So...no God?

[Booze Zombie]

We would be like: "It's just... us? Huh..." "Yeah... let's go back to... uh, living life now?" "Yeah."

 

[Kiutu]

Republicans would never old office again.

 

[623S]

The fact of the matter is, religion is just one of many things that people can use as an excuse for conflict, so getting rid of religion will not get rid of conflict it will only change people's excuse.

Seconded.

Also, on the main topic of this thread - you'd be surprised how many religious people don't avoid whatever's against their religion because they're afraid of whatever version of hell their faith has. Scratch that, that's an awful sentence. I'll try to put it in a simpler way.

There are a lot of religious people who don't do things because they are told to do so by the creed they belong to. Quite the contrary in fact, many belong to a particular religion because it fits their worldview. So, if everyone suddenly lost the ability to believe in any form of divine, religious people would not go on a wild rampage because they aren't be afraid of hell anymore. They would retain their morals, and pass them on to their children, and so on, and so forth.

I agree for the most part, but in some cases the only thing holding them back are the laws of the religion. Intelligent, independent, religious people would pass their morals to their children. Stupid people would be stupid and say "Fuck it, I'm killing shit."

As the evil person I am, I would laugh as society crashed down, not caring about knowing that god didn't exist (I've known that since i was very small.). Then I would go out and loot and kill people. Embrace Anarchy.

That's not anarchy. That's nihilism. And you're stupid. I don't think any intelligent person identifies themselves as evil. Since good and evil are both based on your perspective, you'd have to go against your own morals to consider yourself evil. I hope to God you were joking.

On-topic: I think that the world would be divided into those who were guided by morals and spirituality and those who were guided by religion. The ones guided by religion would become the main offenders because without a God there would be no law and since some people guided by religion have no morals they were only bound by the fear of Hell.

Fortunately, the spiritual, the moralistic, and the good religious people would clean up that mess.

Of course, speculation is speculation.

 

[Seekster]

The fact of the matter is, religion is just one of many things that people can use as an excuse for conflict, so getting rid of religion will not get rid of conflict it will only change people's excuse.

Seconded.

Also, on the main topic of this thread - you'd be surprised how many religious people don't avoid whatever's against their religion because they're afraid of whatever version of hell their faith has. Scratch that, that's an awful sentence. I'll try to put it in a simpler way.

There are a lot of religious people who don't do things because they are told to do so by the creed they belong to. Quite the contrary in fact, many belong to a particular religion because it fits their worldview. So, if everyone suddenly lost the ability to believe in any form of divine, religious people would not go on a wild rampage because they aren't be afraid of hell anymore. They would retain their morals, and pass them on to their children, and so on, and so forth.

Good point.

i think you're forgetting that the reason we needed the cushion of religion for so long was because we had no other way of explaining things. now that we know most of our traditional views are wrong, it's become much easier to step away from religion.

and i don't know any atheists that have broken down because of their beliefs. i do know christians who have though.

either way, organised religion will most probably always exist, no matter how illogical. i mean, the 3 abrahamic religions are still going strong today. and if they did all disappear, you can still believe in an afterlife without a religion. i know people who do, they're called theists.

The fact that you are making the old "religion is a cushion" argument goes to show just how little you understand religion (im talking about real religions here).

Atheists by definition cannot break down because of their beliefs (at least not their religious beliefs as they do not have any). Atheist have their own reasons for breaking down so dont try to imply that Atheists are somehow more mentally stable than those with religious beliefs.

Also only 1 of the 3 Abrahamic faiths could arguably be illogical (now you get to wonder which one im referring to). Also Theism is sort of a religion (not an organized one of course) so that argument is flawed.

 

[anondudekyle]

Because they want to believe this crappy life isnt all they got, even if they are willing to whistle past all scientific evidence of all time with their fingers in there ears

 

[Cowabungaa]

Wouldn't change a whole lot to me. That's the advantage of being opinionless: I don't care if supreme beings exists. I hold no opinion over that, since any opinion is irrelivant anyway. Those beings either exist, or they don't, whatever someone might 'beleive', it does not matter. So why would I bother with beleiving anything? Unless we live in some sort of Planescape or W40K universe, where we can think things in existance. Wouldn't that be awesome?

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

This is a hypothetical scenario, and please, for the love of hamsters, take note of the wording.

Suppose something happens, an undeniable idea takes hold of the populace and just won't let go, and it doesn't matter whether it's true or not--call it a "meme plague" if you will. And it's very simple, and as far as people are concerned it is undeniable whether they like it or not:

There is no God, or gods, or goddesses, or a higher being, or a supreme consciousness, or anything. It's just us.

What becomes of you, or the world when mankind at large suddenly has no choice but to let go of that belief?

Note: I'm not interested in a religious debate about whether or not it's logical to believe or whether there is a god or not, and please take note that I'm not even saying that God doesn't exist, only that suddenly a certainty befalls everyone that convinces them that it doesn't. The exact nature of the certainty is unexplained and unimportant, and people are just convinced for the sake of our little excercise, so please don't focus on that too much.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My oppinion is that I'm just dandy because I really don't care about it, but as far as the world is concerned, I believe that if people suddenly became convinced that they're really, truly on their own, the shit would hit the fan and the majority of society would either enter a bad, bad state of depression, or just collapses...or maybe both.

