we know that they are imaginary? Simply imagine that one of them is real. If one of these thousands of gods were actually real, then his followers would be experiencing real, undeniable benefits. These benefits would be obvious to everyone. The followers of a true god would pray, and their prayers would be answered. The followers of a true god would therefore live longer, have fewer diseases, have lots more money, etc. There would be thousands of statistical markers surrounding the followers of a true god. Everyone would notice all of these benefits, and they would gravitate toward this true god. And thus, over the course of several centuries, everyone would be aligned on the one true god. All the other false gods would have fallen by the wayside long ago, and there would be only one religion under the one true god. When we look at our world today, we see nothing like that. There are two billion Christians AND there are more than one billion Muslims, and their religions are mutually exclusive. There are thousands of other religions. When you analyse any of them, they all show a remarkable similarity -- there is zero evidence that any of these gods exist. That is how we know that they are all imaginary.
"everyone is an atheist." False. Not everyone is an atheist. If someone believes in only one God, but they believe that one God takes a multitude of forms (as evidenced by the multitude of religions) then not everyone is an atheist. The one who believes in one God who has a multitude of forms is not an atheist, as they don't reject any particular form of God. They have a different point of view that accepts all the other points of view as merely a particular view of one particular aspect of one God...
Why was the original title of this thread "Religious moron opens up a can of worms and gets his ass whipped" changed?
777, although you and I often agree on political matters, I really believe you are wrong here. I think religion is nothing more than wishful thinking which, by virtue of the many different religions out there, can take many different forms. I don't think these different forms are variations of a God. I think they are cultural variations of wishful thinking. Wishful thinking can become quite pronounced over time when it is not restricted by logic or reason or the need for even a scintilla of truly supporting evidence. Simply because you believe it to be so does not necessarily make it so. For example, just look at the morons you engage in debate in the political threads who have "beliefs" supported by nothing other than thin air. I think organized religion is essentially mass hysteria feeding on itself. In the aggregate and in the fullness of time, I don't think it served man well.
I don't see the point in arguing religion. It is not up to me to say your views are wrong, live and let live. I have made my choice, you have made yours, I see no problem with peaceful coexistence between theists and atheists...as long as neither party implements political power to curtail a person's private and personal belief systems, the right to assembly, etc. Is organized religion mass hysteria? Only if the followers of a particular religion are themselves prone to mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is not found just in religions groups, but in atheist groups, political groups, followers of rock starts, etc. It is just a human phenomena. Let a person decide for themselves what to believe, and then let their actions speak to the quality of their belief system in the real world. Those who have found peace and have love in their heart act accordingly. Some of the most peaceful and loving people I've met are atheists (not on this board though) and some of the most peaceful and loving are Buddhists, and some are Christians....the non judgmental kind of Christians...which is a rarity in America. "Simply because you believe it to be so does not necessarily make it so." It doesn't make it so, and it doesn't make it not so. I've yet to see anyone here really damage the ontological arguments I have made...as the statement "Totality exists, and I believe in God" is a true statement. Do I believe that Totality=God? I'm not going to answer that. The major problem in these debates begins and ends with the concept of God a person has. Most atheists demand that concept of God conform to their idea of non God, which is silly actually. When an atheist says "Non God" they are required logically to define God. If they are comparing God to something material in nature, then they have a concept that God is material, etc. The arguments here are so terribly west centric, based on Judeo Christian philosophy...and the rejection of Judeo Christian philosophy by former theists.