After five yrs of personal research and ponderin through my observations i came 2 d conclusion that all religions are purely 4 deception, i am nt an advocate of religion because it has brought DIVISION, ENEMITY and WAR to humanity, hv u thought abt hw many children that died in Gaza while we were wit our respective families enjoyin christmas, nw tak ur imagination so wide 2 visualize a world without religion, If ther is only 1 GOD and only 1 SUN gives light 2 d whole world, why would there be many religions?  whic 1 is sayin d TRUTH? probably all of them are liars. I understood dis will reach 2 d anals of people's believes and faith, bt remember, we were just told stories and we believed without comprehending, shouldn't we comprehend d comprehensions? why did GOD gave us d ability 2 reason among all other animals? <===NONE BUT OUR SELVES CAN FREE OUR MINDS===>BOB MARLEY

A world without religion. . . . . .that would be paradise. . . .

Welcome to freedom of self.Does feel good to be rid of the shackles of faith,does it not?

alphamode:

After five yrs of personal research and ponderin through my observations i came 2 d conclusion that all religions are purely 4 deception, i am nt an advocate of religion because it has brought DIVISION, ENEMITY and WAR to humanity, hv u thought abt hw many children that died in Gaza while we were wit our respective families enjoyin christmas, nw tak ur imagination so wide 2 visualize a world without religion, If ther is only 1 GOD and only 1 SUN gives light 2 d whole world, why would there be many religions?  whic 1 is sayin d TRUTH? probably all of them are liars. I understood dis will reach 2 d anals of people's believes and faith, bt remember, we were just told stories and we believed without comprehending, shouldn't we comprehend d comprehensions? why did GOD gave us d ability 2 reason among all other animals? <===NONE BUT OUR SELVES CAN FREE OUR MINDS===>BOB MARLEY

alphamode:

After five yrs of personal research and ponderin through my observations i came 2 d conclusion that all religions are purely 4 deception,

Lol, that is a sad loss to atheists - for you probably forgot that there are atheist religions as well: are they also purely for deception too?

Can you point the names of their god and their scriptural texts my way?I'd like to know.Christians have the bible,the moslems the koran,what do atheists have?
The only similarity atheists share with theists is the "group mentality" based around rigid ideologies of some sort.And members of both groups simply identify with these ideologies,deriving their identities from them.I am a christian,i am a moslem,i am an atheist.And they will defend these group identities to the death.

pilgrim.1:

Lol, that is a sad lose to atheists - for you probably forgot that there are atheist religions as well: are they also purely for deception too?

jagunlabi:

Can you point the names of their god and their scriptural texts my way?I'd like to know.Christians have the bible,the moslems the koran,what do atheists have?
The only similarity atheists share with theists is the "group mentality" based around rigid ideologies of some sort.And members of both groups simply identify with these ideologies,deriving their identities from them.I am a christian,i am a moslem,i am an atheist.And they will defend these group identities to the death.

You obviously have no clue and need to be informed. Atheists authors have themselves recognized these atheist religions, so just what are you talking about? Just first find out what those atheist religions are, or discredit the atheist authors who affirm those religions as such, before asking for the 'gods' of those atheistic religions. This excuse of 'group mentality' does not hide the fact that there are atheist religions identified by atheist authors as such.

Okay,i admit my ignorance,pilgrim.So point me to a name of such an author,will you please.A name of an atheist religion from you will also be in order.

pilgrim.1:

You obviously have no clue and need to be informed. Atheists authors have themselves recognized these atheist religions, so just what are you talking about? Just first find out what those atheist religions are, or discredit the atheist authors who affirm those religions as such, before asking for the 'gods' of those atheistic religions. This excuse of 'group mentality' does not hide the fact that there are atheist religions identified by atheist authors as such.

I have seen pilgrim.1 write a lot about atheist religions even though she has never mentioned any one of them.

While it is true that there are atheistic relgions (such as Taoism, Zen, some forms of Budhisms), these atheistic religions tend to be far less harmful to society as a whole. The real cultural battle is between irrationalism, of which ALL religions ar a part, and rationalism. Philosophical atheism is founded on rationalism and abhors all forms of irrationalisms and superstition which is the bread and butter of theistic religions.

huxley2:

While it is true that there are atheistic relgions (such as Taoism, Zen, some forms of Budhisms), these atheistic religions tend to be far less harmful to society as a whole. The real cultural battle is between irrationalism, of which ALL religions ar a part, and rationalism. Philosophical atheism is founded on rationalism and abhors all forms of irrationalisms and superstition which is the bread and butter of theistic religions.

Nice to know that these religions are atheistic. I will agree with the poster that they are all purely for deception including the atheistic religions.

jagunlabi:

Okay,i admit my ignorance,pilgrim.So point me to a name of such an author,will you please.A name of an atheist religion from you will also be in order.