Think about it, the concept of spirituality whether it relates to God or just some higher order of consciousness beyond us has served as a cushion for our species since who knows how long, and if it's suddenly pulled from under our feet, then we are royaly fucked.

I'd say dark ages would loom for a while, and I'd have to figure out a way to traverse a very strange world where lots of people seem to have given up, or at least are a little bit crankier than usual. And I'd be afraid of being chastised for being "insensitive."

In the end people would come around after who knows how long, and society would then head towards a truly uncertain future.

We are what we are, congealed space dust to return to basic components when we die. So? life is life and death is the end for the individual yet life still pushes on.

Nothingness and hell is preferable to a heaven that is petty and exclusive the more literal you take religion the more it becomes petty and hateful.

Mind you I'm not so much against faith as much as religion but then again mob rule can make anything dumb and bad, anyway I do believe but not in the absolution of any one church and I believe they are wrong to be petty,intolerant and hateful but hardly going to hell, IMO hell is a place for those that wish to be there more so than those that are damned by others or the magical wizard in the sky.

 

[wolfy098]

Hyper-religious people would either kill themself or go ape-shit with things they
previusly thought God prevented them from, before getting locked up.
More laid-back people would be sad but get over it in time.
The rest of us would go about our lives as normal, with the occasional "I told you so".

Ninjad

 

[murphy7801]

I would like to see this happen I reckon it would so Amusing though wouldn't have much effect in my area.

 

[wolfy098]

That's not anarchy. That's nihilism. And you're stupid. I don't think any intelligent person identifies themselves as evil. Since good and evil are both based on your perspective, you'd have to go against your own morals to consider yourself evil. I hope to God you were joking.

Sorry I am evil

I would kill to survive I would kill you to survive
I WILL SURVIVE (ps that was serious)

On another note

I can shoot a gun
I can shoot someone before they shoot me...
I learnt to shoot a gun because someday a religion will fall
When it falls they will go insane and try to kill people
I will stop them...

 

[AlphaOmega]

You mean people would realize the truth?

That wont ever happen, cause that would be a sign of apocalypse and thus be contradicting

 

[Bagaloo]

You post this but don't want religious debate?
Really, all of the holy figures' fanboys would find something else to obsess over. Like politics and football.
Most of 'em never really got the point of religion, anyway.
The people who did get religion, and were confronted with something that completely forced them to disbelieve in their dieties, would still follow in their footsteps, doing what would be prescribed by the religion.

Completely off-topic, but I just have to say; your current avatar is awesome.

On topic, I disagree that religious people would just go and find something else to 'obsess over', I reckon things would turn more towards the OP's point of view with a lot of people suddenly feeling very, very depressed.

 

[pirateninj4]

This thread is a badly dressed up version of a religious flame thread. Badly dressed like Kings Cross.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

Well I do belive in some form of God, but I rather not dwell on it because it hurts me head.

 

[Deacon Cole]

Suppose something happens, an undeniable idea takes hold of the populace and just won't let go, and it doesn't matter whether it's true or not--call it a "meme plague" if you will. And it's very simple, and as far as people are concerned it is undeniable whether they like it or not:

There is no God, or gods, or goddesses, or a higher being, or a supreme consciousness, or anything. It's just us.

What becomes of you, or the world when mankind at large suddenly has no choice but to let go of that belief?[/i]

You mean this hasn't already happened?

 

[wolfy098]

Suppose something happens, an undeniable idea takes hold of the populace and just won't let go, and it doesn't matter whether it's true or not--call it a "meme plague" if you will. And it's very simple, and as far as people are concerned it is undeniable whether they like it or not:

There is no God, or gods, or goddesses, or a higher being, or a supreme consciousness, or anything. It's just us.

What becomes of you, or the world when mankind at large suddenly has no choice but to let go of that belief?[/i]

You mean this hasn't already happened?

not for everyone

 

[Zombie_Fish]

I doubt I would care that much. I'm agnostic when it comes to whether or not there is a god so ir wouldn't matter to me. As for theists, I think they would be shocked for a while but the majority of them would get over it, though there would probably be the minority who decide life's not worth living anymore as a result of this, but I doubt much would change.

 

[Bobbovski]

I would personally not care. But I would feel sorry for some of the religious people that took the news extra hard.

Religious people would either deny it and continue worshipping their gods, commit suicide or they would simply get over it (sooner or later).

Atheist would celebrate.

 

[623S]

That's not anarchy. That's nihilism. And you're stupid. I don't think any intelligent person identifies themselves as evil. Since good and evil are both based on your perspective, you'd have to go against your own morals to consider yourself evil. I hope to God you were joking.

Sorry I am evil

I would kill to survive I would kill you to survive
I WILL SURVIVE (ps that was serious)

Oh, does killing things to live make you evil now? Wolves are evil, humans are evil, spiders, deer, pretty much everything except for plants are evil by that definition.