Religious beliefs are holding back progress in the most important aspects of life. While there are certain benefits attached to religious belief, they are soundly outweighed by the costs of holding them. Scientific advancement is required if we are to sustain the rate at which our quality of life has been improving over the decades of the 20th century and if we are to address the challenges that face us in the 21st and beyond. To the extent that religious beliefs stifle scientific literacy and stifle the desire for scientific enquiry, to the extent that religious beliefs impose on personal freedom, to the extent that religious beliefs divide societies, religious beliefs are a net drain on society. A fair assessment?
Not if you realize the freedoms people have today are the result of an ideological/political/religious movement starting with the concept of inalienable rights handed down by the Creator.
oh please give me a break religion is tyranny not freedom. there is no true freedom under a creator only subjugation and fear. I IMPLORE YOU RENOUNCE YOUR CREATOR AND EXPERIENCE TRUE FREEDOM AS I DO!!! :-/
a slave to what? to reason maybe but no slave to a grand delusion as you are. the sad thing for you is you will die without ever knowing the joy of living a life of reason, a life true to nature. you live in constant fear of insulting your creator and incurring its wrath for an eternity. me, i have no such nightmares, i live in total peace and contentment that when i die i slip quietly into total BLACKNESS devoid of all experience, being or sentience. Just complete and utter blackness for an eternity, for ever and ever i am nevermore.. .. :-/ btw surf, this is your plight too (all of us) whether you choose to delude yourself of this truth or not. see you NOT on the other side :-/
wow, I,Trader well said guy love your handle too smacks of Isaac Asimov's I,ROBOT! oh what a wonderful sci fi adventure that is! Isaac as you must surely know was not only a great novelist but a great atheist too! welcome I,Trader!
I robot---remember the alan parson's project album of the same name ? whoa ! that was the 2nd album i ever purchased i think in 2nd grade. blew my mind at the time. surfer