2000+ years old

[Bambulus]

Oh, and if he doesn't buy into evolution, ask him why God put the bones of critters in the ground, that are older than the world is supposed to be according to "the good book". Would this be so he can have a giggle at the expense of nerdy paleontologists?

It makes sense...

Bill Hicks answers all.

 

[Buddha 3]

I probably wasn't being very clear, I wasn’t being Bible specific but mainly religion in general. True that not all religions have a version of hell, but I can’t think of any that don’t have a version of heaven or atonement.. Whether it be carrot or stick, faith encourages many people to follow the particular requirements of their worship.

Obviously societies existed before the bible but very few have existed without some form of worship that governed them, I can not think of any. Even today they find tribes that have never had contact with the outside world…. They all (to my knowledge) have some form or religion or faith, usually centered around there surroundings, existence and resource.

I was also referring to pre-science focused civilisation.

I definitely agree in modern times more people would fear the immediate repercussions than the supposed spiritual.

It would be interesting to see how a society completely void of any form of religion or faith would fair.

It would fair as well as any other society. The murder rates were far higher during the dark ages, a time when pretty much everybody was superreligious.

People have always been aware of something far more powerful than themselves governing their lives. Some just called it nature, others said it was a sentient being known as a god.
There have been and are plenty of religions that have no punishment in the afterlife.

The most powerful deterrent against "doing wrong" has always been what society might do to you in this life. The most powerful incentive for doing wrong has always been your economical/social standing in the same society as well.
People didn't not kill because they feared hell*, they didn't kill because they feared the executioner's axe and the beatings that came with it.**

*Why fear hell, if all you need to do is say: "You know all that bad stuff I did, God? Yeah well, sorry about that." And hey presto, access to the pearly gates is granted.

**This is also why violent crime in the lower ranks of society was insanely high. The powers that be didn't care about the peasants, so the chances of being arrested were pretty damn low.

 

[Homewrecker]

Well that’s based on Christianity's notion of forgiveness, but yea I see your point - I'd agree with that. I don't think you could make the statement that religion hasn't had its place in keeping the peace (as well as destroying it) though.

I also dont think anyone could argue that its definitely caused more grief than it's done good.
Its not always the fear of punishment that makes people behave, sometimes its for sake of reward.... (on very rare occasions some people just behave because they know right from wrong )

It's an interesting topic of discussion though, we will never know what the world would of been like without it, we are forever influenced by it, even if not directly. Unless some cataclysmic event wipes all records of it, but people would probably think up some new crazy crap to believe in. :tsk:

 

[Robbo]

Far too many people, certainly in religious circles, purport to know the mind of God ... I'm afraid this is not possible.
I have huge reservations with God having any representation through any of the religions I have seen which then provokes two questions:-

a) Is there really a God?

b) Does he make himself known [other than by the creation of the universe in which we live]?

In my head, the fact we can even ask question b) then substantiates a) .... which of course leaves us dangling with the problem as to why he makes no representation as to what he might like us to do.

Lots of people will no doubt try to align their religion with our thinking but unfortunately there is not one religion I know of where faith doesn't underwrite everything they aspire to do.
Faith is fundamental to each and every religion I have read.

...but we must remember here, faith begins where knowledge ends; if we knew something then we wouldn't need faith and by definition, anybody having faith in their religion must then possess an unsubstantiated belief system.

People want facts but unfortunately the facts we so crave aren't apparent and so we default to our next need which is to believe in something that has some form of salvation threaded into its own religious fabric ... and as soon we do this, we contravene the laws of reason and end up settling for the laws of spiritual and emotional conditioning.
We're an extremely stupid demographic ... and seeminlgy so desperate, so so desperate.

 

[Homewrecker]

We're an extremely stupid demographic ... and seeminlgy so desperate, so so desperate.

Amen to that.

 

[3L1TE hax]

nothing to say...

 

[M600]

to be honest there are so many religions out there, and some which are connected
the only one that makes sense is Buddhism as it does not require you to worship a higher power, but only teaches people to better themselves

 

[Dark Warrior]

The theory of evolution is based on nothing more than the belief of supposed facts from writings of certain scientists
Religions are beliefs based on supposed facts from certain writers of certain books
I propose we need a religion based on the Evolutionist Theory
Need to think of a name now - Jediism is taken I believe

 

[Homewrecker]

The theory of evolution is based on nothing more than the belief of supposed facts from writings of certain scientists
Religions are beliefs based on supposed facts from certain writers of certain books
I propose we need a religion based on the Evolutionist Theory
Need to think of a name now - Jediism is taken I believe

Well, not really - it's based on a lot more than belief, there is DNA sequencing that shows the similarities between species and fossils records dating back millions of years to start with.

Religion is based SOLEY on spoken and written word using nothing more than faith.

 

[Cook$]

Well, not really - it's based on a lot more than belief, there is DNA sequencing that shows the similarities between species and fossils records dating back millions of years to start with.

Religion is based SOLEY on spoken and written word using nothing more than faith.

And Charles Darwin used to be on the back of a tenner. So you know he's good.