I said, religion, good god now, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing....

I've been a member for a very long time but this is my very first thread.
Firstly I want to point out that this is about ALL religion so I'm not just picking on a particular one.
However as I've lived all my life in England then the one I'm most familiar with is christianity (That will probably change the way things are going but that's an entirely different topic on it's own) Now for one thing how can there be so many branches of it? If the bible is considered to be the absolute truth then surely ALL followers of it should have the same beliefs.....
However of course this isn't true, so why is this? Some people say that certain parts are just metaphorical and shouldn't be taken literally. Ok so who decides which parts? Why has a book never been brought out that just gives the "Absolute truth" without the metaphorical nonsense? That way they can say look this is what really happened and is the true word of god and here's a companion book with lots of cool fairytails that can teach us stuff (The same of course goes for the texts of other religions) That way surely people wouldn't be able to cherry pick bits that suit them as it would most probably be in the companion and so would more easily be dismissed.
The reason of course is because it's all nonsense. Why on Earth are people so willing to accept things that supposedly happened thousands of years ago without question but if Fred who lives down the street and works at the local Newsagents were to come out with now ( god speaking to him and burning bushes etc ) they would have him carted off to the nearest psychiatric hospital....I'm sorry I just don't get it?! I never have, even when I was a small child I was able to figure out what complete nonsense it all was, I'm not going to deny that I'm a confirmed Atheist and don't believe in anything that could be considered "God" However I can understand why some people feel the need to have an entity create the Universe rather than it appear out of nowhere in a Big Bang. Of course that leads to the age old chicken and egg question?
For anyone who argues that it's impossible for the Universe to spontaneously come into being so there must have been a god, then where did god come from??? If god can apparently come from nothingness ( Otherwise some one or something must have created him/it? Which would surely actually make them god and where did they come from etc.....) then why couldn't the Universe have done so?!
So ok then let's suspend reason for a second and say that some entity created the entire Universe ( Or even just the Earth ) With all the suffering and misery that takes place on this Planet, what use is god? Either it is powerless to do anything or just doesn't give a #, it's of course irrelevant either way as such a being would clearly not be deserving of any worship so as the title says , religion, what is it good for?!!

P.s please don't waste everybody's time by quoting the bible or any other religious text to try and make some kind of point. You may as well post a passage from a Harry Potter book as both are works of fiction.....

a reply to: Cycleiron

-Law and religion

-Culture and religion

-Scripture - Religious

-Burning Bush

-Ethics

-Morals

You could start there

a reply to: Cycleiron

What do you consider yourself as?

a reply to: Cycleiron

You aren't taking into account the 'personalities' working in the religious business.

This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest industries in the world worth mega bucks daily. It supports hundreds of thousands, many living merrily off the poor.

How anyone can take serious the biblical idea of a jealous God and not get suspicious that the guy has time to be jealous over just one of his millions of different created species beggars belief.

We are well in need of a huge change in the world because of the adverse affect religion has and an examination of all the religions and what they teach should be on the agenda for the world, because what we have at present is causing so much aggro its only supplying the ungodly and wicked with profit - and of course one of its major benefits is of course to to the pious popsies those who love to dress up in silly costumes just to gain recognition for their religious prestige.

originally posted by: PanPiper
a reply to: Cycleiron

What do you consider yourself as?

I'm not sure that I understand your question??

a reply to: Cycleiron

Atheist?

I hate the religion of atheism and its doctrine of evolution.
Reminds me of lemmings

hey op you should search the religion of atheists doctrine, hating religion is one of its commandments
They even have churches

originally posted by: Cycleiron
I've been a member for a very long time but this is my very first thread.
Firstly I want to point out that this is about ALL religion so I'm not just picking on a particular one.
However as I've lived all my life in England then the one I'm most familiar with is christianity (That will probably change the way things are going but that's an entirely different topic on it's own) Now for one thing how can there be so many branches of it? If the bible is considered to be the absolute truth then surely ALL followers of it should have the same beliefs.....

