Wrong.
People would be better off without religion. For instance, if more people worked on sunday then they would have more $ and the economy would be better. Less starving and losing of homes.
Religion ties in with ignorance, and ignorance helps create poverty. Less ignorance=less poverty.
Your attempt to blame society’s woes on religion is utterly ridiculous. People losing their homes and starving have absolutely NOTHING to do with their not working on Sunday. It has everything to do with crooked business practices, corrupt politicians, greedy bakers, and irresponsible people who spend way more than they make.
In other words, people violating some of the very rules that the Bible teaches. Covetousness leads to greed: people spending more than they have, often to get what they don’t need; “Dishonest weight and balances” in business practices, etc.
Various news programs have cited the reasons for America's economy being in tough shape. For some STTTRAAAANGE reason, the "Sabbath" didn't make the list.
That's baloney. People are essentially all the same, with exception of a few genetic idiots. The only difference is culture and upbringing, environment. These things determine if someone turns into a foolish sheep or a vigorous intellectual. NO ONE "needs" religion, and the only people who would commit crime and do evil deeds if they found out that religion was false are mentally ill and probably in psych clinics already. People turn into atheists every day and Atheists have LOWER rates of crime and are LESS violent. Civilization would be better off without religion.
Tell that to the folks who lived in Stalin's Soviet Union.
Important fact: People's concept of "Good and Evil" are determined by secular society, general societal upbringing and genetics. When people lose their religious faith, they don't turn into violent immoral criminals. They are just the same as they were before for most aspects.
The apostle Paul referred to it as "having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof".
"Good and Evil" can only be measured, based on a standard of conduct and rules. And, for the vast majority in this country (and others), that standard comes from their religious beliefs (in the USA's case, Christianity).
People become agnostic or atheists because they stop seeing justification for the existence of God. You were claiming that people need religion because it makes them moral, I'm saying that religion actually helps in making people immoral. It's not baloney that people want to believe, but what is baloney is the claim that somehow society "needs" religion or that people "aren't ready" to ditch the dogma. We are wired towards magical thinking, but this only means we have a propensity towards it, it doesn't mean that we are bound to forever suffer stupid and wrong beliefs. Whenever I feel the urge to resort to superstitious or magical thinking, I just think twice about it and find a rational alternative. Anyone can do this, it just takes practice.
People become agnostic or atheists because they stop seeing justification for the existence of God. You were claiming that people need religion because it makes them moral, I'm saying that religion actually helps in making people immoral. It's not baloney that people want to believe, but what is baloney is the claim that somehow society "needs" religion or that people "aren't ready" to ditch the dogma. We are wired towards magical thinking, but this only means we have a propensity towards it, it doesn't mean that we are bound to forever suffer stupid and wrong beliefs. Whenever I feel the urge to resort to superstitious or magical thinking, I just think twice about it and find a rational alternative. Anyone can do this, it just takes practice.
People become atheists for others as well. Some do that, because of a severe tragedy in their lives has shattered their faith: Molestation by parent or parishioner, death of a loved one, major financial loss, etc.
Plus, it appears you make the mistaken assumption that such shifts are unilateral. Just as there are believers who become atheists, there are atheists who have become believers.
You cannot make the claim that religion makes people "immoral", without having a clear, defined standard on what morality is. In other words, who's making up the rules, here? Who is determining that "X" is right and "Y" is wrong.
One could argue that the only difference between your religion and that of a Christian is the entity you serve. In essence (as I've said before), atheism is merely man worshipping himself, instead of God.