@jagunlabi,
Okay, I apologise - didn't mean my reply to come quite in the manner you took it. My answers to your query:

    'point me to a name of such an author':   Michael Martin.

    'A name of an atheist religion':  (huxley2 has named a few)

I hope that helps? Cheers.

---

bindex:

I have seen pilgrim.1 write a lot about atheist religions even though she has never mentioned any one of them.

Huxley2 has seen me name quite a few and has again mentioned them in his reply. Regards.

---

huxley2:

While it is true that there are atheistic relgions (such as Taoism, Zen, some forms of Budhisms), these atheistic religions tend to be far less harmful to society as a whole. The real cultural battle is between irrationalism, of which ALL religions ar a part, and rationalism. Philosophical atheism is founded on rationalism and abhors all forms of irrationalisms and superstition which is the bread and butter of theistic religions.

Are we to then infer that "philosophical atheism" is also a "religion"? I pointed out and limited my comments to "religions" and mentioned "atheist religions", so I wonder what the issue really is here about 'philosophical atheism'.

bindex:

Nice to know that these religions are atheistic. I will agree with the poster that they are all purely for deception including the atheistic religions.

Can you tell me what is so deceptive about Taoism (for instance)?

I fear for our Africans people because they never get in-depth knowledge of the religions that they get involved in, making it very easy to mislead them with fanaticism. By that I mean, the Muslims in Africa, that is, Africans converts, 99% do not and cannot read, write, and speak classical Arabic (Fusha) of the Qur’aan, so they are always depending on some foreign source to interpret and explain their religion to them. And religion is a very sensitive issue because it deals with your soul and whether or not you will enter paradise or hell, according to them. The same applies to Christianity, Christian ministers know their congregations do not study the Greek or Hebrew of which they say their scriptures were revealed in. They depend only on a Scottish man called King James who did not speak Hebrew. Again playing with the very souls of my people.

pilgrim.1:

Are we to then infer that "philosophical atheism" is also a "religion"? I pointed out and limited my comments to "religions" and mentioned "atheist religions", so I wonder what the issue really is here about 'philosophical atheism'.

What do you think?   Do you think it has the essential characters of religions?


I say philosophical atheism to distinguish from other forms of atheism like natural atheism, simple-minded atheism and "religious" atheism.


I for example would describe myself as a philosophical atheist (or better still a metaphical naturalist), my one year old daughter as a natural atheist, and the run-of-the-mill citizen who holds that there is no god but has not really given that much thought as a simple-minded atheist (or maybe, natural atheist).

huxley2:

What do you think? Do you think it has the essential characters of religions?


I say philosophical atheism to distinguish from other forms of atheism like natural atheism, simple-minded atheism and "religious" atheism.


I for example would describe myself as a philosophical atheist (or better still a metaphical naturalist), my one year old daughter as a natural atheist, and the run-of-the-mill citizen who holds that there is no god but has not really given that much thought as a simple-minded atheist (or maybe, natural atheist).

Same point, really: I didn't make 'philosophical atheism' into an 'atheistic religion', which was why I wondered about your interpolation of the former. However, I'm quite aware that there are different shades of atheism; which again would be clear that I didn't group all atheism as 'religion'.

alphamode:

After five yrs of personal research and ponderin through my observations i came 2 d conclusion that all religions are purely 4 deception, i am nt an advocate of religion because it has brought DIVISION, ENEMITY and WAR to humanity, hv u thought abt hw many children that died in Gaza while we were wit our respective families enjoyin christmas, nw tak ur imagination so wide 2 visualize a world without religion, If ther is only 1 GOD and only 1 SUN gives light 2 d whole world, why would there be many religions?  whic 1 is sayin d TRUTH? probably all of them are liars. I understood dis will reach 2 d anals of people's believes and faith, bt remember, we were just told stories and we believed without comprehending, shouldn't we comprehend d comprehensions? why did GOD gave us d ability 2 reason among all other animals? <===NONE BUT OUR SELVES CAN FREE OUR MINDS===>BOB MARLEY

men created all the gods in their own image and all religions were created out of the fear of the many and the cleverness of a few . . . . . . if we later discover that intelligent life exist somewhere else in our universe, did jesus die for those peoples sins too? did allah send mohammed as his last messenger to them too? i hope that life will be discovered elsewhere in our universe during my lifetime. . . . , If it happens, i predict it will shatter religious that are taught all over the world. there also is a very good chance that if life is found somewhere else, the major governments will try to cover it up for that very reason. religious people may go totally nuts and begin to kill and destroy things all over the place.

