Atheists

yes. and i think it's a lot easier to abide by that internal sense of good given that our lives our pretty easy. it's more difficult to "be good" when your survival is in jeopardy -- be that because of limited resources, threats from others, or whatever it may be.

 

i dunno. maybe. or perhaps adults that don't move far from home or stay in the same town their entire lives. but it think that's trying too hard to complete the analogy.

i don't fully understand what people get out of religion, but i have to assume it's worthwhile to them.

 

if you're an atheist, i would think you probably believe in evolution and most likely natural selection as the mechanism for speciation (is that a word?).

we are animals in this view, so it's pointless to speak of human traits vs animal traits. but we're social animals, which are somewhat special in the scheme of natural selection. we can pass on our genes not only directly, but by helping our relatives as well. if i have 3 brothers and they have 10 kids between them, that's like me having an additional 5 kids (roughly) as far as genes go (since each brother is roughly 50% similar to me genetically).

anyway, the simplistic view of survival of the fittest goes to the wayside when you consider the "greater good" of familial survival, and even societal survival. and you'll never have a working society if people don't have the ingrained notion that you should not steal/kill. it's difficult to say how much nurture vs nature plays a role in this, but certainly if a religion descibes a good person as acting a certain way and that person is seen as more desirable, then in a sense, religions could also affect who passes on their genes. actually, thinking about it, it certainly was a selection force for ages (marrying people of the same religion, basically).

i suppose you could say, then, that religion is human nature.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself.. I agree totally with your post.

 

Actually, we as a nation are more prone to call upon God when things/times are uncertain. We need God to help us through the tough times, we are more humble and willing to accept his way. We tend to fall away from Him when we are doing well. We dont need Him, in that way, and those that do not believe grow bolder and speak louder. This is the trend that I am now seeing in America today, but it started creeping in quite some time ago in the aftermath of the Cold War. IMO we will fall away from having any association with God as a nation. Wether you believe in Him or not, this will be a fatal flaw in the very foundation of our nation. The decay will come from within.

 

you''ve never lived with an aussie shepherd. They tend to fit burkes definition of man as a symbol user who manages guilt to a T

 

I, as a Christian, disagree in general terms with the initial post in this thread.

Thank you.

 

Agreed.
However I also know the purpose of what was being said and can't disagree totally with it, either. This place shouldn't be a free-for-all, but it also shouldn't bend totally backwards to the somewhat whimsical and disdainful ways that people have come in here looking to tailor discussion to their own wants, to the detriment of those who make up a mass of discussion.

I don't think that this should be a place for religion to be attacked and then defended. That's what it's largely become, it seems. This forum shouldn't be filled to the rim with people from other places just because _tery doesn't want to be held accountable for trolling people she obviously has disdain for.
I don't really think that disdain is constructive in any way.

 

It all depends on where and how you grew up. I wonder if all the Southern baptist would still be Baptist if they grew up in India. I doubt it. And I bet Miss Tery wouldn't be Athiest if she grew up in my family.

So based on this anyone in my opinion who believes in their convictions with 100% certainty doesn't have a low IQ, just an inability to ask themselves the right questions.

 

The way I see it, it's something deep inside that has nothing to do with intelligence. I'd also argue about that "asking themselves the right questions." With all the contradictions and scientific evidence that goes against the bible, maybe Christians are ignoring the right questions themselves. Sorry for polluting your forum with my opinions, and responding to a thread that insulted me. It won't happen again.