Wrong forum. If this statement is ALL about religion (you not picking upon one in particular), you should have posted this thread to RFT (Religion/Faith/Theology) for better content and inspired dialog.

originally posted by: Raggedyman
I hate the religion of atheism and its doctrine of evolution.
Reminds me of lemmings

hey op you should search the religion of atheists doctrine, hating religion is one of its commandments
They even have churches

Man. How weak can a human be? I'm not religious, yet I don't attack the religious the way [some] of the religious attacks us... why is that?

originally posted by: Raggedyman
I hate the religion of atheism and its doctrine of evolution.
Reminds me of lemmings

you seem to like hating in the name of god? Typical rabid Christian.

hey op you should search the religion of atheists doctrine, hating religion is one of its commandments
They even have churches

a reply to: Raggedyman Im an atheist and I never knew it was a religion. I don't hate, discount or bother any religious person. They bother me, knocking on my door pushing that stuff, tapping in to conversation, that's the parts I HATE. I keep an open mind though. I don't necessarily believe in strict evolution because I don't know. I keep an open mind because I don't know but I would love to know. I think its the extremism of religions that get people wound up and those spoil it for everyone. The lette "A" means no and theism means just that. Im sure a wiki definition may be different but as far as atheism I don't feel it can be defined for every non believer. I still say Christmas and exchange gifts, Im not some Santa Nazi, its still a special time for me even though Jesus was a myth like Santa Clause, both having a real life basis for the story that became a myth. I don't worship Satan because I don't believe in Satan. I don't drink blood, I work at a non profit animal shelter cleaning dog crap and spending time with animals so don't judge.

a reply to: Cycleiron

uhh dude it makes people feel good. it gives them a sense of purpose or simply just gives them a place to go and be part of something. it very much is good for something. its fulfilled alot of people. what do you care?

originally posted by: MEDIKATED
a reply to: Raggedyman Im an atheist and I never knew it was a religion. I don't hate, discount or bother any religious person. They bother me, knocking on my door pushing that stuff, that's the part I HATE.

Its not a religion per say, its a belief system; and no belief system is a good thing as you are enslaved to doctrine/dogma that may not be of your own thinking or design.

a reply to: MEDIKATED

Yeah. That can be annoying especially if you're a shift worker(sleep patterns). That said, if you aren't why not just not go to the door? AND those that knock on your door are a very minute percentage of religious people. I get a knock about once every other year. I ain't getting bent about that.

a reply to: intrepid LOL could you imagine if the shoe were on the other foot for them. One random day I walk around with anti religion propaganda and the person opens the door and I say "Hi! just wanted to let You know that God isn't real, the bible is middle eastern garbage and Jesus looked more like Bin Laden" with a big hypnotic smile .just passing the word.hahahah....I would get arrested.

My idea is start from the earliest texts which are tablets. Go to the Sumerian tablets, google them, LOOK at them carefully. There are lots of them, notice the details, mainstream views on the subject are as lame as mainstream views on 911. Start from the beginning and religion will all make sense one day. To a point at least.

originally posted by: MEDIKATED
a reply to: intrepid LOL could you imagine if the shoe were on the other foot for them. One random day I walk around with anti religion propaganda and the person opens the door and I say "Hi! just wanted to let You know that God isn't real, the bible is middle eastern garbage and Jesus looked more like Bin Laden" with a big hypnotic smile .just passing the word.hahahah....I would get arrested.

Why would you martyr yourself in the first place (wearing a sandwich board sign proclaiming this or that). Others have done this before you and died so that you would not have to. These belief systems are not on the verge of BECOMING; they exist NOW as permanent religious dogmatic structures.

Hey raggedyman, do you even know what a difference of opinion is?

I don't believe in any gods. You clearly do. Which gods do you believe in, and which do you reject? Tell us why...

a reply to: Cycleiron

The fact that you posted your ignorance of this topic, in such an obviously inexperienced manner to ATS. Should at the very least, be the only evidence you need, that you haven't got any idea of what the truth really is concerning this subject.
A worthless post.

You’ve posted in the wrong forum. Your thread should do better in the right forum, which is Religion, Faith & Theology. I have asked a moderator to help you by moving it.