God Religion and belief systems were necessary back in the days when mankind couldn't explain caused a vulcano to errupt or what caused a tornado or rain etc, but nowadays that the whole world is like a global village you could be living next door to someone with different faiths or beliefs to your own which can cause conflict. And with the technology we have now to explain vulcanos rain etc religion and god is no longer necessary.

huxley2:

What do you think?   Do you think it has the essential characters of religions?

What would you say were the essential characteristics of religions?

mazaje:

men created all the gods in their own image and all religions were created out of the fear of the many and the cleverness of a few . . . . . . if we later discover that intelligent life exist somewhere else in our universe, did jesus die for those peoples sins too? did allah send mohammed as his last messenger to them too? i hope that life will be discovered elsewhere in our universe during my lifetime. . . . ,  If it happens, i predict it will shatter religious that are taught all over the world. there also is a very good chance that if life is found somewhere else, the major governments will try to cover it up for that very reason. religious people may go totally nuts and begin to kill and destroy things all over the place.

Until science has been able to explain everything to us, I believe that there is still the need for science and God to co-exist. If science later explains everything then of course people will have the chance to examine and reconsider, The supernatural claim is still a very valid and legitimate claim I believe. If intelligent life is later discovered in some part of our universe then that will be it all religions will die a natural death.

dalaman:

The supernatural claim is still a very valid and legitimate claim I believe. If intelligent life is later discovered in some part of our universe then that will be it all religions will die a natural death.

What do you mean by intelligent life, and why would their discovery be the end of all religions?

Couldn't agree more with u. Karl Max captured the issue aptly - "Religion is the opium of the people"

alphamode:

After five yrs of personal research and ponderin through my observations i came 2 d conclusion that all religions are purely 4 deception, i am nt an advocate of religion because it has brought DIVISION, ENEMITY and WAR to humanity, hv u thought abt hw many children that died in Gaza while we were wit our respective families enjoyin christmas, nw tak ur imagination so wide 2 visualize a world without religion, If ther is only 1 GOD and only 1 SUN gives light 2 d whole world, why would there be many religions?  whic 1 is sayin d TRUTH? probably all of them are liars. I understood dis will reach 2 d anals of people's believes and faith, bt remember, we were just told stories and we believed without comprehending, shouldn't we comprehend d comprehensions? why did GOD gave us d ability 2 reason among all other animals? <===NONE BUT OUR SELVES CAN FREE OUR MINDS===>BOB MARLEY

Pastor AIO:

What would you say were the essential characteristics of religions?

All or some of the following;

1)  They posit a god/deity or some divine entity

2)  They possess various forms of ritualisms

3)  Veneration of god/deity and the representatives of the god/deity.

4)  They are built around some sort of explanatory (usually mythological)  narratives.

5)  Some practitioners of said religions claim supernatural powers

etc, etc, etc

Those are the five most important that come to mind.

What do you think?

Tùdor:

A world without religion. . . . . .that would be paradise. . . .

Why? Does religion negatively affect you as a person? How?

jagunlabi:

Welcome to freedom of self.Does feel good to be rid of the shackles of faith,does it not?

I'm intrigued to know why faith is regarded as "shackles". What does it prevent you from doing?

The main issue i have with religions is the way they propagate the concept of a 'god' /supernatural being who most times comits several atrocities,gives barbaric instructions/commandments and demands complete submission and obedience giving no space for your reasoning. The gods always seem to be afraid when people try to think for themselves.
If indeed there are atheistic religions, could ya tell me what 'god' /supernatural being they promote?

Tùdor:

If indeed there are atheistic religions, could ya tell me what 'god' /supernatural being they promote?

Why don't you read up on the examples already identified as atheistic religions? What's with the "if indeed there are. . "?? Should we now assume that the atheist authors who identified and named those religions as such were gravely mistaken? If so, how so?

Tùdor:

The main issue i have with religions [/b]is the way they propagate the concept of a 'god' /supernatural being who most times comits several atrocities,gives barbaric instructions/commandments and [b]demands complete submission and obedience giving no space for your reasoning.

I think that ultimately, this is the MOST SERIOUS problem you all have with faith. You all want to go to heaven without the spiritual responsibility that comes with it. You would be ok with a religion that allows you to live your life exactly as you want it.

Drop the nonsense about "reasoning" . . . your capacity to reason is no different and infact is most times no better than the fellow who sits in a church pew 7 days a week. What you really mean is that you want YOUR OWN WILL, YOUR OWN WAY . . .

Tùdor:

The gods always seem to be afraid when people try to think for themselves.

I think you're the one afraid of a God who doesnt allow you do as you please. Exactly what do you mean by "thinking for yourself"?

