John Martin The Fall of Babylon 1831
Our long time contributor TAE Summary has specialzed in summarizing two sides of the same coin when things are debated either in the media or, as in this case, in our Comments section. Question is/was: is there a God?
What I don’t see mentioned here is: can people(s) live without a religion to explain away what they do not understand in their lives? Or will they always create a story to ‘cover up’ their ignorance, and is that where religion comes from?
And in a logical next step, also in view of the recent Quran burnings in Scandinavia: No, we don’t burn each other’s Holy Books, or insult each other’s prophets or religious customs. We recognize that they all come from the same desire to explain what we don’t know. And we respect each other in that, and because of that. There have been too many Holy Wars already.
TAE Summary:
A Tale of Two Cosmologies
Theism
• Everything that exists has a cause and the obvious cause for the universe is God the creator
• The vastness of the universe with its well-ordered galaxies and solar systems is evidence of a divine creator and his purposes
• The intelligence and self-awareness of man is also evidence of a divine creator
• Science can explain physical cause and effect but can’t explain where the physical laws came from and is unable to give meaning to our lives
• There is no conflict between science and religion when properly understood
• Religion has been instrumental in human progress
• Religion has improved the lives of countless people; Atheistic societies like Soviet Russia and Maoist China are disasters
• Without God and an afterlife this life has no meaning; Atheists have no reason to be moral, ethical people; It’s anything goes and they end up committing atrocities
• Only with the ultimate punishment and rewards from God can men be responsible for their actions and have integrity
• You can only be free when you know that God exists and live the way he wants you to live
• Religions are benevolent organization that encourage people to be selfless givers
• Countless people have had direct experience with God and feel his love
• The holy scriptures show the historical workings of God among men and are a reliable guide on how to live a moral life
• Without religion there is no ultimate justice in the universe
• Atheists are illogical and suffer from cognitive dissonance; Only a major life upheaval like severe illness or death can help them realize the truth; Even then most won’t change
• Once they die atheists will realize how wrong they were
• Atheism is closely aligned with far-left liberalism and spoils everything it comes in contact with
Atheism
• The claim that all things have a cause and the cause of the universe must be God is logically inconsistent because it does not explain what caused God
• The creation and evolution of the cosmos is due to natural laws such as physics and natural selection; Given an infinity of universes one like ours had to exist and we are in it
• The universe has a trillion galaxies, each with 100 billion stars; The notion that one consciousness comprehends all of this and personally cares about the potentially trillion trillion souls in the galaxy is ridiculous
• The intelligence and self-awareness of man shows that belief in a divine creator is an unnecessary pablum
• There are things we still don’t understand about the cosmos but as science advance we understand more and more
• Theists start from an unscientific, non-falsifiable position and have been wrong about nearly everything; Only as they accept science do they become more correct
• Religion has always hampered human progress
• Religion has led and continues to lead to the repression and death of countless people; Religious societies are unerringly repressive and regressive; State sponsored religion is a disaster
• Theists believe that the next life is more important than this one and discount this life and don’t put in the work needed to make the world a better place; Without God man is forced to confront the issues of ethics and morality and make the hard choices; With God men outsource their morality which gives them license to commit atrocities
• Theists believe they are always being watched and ultimately rewarded or punished by God; It is impossible for theists to have integrity; They can never act from innate goodness
• You can only be truly free when you don’t believe in God and realize this is the only life you have
• Religions are by and large driven by control and making money
• People’s so called experiences with God are not reproducible; They are emotionally driven wishful thinking
• So-called religious scriptures are not historical, are full of contradictions and immoral stories and are not a good guide to a moral life
• Religion’s insistence on divine justice makes its adherents less likely to fight for justice here and now
• Theists are illogical and suffer from cognitive dissonance; Only a major life upheaval like severe illness or death can help them realize the truth; Even then most won’t change
• Since there is no consciousness after death theists will never know how wrong they were
• Religion is closely aligned with far-right conservatism and spoils everything it comes in contact with
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