PastorAIO:



But isn't all this the basis of Evangelical religions such as Christianity. They all seeth of elitism. Let them come and knock their heads together and from the result we will know who God really favours.

JSoE:
You have made a lot of sense but its not that easy to convince people to see the truth. I'm even finding it difficult to make my sister who is more like my best friend see reasons with me.I can't even tell my mum cos she'll go 'ka-booom!!!' on hearing that I'm now an agnostic. Although I have succeeded in freeing one of my friends from the scourge of religion(a male of course,the females I've tried to convince see me as one crazy bitch),I still wonder how I'll free more people when the extent of their gullibility is unnerving.I won't even bring up the case of northern Nigeria cos that one is a no-go area.
Note:I come from a Christian family from the calmest place in South Eastern Nigeria but I'm sure they'll lose their cool once I start trying to relieve them of their indoctrination.

DangotePikin:
For me disclosing your belief in athesiem doesn't make good business sense. Some religious fanatics can choose to leave Nairaland because of it.

hopefulLandlord:


and they usually come back

we've seen them make threads about their leaving Nairaland because of atheists only for them to make u turns later

DangotePikin:
For me disclosing your belief in atheism doesn't make good business sense. Some religious fanatics can choose to leave Nairaland because of it.

JackBizzle:

I know such a person who abused me for years on nairaland because I was a dirty unbeliever against his religion. Recently, the guy is back and he is now a much calmer agnostic.

theoneJabulani:
Indeed we should BT is this Nigerian society ready to accept the truth?

LiberaDeus:
Seun I like the concept of being outspoken but I don't believe that we can save a reasonable percentage of adults.

Many Nigerians are too far gone in their beliefs. The problem with them is not indoctrination but mental laziness. No matter how indoctrinated you are in your beliefs , a dedicated month of research can open your mind up. But as the saying goes " if you want to hide something from a black man, put it in a book".

Our fellow Nigerians are too lazy to read. They only want to use social media, they hardly read long essays or articles, they only want to groove and take selfies. The average Nigerian in this generation does not have the energy to even think deeply and critically. There are few exceptions, our outspokenness can only help those few that are interested in knowing but have never been offered a rope or lifeline of knowledge.

Atheists being outspoken will help the next generation. Thats the most important thing. If the next generation4 can grow up in an environment where religious criticism is active then there is hope. The good thing is that the kids below 10 years are read it stuff we never did during our childhood. Most of them are using smart devices and can use Google well. Many of them are growing up in a liberal society where parents are giving kids freedom of speech not like ours that raised us in a military way.

All I can say is lets keep the fire burning and never let religion have a free pass in our lives.

styless:
Seun osewa atheist too.
Daniel nkado atheist
I don't understand at all

JESUSBOIY:
Seun, if you don't like Religion that much why create this section in the first place...

Why not bring it down already and stop creating threads ...

styless:
Seun osewa atheist too.
Daniel nkado atheist
I don't understand at all

ScienceWatch:
Have you ever wondered why many people have a hard time honouring Jesus?
Here Jesus explains this problem very clearly.
Joh 6:65 And Jesus said, I have said to you, that no one can come to me and believe what I am doing, except, if the true God sends them to me.

Today, we are blessed to have the evidence of Jesus’ WORKS Biblically and scientifically verified in the Holy Scoan Church Nigeria and on Emmanuel TV.


6) Here we see Jesus give to the Jews the reason why they can’t believe the evidence of the WORKS and love Him.

Joh 7:14 Now about the middle of the Jewish religious festival, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
Joh 7:15 And the Jews were amazed, saying, How knows this man this, having never learned?
Joh 7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but the true God that sent me.
Joh 8:29 And He that sent me is with me: God has not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him. (Restoring the suffering people.)
Joh 8:38 I speak and do that which I have seen with my Father the true God: and you do that which you have seen with your father Satan.
Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If the true God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent me.
Joh 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and live not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies.
Consider what Jesus said to the Jews earlier, Joh 6:65 And Jesus said, I have said to you, that no one can come to me and believe what I am doing, except, if the true God sends them to me.

Geofavor:
You've just said what has been on my mind for some time now.

A lot of people keep their cool because of their because of their religious beliefs. Take that away, and this world won't contain us anymore.

Everyone would define what is good and bad in his or her own way.

For example, Since there is no god( hence no eternal punishment), some people might think it okay to kill people for fun.

Just imagine a world where no one believes in any god; anything will go in that kinda world. Religion actually keeps the world in check.

The world operates based on the rules of religion. Although some of their rules are absurd, every religion preaches peace in one way or the other. And most people easily adhere to it because they believe it was set by one supreme being or the other. Now, If -- in a world where no one beliefs in a supreme being -- we humans decide to make a peace rule, it will not hold. No one would step down for anyone, No one would want to serve anyone and so on.

