Tenpudo

Thank you for taking the time to refute your own fallacies.
It saves the rest of us the trouble.

Atheist Crusader

I don't know about general education, but perhaps specific education about various psychological and historical reasons for religion could at least cause some of them to doubt. I am thinking of books like How We Believe by Michael Shermer. I am going to test how well talking to people about it works... but as most of the overtly religious people at my school are Mormon... I don't know how well it is going to work. Strangely enough, the Mormons that go to my school are some of the smartest people there... Go figure... anyway, I just thought maybe using some specific books in conjunction with each other would cause them to think for themselves that maybe their religion is wrong, rather than just telling them it was wrong. The fall of Christianity will probably have to happen one person at a time, not through any mass education programs.

premjan

Isn't that just paganism (worship of nature)?

MooWare

A good many of religious folks are simply brainwashed or wired to believe. no matter what you do, what you say or how hard you try they will refuse to listen, or refuse to consider the fact that there are no gods, and never have been.

Then there will always be the religious fundy faction that shouts the loudest.

You know, it's funny but you would think that Xtians or whatever religion would be happy at thier perception that the world is falling apart. That puts them closer to thier beliefs that they will be taken to meet their manufacturer.

This is my view of talking to hardcore believers. :banghead:

The_Unknown_Banana

Maybe we should start by getting them to stamp "Christianity is a theory, not a fact, and should be critically considered" inside every bible

Yangja Isuko

napalm

MrFrosty

My first ever post on IIDB asked what would absolute proof of ET intelligence do to world religions -- my intention had been to find a method of killing off religion (inc. Xianity). One of the general answers tended to be that religions would encompass the newfound revelation and continue existing in an altered form.

Any type of alien evidence that would point toward a divine creator would simply be siezed upon and the BS mill would continue churning safe in the knowledge it will survive. Religion is social control on a huge scale so, as some have indicated already, removing Xianity completely would simply move some of those believers elsewhere.

Here is the link to the thread: http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.p...ghlight=aliens

crisisGirl

i'm with mooware on this one. if education could defeat fundamentalism, we wouldn't have this ongoing "debate" about evolution.
although it has done indescribable harm throughout the history of humanity, there is some benefit to "one true faith"-ism. in a diverse culture such as the united states, the perpetual scraps that theists have with one another helps (at least somewhat) to keep the various religions at bay, thus preventing a complete theocracy. (note the word "complete.") (as an example, i've seen many xians want to condemn atheists because "happy holidays" has replaced "merry christmas" in some places. in truth, this resulted from jews, muslims, christians, and other religions all scrapping with one another. atheists had little, if anything, to do with it.)
one of the secrets to christianity's long life is the delusion of persecution. anyone who has been to RaptureReady has seen the forum entitled "we that struggle." fundies simply continue to believe that they are martyrs, regardless of reality. (anyone picking up a dollar bill in america can see just how "persecuted" xians are. )

Harumi

Why kill off any religion?

I see some people mentioning education and the like, but in my opinion, that would hardly matter.

Many of my friends are highly educated, liberal Christians. God is someone they can take comfort in. It is a being who they can look up to for inspiration, help them in their time of need, and encourage them to do better in their life.

At least, that's what God is like for my Catholic godmother. She is a lovely person, never tries to convert anyone, and accepts my atheism with no bitterness.

I think at best education may tune down the fundies and create more liberal, open, and nicer religious people. But psychologically, there will always be people who need comfort and can't find any, and when that happens, the answer is religion.

If that's all it is and nothing else, what's the harm?

MooWare

Unfortunately, that NOT all it is.. IF someone wants to believe in God or Gods that's fine with me, they can believe in the Easter Bunny for all I really care. The problem lies when they insist on prayer in school, when they insist on having creation theory taught in public schools If they want to teach thier own kids this that's fine, however, I don't want them teaching my children thier "facts" based on thier bible, with no questions asked.

the fundies would like to censor and edit everything you read see and hear.

Think I'm being too dramatic on the last statement. Sit back and don't do anythng. Then see what happens.

Living in an christian theocracy would be no better than living under the Taliban.

I belive in freedom of religion, and those who wish to practice it.. However, Religion belongs at home. Not in the public square.

Ok, I'm done ranting..