listen, my point is that people can use all kinds of things, including religion, to perpetuate and rationalize their lies. for example...i would say that capitalism is used as much as, or even more so, than religion is. do you think you might be a bit jaded because you don't believe in god?...i don't believe in capitalism.
Yet i bet you buy into it and support it on a daily basis. The same cannont be said for people who dont believe in god.
mother theresa didn't do what she did because of her religion, but because of her faith. faith in religion yields ceremonial and political crap, but faith in god yields the extraordinary. religion does not equal god, and indoctrination does not equal faith. faith is trust, and it comes from knowledge, not speculation, indoctrination, or study. people who do extraordinary things know something that the rest of us ordinary people don't know. that is what faith truly yields.
i get buy. what am i going to do? be a nun? i'd still be living off of a system. i try not to do things for the sake of making money, but i make money for the sake of doing things. this is something i've learned the hard way. but if you look at our planet, and what we're doing to it, and to the slaves who work it, you will see that our intentions are marred by greed, and it's the death of us.
Then why dont you abstain fomr capitalism if you dont like it so much? How can you say I dont like ---- but subscribe to it anyway? That makes no sense to me.
false hope is not a good thing. a comfort blanket is not a good thing, it stops you becoming your true self.
yes hundreds, but they keep quite about it. unsung heros theres hundreds. Anyway read up about mother Theresa, you'll find she wasn't the saint everybody thinks she was., but thats another thread.
Naming few of them would be a nice tribute to them. She was made saint by the religious authorities. But it was her faith in her god not the religion that was behind the noble life.
atheists can believe in afterlife too, I used to believe in reincarnation before I reached the age of reason, Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I'm not sure how any of that is relevant. The thread asked a simple question I provided an answer that is well supported by observing human behavior. I am not sure what you are contesting beyond that.
I've always liked this line by Bertrand Russell: "My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race. I cannot, however, deny that it has made some contributions to civilization. It helped in early days to fix the calendar, and it caused Egyptian priests to chronicle eclipses with such care that in time they became able to predict them. These two services I am prepared to acknowledge, but I do not know of any others." I've known people who told me it was their belief in the Christian god that helped them stop using drugs. In my jaded view, this is substituting one drug for another; but I think it is easier to lead a happy, productive life while high on religion than it is when using cocaine and methamphetamine. From a Cheech and Chong sketch: ""I was all messed up on drugs, 'till I found the Lord. Now, I'm all messed up on the Lord". So, more power to them. Unfortunately, these same individuals saw it as their duty to try and save me. No thanks, I was born right the first time.
True self, like the dog in your avatar Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! False hope can make you happy. But afterlife is not false hope, it's a reality that the ancient people discovered. Over time the truth about afterlife has been somewhat distorted, especially in Christianity. They lie when they say that there is an eternal hell, and that only the believers go to heaven. The spirit world, or Heaven, is for everyone. Age of materialism. Strictly speaking, an atheist is just someone who doesn't believe in God, but afterlife is an idea that comes from religions, so if an atheist believes in some parts of religions, he could be called religious.
If you ever travel to where she worked there are many individuals who were doing what she did before she came there and today are still doing it. She was just someone that the Catholics made into a "saint" to show how good they are with people as their priests molest little children. Great religion isn't it...NOT! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
They do have faith in some god, right ? Church was initially hesitating to canonize her as there was a lack of miracles (!) performed by her.
