So...no God?

[dietpeachsnapple]

The only part of religion that requires a higher power (animism, pantheism, many gods, one god, monism, etc.) is the experiential. The idea that one can pray/meditate and feel the presence of that power. That one can witness the presence of that power in world events. This was easier when science could not explain fire and lightning, but we resort now to medical "miracles" and close shaves.

I would like to think that such a global epiphany would be taken well, but most any historian can tell you that one of the greatest predictors of conflict is rapid change.

 

[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)

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.

YESSSSS

But killing plants isn't evil (am a omnivore)

 

[LCP]

not gonna end well :/

 

[ScarlettRage]

I don't think it needs debating to be honest, you're just going to upset the religious people on here and if you have an opinion on religion let's face it, you're going to be offending someone.

seconded***
not a good idea

 

[johnzaku]

Actually I'm not so sure, I had a friend who was convinced of god by her parents, and she was devout. But something happened that I'd rather not go into, and she lost faith. She didn't quite go bad, but she changed a lot.

Anyway, I suppose my point is that not everyone would change, but a majority would. Many people just don't have the ability to deal with something that crushing and would just say "screw it". I'd like to believe that I have faith in humanity and that we'll go the right way, but I honestly don't. Not in the short-run anyway. Perhaps waaaaay down the line. My experiences with people show me how few of them can deal with stuff on that scale.

Compare it to when you first learned about Santa Claus (I'm not saying that Santa claus is a parallel to religion or that religion is imaginary, so please just bare with the metaphor), how did you handle it? Some kids just kinda rolled with it, they were beginning to suspect anyway. But then there were many others, who were mad at there parents for lying to them, or mad at themselves for being so stupid.

I'm not shooting at religious folks, please no hate stuff, this is just my opinion on what would happen in accordance with the hypothetical scenario.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

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.

I love it when I can go to a topic and find a post that expresses thoughts pretty much identical to my own.

 

[SonataSeed]

I don`t believe in a god, but i still am open to the possibility that one could exist. If you were to draw a 2D universe, you would be able to see and control anything in that universe. the people in the universe you created would traverse from one end to the other, measure the physics and account for all of the the mass. The inhabitants of your universe may come to the conclusion that you (god) do not exist because you do not take up mass in their universe. Well of course you don`t occupy their universe; that would complete negate your god-like powers.
If a god were to exist there would be no way to confirm it. I think believing in a god in a humbling experience as it excepts that you are a lowly physical being inside a universe that is still largely unknown.

Organized religion is just an excuse to be self righteous. I remember after the war in iraq began i saw a group of radical christians on tv calling for an all out war on the muslim world. In china there is constant conflict between sects of christianity and budhism and all over the world, similar conflicts. The underlying principle of any religion is to "love thy neighbor". If anyone uses religion as an excuse to engage in conflict; they`re not religious, just hypocrites.

 

[ThreeWords]

Lots would change, but most notably every theocracy would collapse, and whatever remained of any religious organisation would be heavily criticised for 'lying to the people', unless even they succumbed to the meme plague. in which case religion in general would be probably dismissed as a psychological disease

Also, politics would likely grow slightly simpler, and other people would step up. Possibly, there would be less conflict as people ran out of things to fight about, but I think it is more likely they would just argue about new things, like territory or natural resources.

Maybe the curriculum would change, as well, but I don't know how much

 

[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.

I love it when I can go to a topic and find a post that expresses thoughts pretty much identical to my own.

Does save a lot of time writing doesn't it?

 

[Cortheya]

why can't religious threads just fucking end...Its only going to inspire flame wars. Please don't post these threads

 

[Skeleon]

It's interesting how many people predict this thread to descend into a flame war, yet, so far, it has not happened.

 

[dontworryaboutit]

Man would become god

The ruler would declare himself a god, like in ancient times

Man must truly be god, for he has tried so hard to create me in his image.

 

[Taerdin]

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

Maybe once everyone is as rich as westerners it will be convenient for them to stop believing as well.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Would the Hounds of Dawkins please stop trying to turn a perfectly reasonable hypothetical into a flame war. DalekJake, AlphaOmega - if the two of you don't cut down on the trolling, the trolling will cut you down. Get? Good.

Now, I can see two hypotheticals. Firstly, where the majority of people have a good cry, get over it and get on with their lives. This is the most likely scenario, simply because society is a frighteningly resilient thing. The second, is that we have anarchy, which really isn't going to happen.

 

[zoozilla]

I think that if everyone suddenly came to the realization that there was no higher being or anything, there would be individuals who would take advantage of that and gain ridiculous power.

People would be so shocked and so willing for things to go back, to have someone higher, that it would be easy for them to be controlled in a sort of 1984 society.

 

[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

Maybe once everyone is as rich as westerners it will be convenient for them to stop believing as well.

Woah woah woah woah WOAH

why are you taking it out on me ;(

 

[Mezrev]

I doubt it'd have a huge effect on the western world, but it'd propably have a huge impact on the lives of horribly poor on earth. I'm talking about people to whom digging trash is required to survive their daily lives, for to many of them faith to a god is the only thing keeping them going. If that was taken away from them, I'm pretty quite a sizeable part of them would either simply give up, or desperately try and revolt, resulting in a huge amount of death.

 

[selath]

No deep down people would change. People need a reason, even if its not real they need one, atheists go for the logical approach to being nice but as long as they get what they want then they can spread the love. If everyone beleived god did not exist there would be no point or at least we would have to find a new one. Whether socialism or greed. Even the point of doing bad things to other people would lose its promise because at the end of the day your just doing nasty things to other people and in 26,349 days you'll be worm food. Religion doesn't make people good but it does give them something to do instead of counting down to 26,348 days. When we do bad things we do it to reassure ourselves that we'll be punished for doing bad, but if god doesn't exist who can really punish us, some guy in the capital? Please I don't accept their power over me and no one gave it to them I'm an individual and I can do what I want while I wait for 26,347 days your only alive once right? Religion may be the source of most conflict in history but in psychology so is the id, it may tell us to sleep with everything in sight and be classified 'bad' but it gives us a reason/motivation to stop us from counting the days left because it assures us its not really THE END...

 

[sokka14]

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.

i'm sure you're going to explain why my "religion is a cushion" argument shows lack of understanding.

i'm not implying atheists are mentally stonger, i'm tyring to show their beliefs (or lack of them) would not cause "depression" as the OP puts it.

funnily enough, i am not going to wonder which abrahamic religion you are referring to. they are all illogical, to call one or two more illogical than the other is hilarious.

and the point i was making about theists is that belief in an afterlife can exist without an organised religion, so if there is a flaw there, i am utterly missing it.