freeminded

There is a major difference in believing in a God than in following a religion. All religions are artificial, they are made by human and are always changing a bit. We can ask us if there is God among us, but we shall never know if there is. We can feel a God, but I think it's our mind that's telling us if we are doing something wrong or right. But we still don't know if there is a God.

Jobar

Hello freeminded- welcome to Internet Infidels.

Most of us here have rejected both the organizations and the philosophies of god(s). I call religion 'the evil which wears the mask of good.' There are a handful which, perhaps, cannot be described this way- Zen Buddhism and Taoism come to mind- but I think all Western religions are anti-human, if they are followed consistently.

freeminded

religion can be an evil aspect of society, but is not always so. Certainly if people draw a specific support from believe, although it is a false support. In my opinion we can make our own choise if we adopt religious believe or not, we have a free choise, if don't have that choise, religion can be a serious threat to society.

Thor Q. Mada

Organized religion is always an agent for evil, as it is entirely man made. It also changes its goalposts at will and therefore always becomes a tool of the ruler and an instrument of oppression and always is conservative to the extreme.
This conservatisme is caused by the simple fact that god never replies to requests for changees for the better or the worse. It is a dead duck.

Jamie_L

freemind:

Most religious people do not believe their religion is man-made, any more than they believe their god is man-made. Making that distinction seems to be just as debatable as the larger theism vs. atheism debate, only not as meaningful (to me).

Jamie

Tristan Scott

I wonder if that is a true statement. I guess there is no way to know for sure; what a person really thinks in the total privacy of their mind. I agree that most would surely tell you that they don't.

I've often wondered if most religious people did really know that the particular god described by their religion was a figment of the imagination, or the perception of humans in the past.

Keith Russell

Thor:

So, the entirely man-made is always evil?

Keith.

Thor Q. Mada

Keith,

I would hope not, but judging from the present day large religions, the statistics don't look good.
They all have this repressive side and all have the tendency to resist progress.
Self perpetuaion is all they are interested in.

freeminded

I don't think that religion has always been a negative element of society, there are people who draw support on religion, if it is a false support or not, it doesn't matter, I must admit if we look back on history, religion has often been exploited by a lot of organisations, that's why the bible has often been changed to society in favorite of the government.

Keith Russell

Thor, that isn't exactly what I asked.

You stated that religion is evil because it is entirely man-made.

This sounds like you mean that whatever is entirely man-made is evil, and thus religion (being entirely man-made) is evil, too.

I agree with you that religion is evil, but I don't believe that religion is evil because it is entirely man-made.

I believe religion is evil because it asks its followers to rely on faith, instead of reason. (Reason is also entirely man-made, but reason is not evil.)

I believe that our only means of knowing reality is reason, and that only by knowing reality can we thrive within it.

In rejecting reason, religion rejects our only means of survival and success.

And that, I must regard as 'evil'.

Keith.