Religion is one of the factors that keep this world balanced. Take it out, and humanity is doomed!

Let's just leave people to believe what they want and try to be good people.

Seun:
Religious People Are Suffering & They Need Our Help

People often ask outspoken atheists why they like to argue with religious people. "If you don't believe in God", they ask, "why do you spend so much time attacking people's religious beliefs?" They often respond by saying, "religious people keep trying to impose their religious beliefs on us through evangelism and politics, so we have to defend ourselves." Atheists who don't feel threatened usually choose to remain silent. I used to be a pretty quiet atheist myself, until I noticed something about religious people that I hadn't noticed before. Religious people are suffering!

Religion is not a harmless delusion. It's not a benign folly that merely wastes people's time. It's a malignant malady that systematically robs the majority of humanity of their freedom, pleasure, joy, comfort, knowledge, intelligence, health, money, lives, and much more. It would be selfish of us as atheists who are free from religion not to make every effort to free people from religion so that they can have much better lives.

Many religious people are not allowed to have blood transfusions. This means thousands of religious men, women and children have died from treatable medical conditions, such as pregnancies with any kind of complications, non-fatal car accidents, treatable gunshot wounds, etc. simply because they are not allowed to accept blood transfusions. So many children have become orphans needlessly; so many men and women became widows and widowers; so many fathers and mothers lost their children. All because of a religious rule that make no sense at all.

Many religious people are forbidden by their religions from enjoying most of the good things in life. Things like secular or instrumental music, fine art, poetry, sculpture, owning dogs, wearing make-up, friendship with the opposite sex, eating ram meat, eating sausages, pleasuring yourself or the opposite sex, watching fantasy movies or reading fantasy novels like harry potter, making friends outside the religion, dancing, tattoos, playing ludo because it relies on luck, barbie dolls, sexy clothes etc. Can you imagine what your life would be like if you had to forgo most of these wonderful things? Horribly boring. You'd probably kill yourself. I guess that's why many religious people are suicidal and violent.

Most religious people believe in the afterlife. As a result, instead of focusing on the current life and making it as enjoyable as possible for themselves, their friends, and family members, they often endure miserable lives in the hope that they'll be rewarded after they die. An extreme case of this is the case of suicide bombers and religious fighters who embrace violent deaths for the sake of an imaginary paradise.

Many religious people are pressured to give a sizable proportion of their income to the religious establishments they worship with. Poor people are taught that the best way to get rich is not to save their money and invest in education and entrepreneurship, but to "sow" it by giving it to their rich religious leaders who will use it to live flamboyantly, and build religious monuments to attract more cash cows. When this stupid idea of "sowing"doesn't make the poor people rich, they are told that it's because they don't have faith, have sin in their lives, etc.

Many religious people are made to believe that the secret to good health and healing is prayer, having been brainwashed by dishonest sermons and misleading testimonies. When they have health problems, instead of going to good hospitals, they embark on prayer and fasting. When their friends slump due to heart attacks or strokes or seizures, they start praying on them instead of rushing them to good hospitals where they can get competent medical help. People have died of curable diseases like malaria because they didn't accept treatment until it was too late.

Many religious people are tolerant and liberal by nature, but due to certain verses in their holy scriptures, they feel that they must be intolerant of various groups of people that God supposedly doesn't like, such as lesbians and transexuals. They are against abortion, which they think is murder, but also against sex education, which reduces abortion rates dramatically, because they think it may encourage premarital safe sex. As a result their daughters end up getting pregnant outside wedlock, having illegal abortions, and dying despite their opposition to abortion.

Many religious people are women, and it sucks to be them because the scriptures of the major religions are clearly sexist. One scripture claims that women must be quiet and submit to men because man were created first and woman came from man, which is rather suspicious because in real life it's women who give birth to men. Another scripture proudly asserts that woman are deficient in intelligence and piety. There are almost no female prophets, apostles or disciples. The few famous women in major scriptures are famous not for personal exploits but for giving birth to important men, marrying them, or leading them astray (Eve, Jezebel). Religious women can't live up to their full potential.

And don't even get me started on the horrible treatment of "demon-possessed" people (the mentally ill) and "child witches".

Clearly, religious people are suffering. Our parents, siblings, and children. Our friends, crushes, and admirers. Our colleague, bosses, and employees. To save them, we who are atheists must come out of our closets and start speaking out; challenging them and educating them.

Geofavor:
You've just said what has been on my mind for some time now.

A lot of people keep their cool because of their because of their religious beliefs. Take that away, and this world won't contain us anymore.

Everyone would define what is good and bad in his or her own way.

For example, Since there is no god( hence no eternal punishment), some people might think it okay to kill people for fun.

Just imagine a world where no one believes in any god; anything will go in that kinda world. Religion actually keeps the world in check.

