It's only relevant because stupid assholes keep insisting on making an issue of
it, which effects everyone else.
It is irrelevant to me with the exception of legal issues such as abortion etc. Otherwise the belief or lack of belief in god is of no real interest to me.
That's the difficulty. The religious fools keep trying to impose their views on the rights of others, such as a woman's right to choose
As an atheist since age 13, it's irrelevant to me. But I am a minority.
Look at ISIS. The Catholic Church. Extremist Christians who bomb abortion clinics and kill doctors.
Religious extremists are a terrorist threat.
Certainly they are. The extremists are not entirely motivated by religion. Politics, economics, social injustice, oppression are involved. But religious B.S adds fuel to the fire
It depends who you are. For me it is but for others it is very important
Different strokes for different folks
Even though I'm an atheist, it is relevant as it negatively impacts society and is used to justify heinous acts and policies.
I am an Ignostic
I was raised a believer
AS a believer I thought understanding God of the utmost import.
SO I studied that.
Which is why I am today an Igtheist/Ignostic
Ignosticism is an Epistomologic position; it is a set of ideas refuting the importance of determining the existence of God. It claims that knowledge regarding the reality of God is altogether unprofitable.
It is the idea that every theological position assumes too much about the concept of God and other theological concepts; including (but not limited to) concepts of faith, spirituality, heaven, hell, afterlife, damnation, salvation, sin and the soul.
IF you cannot even define what you are talking about, or consider it beyond human understanding, how is it you can claim to know anything about it and keep your intellectual integrity intact?
Ignosticism or igtheism is the idea that the question of the existence of God is meaningless because the term god has no coherent and unambiguous definition.
so YES, its pointless in and of itself.
Helping to liberate our fellow humans from the mental prison they have been cast into, or willingly walked into (unwittingly), is to me, an ethical obligation.
So I am more or less discussing a pointless topic, to hopefully illustrate that it is indeed pointless.
I agree. The concept of god is without clear definition. It is everything to the old jealous tribal chieftain in the sky to the Spinozan-Einstinian total & harmony of the rules of nature. If we have the rules of nature, who needs god.
If you cannot define something, it is senseless to discuss whether it exists or doesn't exist
But I am not a solipsist arguing my consciousness is the only thing that exists. That leads to the proposition I created the universe. Something exists, but we don't know what it is, so I am an agnostic. The scientific method is to keep an open mind about things you do not understand
@Remiforce I find nothing to disagree with
God is what you want it to be... you are your own god! You create your life and make decisions everyday. If you have to have faith... have faith in yourself
If more people took responsibility for their own lives, we'd have a better world
The god police are the most dangerous on the planet: christian, islamist, buddist, hinduist, communist, socialist, fascist,...
They ALL serve for the grace of their most immediate "leader." Their most immediate danger. A most human instinct, to avoid pain. Yet, we are all suffering from some sort of oppression, and /or restraint.
It is clear from the last 300+ years we are better, each and every of us, to be able to speak freely without violence.
And now we have the "progressives" demanding they are our moral authoritarians. And we have no other choice.
Again we are here ::::: “Progressive inquisition,” anyone?
You're everywhere with this "progressives are the new god police" bllsht, aren't you?
Some progressives may have their authoritarian tendences, such as Warren with her Stalinist dictat to end all private health insurance, but I don't think they are more authoritarian than the Rethuglican fascists
It's very relevant today since 72% of DT supporters are evangelical. Guess this is a case of 'stupid is as stupid does'.
How can that be? Evangelicals make up only a quarter of the population. 81% of evangelicals voted for Trump. Assuming a quarter of voters were evangelicals, then about 20% of all voters were evangelical Trump supporters. But Trump got nearly half the popular vote. Clearly Trump was elected with broad national support and it’s time to stop talking about so-called evangelicals.
@WilliamFleming Your analysis clearly shows one doesn't have to be evangelical to be stupid. We have many stupid, racist non-evangelicals
I like Einstein's view
‘I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.
and Stephen Gould's [en.wikipedia.org]
It's irrelevant if you live under a rock. Religion in some shape or form affects us every day regardless of our non-belief. That we should have to deal with it is just another of life's burdens that accumulate living in a society of human endeavors, like driving behind people that stop at every roundabout or those that love the Christmas "spirit" (fuck them, they don't have to unload 3 trailers of eggnog every day for 3 months).
Hey man, at least you have a job
@Remiforce well, I'm retired now. But Xmas was always a nightmare.
If God is all knowing as some claim, and you are only pretending to be good to impress God, then wouldn't an all knowing God, see through your lies and know you're faking it anyway? Be good for goodness sake.
Be good because you want to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of people you can. If more people acted that way, we'd have a much nicer & fairer world.
People believe they must be "good" to please god, but of everything we know of him, her,it, god is a real pisser, totally immoral & some would even say evil. If it is considered true we are made in god's image, we should all be real sons of bitches.
Goodness is for humanity--not god
It’s clearly not irrelevant to the millions...nay, billions who believe in him/her/it! To we few reasoned and reasoning beings ...yes completely irrelevant.
Aren't we lucky to be free from such illusions.We can live our lives based on reality & not myth