@davidylan
religion has deeply scarred human history and still poses a threat to our collective safety today. . .wars are fought,innocent people are killed.look at what happened in jos sometime ago. Even in the u.s stem cell research that could save millions from diseases like M.S was vetoed due to religious reasons.
By ''shackles'' i think jagunlabi is quite right. You are not allowed to reason and question your god. Absolute faith is preached even when a little common sense is just enough.
Could you name the 'gods' worshiped by the atheistic religions? Mind you,i don't believe in heaven so i couldn't care less if i go there or not.
My only request is that you practice your faith and stop rubbing it in the face of others.

Tùdor:

@davidylan
religion has deeply scarred human history and still poses a threat to our collective safety today. . .wars are fought,innocent people are killed.look at what happened in jos sometime ago.

And this is supposedly your laughable excuse against religion?

1. Religion deeply scarred human history but that has been over 500 yrs ago. Atheism from the likes of Lenin and Hitler has scarred history more . . . are you afraid of atheists too?

2. What happened in Jos is strictly islamic and for the most part cultural. Southern muslims for instance dont go beheading their christian neighbours. If you feel bad about islam pls head over to their thread instead of decietfully tarring us all with the same brush.

Tùdor:

Even in the u.s stem cell research that could save millions from diseases like M.S was vetoed due to religious reasons.

And Obama promptly reversed the order in January . . . no christians are complaining.

Next excuse pls.

Tùdor:

By ''shackles'' i think jagunlabi is quite right. You are not allowed to reason and question your god. Absolute faith is preached even when a little common sense is just enough.

This is essentially meaningless and ignorant jargon. The bible is replete with men who ACTIVELY QUESTIONED their faith -

1. Gideon
2. Moses
3. Peter

Just 3 examples shld suffice for now. As i said earlier . . . your problem is not that you are not allowed to "reason" and "question God" . . . your major problem is that you do not want to surrender your will and obedience. I repeat again . . . this constant drivel about "reason" is a sham, so you mean the rest of us in churches are just blank slates with no capacity to reason?

No, your problem is you dont want any moral responsibility, you dont want to leave the life of sin, you are not willing to pay the sacrifice for eternity.

Tùdor:

My only request is that you practice your faith and stop rubbing it in the face of others.

How is this done? I'd be interested in knowing.

It prevents me from evolving spiritually and intellectually.It tries to lock me up in a small box of dogmatic faith and create that sense of separateness with my fellow human.A christian box,an islamic faith box,boxes of limited awareness.A box that dehumanizes a fellow human being because that person is not within this little box in which i find myself.Getting free of this box is being free of shackles.
I don't think that you will ever be able to understand what i am saying becasue you are very religiously minded,meaning that you are very well buried in the group mentality that drives all the three abrahamic faiths.You thrive in the dramas that the spirit of separateness creates.You revel in it even.But i don't want to be part of that.
Being free of that is quite rewarding.

davidylan:

I'm intrigued to know why faith is regarded as "shackles". What does it prevent you from doing?

jagunlabi:

It prevents me from evolving spiritually and intellectually.

this must go down as one of the worst excuses of the yr.
- How does religion prevent you from "evolving" spiritually? Evolving from what to what? Do you even have a clue what spirituality is or you're simply misusing the word like many godless pple have recently started doing? You know nonsense like "spiritual but not religious"?

- How has it prevented you from evolving intellectually? I read my bible daily . . . and i still find plenty of time to read journals and brainstorm over my thesis . . . so hello?

jagunlabi:

It tries to lock me in a small box of dogmatic faith and create that sense of separateness with my fellow human.

i.e. it asks of you to make sacrifices, submit your will and be obedient to simple principles that are incompatible with a life of rebellion and sin.

jagunlabi:

A christian box,an islamic faith box,boxes of limited awareness.

Awareness of what?

jagunlabi:

I don't think that you will ever be able to understand what i am saying becasue you are very religiously minded,meaning that you are very well buried in the group mentality that drives all the three abrahamic faiths,but that is ok.

Its getting increasingly obvious that you people seriously have no excuses at all.

@davidylan
The jos crisis was 'islamic' - is islam not a religion? Were the xtians also not maiming and killing the muslims?
When hitler wanted to massacre the jews,didn,t he use the writings of martin luther the so called pentecostal reformer as an excuse?
The hypocrisy ridden in what is supposedly pure is shocking.that's where reasoning comes in. A god commands people to kill, rape,steal and loot. A god who confesses to jelousy and unforgiveness,a murderous god who commands animals to kill 42 children for just being kids- reason applied here,shows you the lies and hypocrisy.
Why would i wanna surrender my will to such a barbaric entity.
From your bible it shows believers don't have a choice,jonah questioned and was apparently imprisoned in a fish.