The world operates based on the rules of religion. Although some of their rules are absurd, every religion preaches peace in one way or the other. And most people easily adhere to it because they believe it was set by one supreme being or the other. Now, If -- in a world where no one beliefs in a supreme being -- we humans decide to make a peace rule, it will not hold. No one would step down for anyone, No one would want to serve anyone and so on.

Religion is one of the factors that keep this world balanced. Take it out, and humanity is doomed!

Let's just leave people to believe what they want and try to be good people.

ScienceWatch:
Atheism is a mental illness….
The insane men who founded atheism also have the greatest influence on Psychology and Psychiatry, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Henry Huxley and Nietzsche all shared certain common experiences and a definite psychological pattern is evident. Their early childhoods were marked by some form of spiritual training. They were men whose dominating, overbearing and even abusive fathers led them to rebellion and renunciations of God.

[b]They endured cold, ruthless parents, grew up in an environment of bullying [/b]and abuse often done in the name of God.
These boys hated their fathers, these spiritual wounds festered a rebellion against a hostile father they identified with a hostile God. They made it their lives work to destroy the God who had come to symbolize their father.

Charles Darwin – [/b]he lived the greatest portion of his life in deep depression, there is a history of mental illness in his family. He believed his dad had the power of prediction; He had an endless catalogue of psychosomatic illnesses and lived as a semi invalid barely past thirty.

[b]Thomas Henry Huxley- [/b]he detested his hot tempered father he suffered terrible bullying at school and had a terrible fear of insanity, which ran in his family. In fact his father died in an insane asylum. His hatred of God was rooted in the fear that the insanity in his family was caused by unclean spirits. He believed he had been poisoned by vapours from a dead body. After his only son dies of scarlet fever he detested God and believed he was cruel, hostile, angry and indifferent to suffering.

[b]Nietzsche – Grew up with no male role model, he was a repressed homosexual and a victim of syphilis, depression and senility. He blamed his mom for the death of his father.

[b]Sigmund Freud – [/b]he believed a female is a failed boy and he was obsessed with the incestuous conquest of his mother and rivalry with his dad. The desire to have sex with his mother and kill his father haunted his dreams. He believed women wanted sex with there fathers and stories of rape and molestation were fantasies. Instead of victims these women were villains.

[b]These four prophets of atheism and many more [/b]all had powerful domineering fathers. They were fearful, weak, submissive kids. They all grew up with a history of headaches, depression , obsessive fears, extreme shyness, intestinal disorders, and made it there lives work to destroy God who had come to symbolize there fathers.
“ Its Madness”
View full article here:
http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Atheism-is-a-mental-illness-20120413

Ranchhoddas:
You are side-stepping my questions and making different points. No matter though, I'll continue..... Who says we aren't helping each other, what kind of sweeping generalization is that? Religious people go to work and school and do all the other things that non- religious people do. Can you tell me anything that atheists are doing right in this country that theists aren't doing? Your statements I'm afraid are filled with generalizations which are not based on facts. I'd tell you again that the people who do these things you've being saying are in the minority. The problem with Nigeria is BAD LEADERSHIP!! BAD LEADERSHIP!! Atheism will not provide good roads, unbelief will not generate 10000MW of electricity, but I can bet you that many good people will become evil if the hope, comfort and solace that religion offers is taken away.

plaetton:


If something is always always prone to misinterpretation and abuse, then it is obviously flawed.

Even an effective drug with too much side effects are usually banned from the market.

If religion was any good, it wouldn't be prone to all the problems associated with it.

Do you know the main thing that is wrong with religion ?

It is not grounded on reality, but on myths and fantasies.

Suprnov3r:
Atheism is as much a faith as christianity.


Atheism like religion also requires people to disbelieve fact and reality on the premise that that reality has some vague explanations not yet proven.


The only difference between atheism and religion is that while religion attributes unknowns to a personality called God, atheism attributes unknowns to an idea called science.

It is a fact that quite a number of verses in the bible has no empirical proofs in contemporary science. So also it is a fact that atheistic views on things also do not have empirical proofs in contemporary science.

Both belief systems employ elements of faith [/b]to deal with unknowns. The only reason why Christianity seems to falter on the face of intense scientifc scrutiny is that there is a obviously the need for universal application of its principles as a means of justification and when it fails this test, it appears to be weak especially when taken out of the context of its actual application


[b]If Atheism had a church or had an organised religious appendage, hitler would have been a member. Stalin and Chairman Mao would be popes. So also all the philosopical and militant atheists that have queried the Christian faith since day one would have had a recognised platform to air out their views.

