World's Youngest Atheist

Mid-last year, I went to Rome. (back when I was a Xian) If you have ever been there, you will know -there is something Catholic, something relating to Church history, on every corner. Every building has something to do with Xianity on it.
St. Peters Basillica is perhaps the most amazing sight I ever saw.
The building is big almost beyond imagination, the sculptures are massive. Every church is amazing.
Now think -
all of that,
all of Rome,
the Christ statue in Rio,
all of it..
is made because of a mistake. A false religion. Think how much sweat went into the making of all that. It was all made - wrongly.
I thought about this the other day. I dont know what I find intriguing about this. Anyone else know what I mean?

- Youngest

atheist_in_foxhole

Forget the buildings and statues, think of all the PEOPLE who have been murdered and tortured in the name of religious supersition. It's absolutely sickening.

I ate Pascal's Wafer

Wow. I went there last summer too. I've also been to France and saw several very large cathedrals that took hundreds of years to make. At the time I was xtian too, so at the time I was wondering if I would do that to serve my Lord. Instead, I decided to enjoy the French and Italian food and just talk about the cathedrals and the Vatican. Now that you mention it, that was a lot of work for those people to do for a false belief. I just thought of something else too. Assuming that there is a god, what would happen if someone spent their life building this very large cathedral, and when they got to the pearly gates realized that they worshipped the wrong religion and then were sent to someone elses hell? That would truly suck to spend your life laboring on this building that you won't see finished, probably die trying to build it, then end up in hell because you were building the temple for the wrong god. Sheesh.

Nick

ju'iblex

i went there just last Xmas holidays actually, beautiful isnt it? i also went there as an atheist, so it gave a fantastic perspective on the whole thing. Sistine chapel, St. P's basilica, plently of chateaus and churches in France etc.

made wrongly, i would disagree with that. all of those fantastic sculptures, and paintings were made according to the beliefs of the time, just as the ancient Greeks made their statues to epitomise masculine beauty and military strength.
Classical Greek sculptures also took on the forms of the deities of their time, to say they were made wrongly is indeed, for lack of a better word, wrong. <well, to clarify, its not something which i agree with>

You may not like, or even appreciate the subject, but something has to be said for the skill of the artists who made them.

sidewinder

I went to Rome last year and at the time I was well on my way to being an atheist. However, I was still in awe of the Vatican and St. Peter's. They are magnificient and beautiful structures. In fact, I toured other cities in Europe and I was equally in awe of most of the Churches. I didn't think about the fact that these things were built based on a false belief system. It doesn't matter to me. It's history. It's a reflection of a time when mankind saw the world differently than we did. I still find Churches to be a kind of sanctuary where you can go to just spend some quiet time and reflect. I don't feel the need to be a beliver but yet I do experience religious/spiritual feelings which are powerful and which I can harness to make healthy changes in my life.

livius drusus

I grew up in Rome and even though my parents were rather vague nebulo-Protestants, we went to St. Peter's virtually every Sunday at noon to hear the Pope blessing the city, the breathtaking bells ring and to have a great meal. I didn't embrace my atheism until years after we moved away, but I think about the monuments the same way now as I did then.

To me, they are a testament to the thousands of people who took huge risks to build something they would probably never see completed. St. Peter's or the Duomo of Florence or Notre Dame are the legacy of people who had a completely different notion of time than we do. In a way, it's as close to geology as we humans get.

sighhswolf

Yea, I know what you mean about the feelings, I get kinda of sick feeling when surrounded with all the trappings of religion, kinda like when you are coming down with the flu........
Wolf

britinusa

I know what you mean. Until recently, the Catholic church owned more real estate than any other organization on earth. Curiously, McDonalds has now taken over the number one spot.
I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not

[ February 19, 2002: Message edited by: britinusa ]</p>

sullster

I like to look at cathedrals, churches and other such buildings as monuments to a dead religion. I have been in many cathedrals in Europe and every time I go in one, I feel I am in a giant tomb. Most cathedrals are treated like museums by tourists who snap pictures and gawk at the statues and all.

It is amazing that all the artistic and architectual genius of Europe was directed to build these beautiful but strange buildings in order to promulgate a religion based on an obscure messiah cult. Amazing, but true.

The religion is dead but the buildings stand like giant tomb-stones. Maybe someday, people will find some use for them.

Pangea

Strong belief, in anything, God, Allah, green jello, cancer can be more powerful than love or fear or any other emotion. I love art and architecture. The Xtians produced some of the best, IMO. Especially the houses of worship. I kinda think those people, while they were saying yes its all for the glory of god, were really building, creating, planning for their fellow man. Wouldn't it be more like 'let's build the biggest, most beautiful church in the world so all the other people will see what our god helped us create? Sorry, I ramble again.