Religion is about control
My Dad was the youngest of 6 kids, raised by a woman who was very Catholic. Her husband (Dad's dad, my grandfather)beat her, cheated on her, was a horrible drunk and sexually abused at least one of his daughters (only one ever said anything). Nasty man.
As the youngest my Dad was slated to go into the priesthood. Clearly that did not work out. By the time we (my sisters and I) came along Dad was atheist, I soon followed in his steps and while he suggested I read the Bible (he said it has some good stories) I tried but H.G. Wells, Conan Doyle and Ray Bradbury were better reading. He collected old Bibles and studied the different versions as society changed and tweeks were made to reflect those changes.
Not only did he know the Bible he knew the whole show was a scam. I think rejecting the Catholic Church made him a better father and a better kinder man who understood human nature.
Ironically, most catholics have less knowledge of biblical stories, tales, than the evangelicals and other protestants.
WOW! It's nice to hear one of them admit it.
Of course religion is about control. Nearly everything within human societies is about power and control: Politics, the economy, culture, religion.....
This strange idea of government of /by / for the people is a recent development. And even in democratic societies, most relationships are more or less about power and control.
So you're saying that god exists but remains uncaptured by human systems?
@rainmanjr No, I'm saying exactly what the headline says -- hell is a human construct designed for control.
He's almost, almost here with us. But then so are a lot of priests, who are known to have a low level of belief compared to the people sat in the pews, but who mainly chose to be dishonest.
A mans got to make a living.
@jlynn37 The difference between them, is that a politician sells lies that he will attempt to defend, and that he expects to be questioned. The priest has given up on the task of validation, and only want the lazy lies, that he can claim it is mistaken to question. A priest is as dishonest as a politician, but a coward as well.
Ohhhhh....he's in BIG TROUBLE now!
He's going straight to...ummm... Cincinnati since there's no hell! And to make it worse, he's going by Greyhound! I'll pay for the ticket since the guy admits the truth.
I suspect he may need protection. There are ex-clergy organisations which can help
Religion is one of the earliest forms of carrot and stick training. I don't wonder why it is called the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, there is certainly no democracy in it. However, even given the gradual demise of organized religion, I would like to think that something will not take its place but I am not so sure. Science and scientism are not the same but I am inclined to think that the latter may replace religion.
But I was taught as a child that the equivalent of a used horse salesman from the Midwest found stacks of gold only he could read. They mentioned three levels of heaven. How could that be wrong?
Why do you assume the “gradual demise of organized religion” when religious affiliation is growing as a percentage of world population?
@ASTRALMAX
What I was looking for was a reputable survey that contradicted the Pew surveys which show religion to be growing worldwide. No one was able to produce any contradictory evidence. The Pew surveys are here:
@ASTRALMAX
Regarding the article about the UK…
We all tend to assume that what’s happening in our part of the world is representative of what’s happening in the entire world, or will be happening as soon as the rest of the world catches up to where we advanced nations are, but that isn’t born out by the data. Check out the Pew data regarding “world” trends and/or see if you can find a world survey that contradicts it. I haven’t been able to find one.
@skado “In Germany alone, for example, there were an estimated 1.4 million more Christian deaths than births between 2010 and 2015, a pattern that is expected to continue across much of Europe in the decades ahead”.
I wonder as to the cause of more Christian deaths in the above quotation. Are Christians simply having fewer children?
@skado "Similarly, the religiously unaffiliated population is projected to shrink as a percentage of the global population, even though it will increase in absolute number. In 2010, censuses and surveys indicate, there were about 1.1 billion atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion.5 By 2050, the unaffiliated population is expected to exceed 1.2 billion. "
Of course, all of those figures are projections based on current patterns. I think that statistics while useful, assume an unchanging universe of discourse.
@ASTRALMAX
I don’t see any indication that the Pew organization is assuming anything. They are, as you say, judging by current trends and projecting that into a very limited piece of the foreseeable future. They don’t claim it will go on forever.
Still, the statistics of what is currently happening worldwide is diametrically opposite of what atheists continue to claim.