They would have in essense not been clean or had this superficial sense of infallibility that pervades atheistic space everywhere they are now. They would also have had a book or codes which early atheist might have prescribed as a summary of their thoughts just like the bible and that book woukd have had a thousand verses which when tested in the light of contemporary science would be as clueless and faulted as any other religious text. Darwins theories of evolution keeps going round and round. Non biblical theories on the planet origins would have been codified since 1100AD and would have had so much revisions no one would take it serious


Atheist do come down from your high horses and learn that life is not as clearcut and defined as logic makes you feel. Christians have killed a lot of people and many practices are unfair and barbaric. Your fellow adherents have killed more people than christianity combined but we don't always feel the need to harp on this because our message of love doesn't always thrive in arguments and verbal conflicts but in humble acceptance.

Bottomline, if you are looking for reasons to disbelieve the bible, there are many. In fact there many in the bible itself. My advice to you is this... Should you stake your possible eternity on the infallibility of scientists and what they tell you?

Would you stake your life and eternity that some scientist in one laboratory in norway is 100% correct all of the time in things he says he knows about that happened thousands of years before he was born and he has only lived 70+ years?

The day scientists can explain using mathematics on how people hold rain in benin I will then come back and listen to your beautiful theories of how some random atoms joined together to form humans

You are taking a gamble worse than bet9ja. I would rather be wrong and loose nothing than be right and loose my eternity to regret

Not to jump into your conversation but the conclusion of your post is rather 'empty'.

Why?

The knowledge or say details of the 'infinite wisdom of the manufacturer of the universe' is a product of the decision making based on man's finite wisdom.

What am I trying to say?

Man created the concept of God & how to interact with him/her (religion). In essence, the idea of the infinite wisdom of the manufacturer of the universe as you said was started & planted by the finite wisdom of one or few man/men in every civilization.

....

JackBizzle:



Lies and nonsense.

Prophets of atheism?

LiberaDeus:
Seun I like the concept of being outspoken but I don't believe that we can save a reasonable percentage of adults.

Many Nigerians are too far gone in their beliefs. The problem with them is not indoctrination but mental laziness. No matter how indoctrinated you are in your beliefs , a dedicated month of research can open your mind up. But as the saying goes " if you want to hide something from a black man, put it in a book".

Our fellow Nigerians are too lazy to read. They only want to use social media, they hardly read long essays or articles, they only want to groove and take selfies. The average Nigerian in this generation does not have the energy to even think deeply and critically. There are few exceptions, our outspokenness can only help those few that are interested in knowing but have never been offered a rope or lifeline of knowledge.

Atheists being outspoken will help the next generation. Thats the most important thing. If the next generation4 can grow up in an environment where religious criticism is active then there is hope. The good thing is that the kids below 10 years are read it stuff we never did during our childhood. Most of them are using smart devices and can use Google well. Many of them are growing up in a liberal society where parents are giving kids freedom of speech not like ours that raised us in a military way.

All I can say is lets keep the fire burning and never let religion have a free pass in our lives.

Geofavor:
You've just said what has been on my mind for some time now.

A lot of people keep their cool because of their because of their religious beliefs. Take that away, and this world won't contain us anymore.

Everyone would define what is good and bad in his or her own way.

For example, Since there is no god( hence no eternal punishment), some people might think it okay to kill people for fun.

Just imagine a world where no one believes in any god; anything will go in that kinda world. Religion actually keeps the world in check.

The world operates based on the rules of religion. Although some of their rules are absurd, every religion preaches peace in one way or the other. And most people easily adhere to it because they believe it was set by one supreme being or the other. Now, If -- in a world where no one beliefs in a supreme being -- we humans decide to make a peace rule, it will not hold. No one would step down for anyone, No one would want to serve anyone and so on.

Religion is one of the factors that keep this world balanced. Take it out, and humanity is doomed!

Let's just leave people to believe what they want and try to be good people.

ayobase:


I'm praying for you brother.

I have two options, but you have only one.

Option 1: If there is indeed no afterlife, then you and I have nothing to lose.

Option 2: If there is indeed afterlife, then I have nothing to lose (with conditions met), but you lose.


A very brilliant and self-confident student seeking admission into the University will still take both WAEC and NECO to nullifying odds.


I have actually been praying for you, Seun Osewa since the day I discovered you are an atheist.

Have you asked yourself the question; "What if there is afterlife?

Think about it deeply.

All respect to you and the poet but the only attribute of poetry in the above poem is line.

Acidosis:
I don't have to read the posts here, but why don't you all spend your time preaching against illiteracy?

Illiteracy rate in Nigeria is high; we have more illiterate than religious folks. Many people don't go to Churches by the way. However, we have more agberos on the streets of Lagos who cannot compose the simplest English statement.

To persons (e.g. me) who had the opportunity to gain education, sorry, a million atheists cannot convince me that there is no supreme being somewhere. Don't waste your time. We have gained enough education to know what's best for us.

Channel this energy to Illiteracy rate, it is almost higher in Nigeria than any nation in the world. (#fact from Data).