I am looking for people who are atheist to come and join our group. Educated people who are capable of arguing their corner. So we can start questioning these religions currently at war and explain to them and those like them that their books were written by human people, so therefore are not infallible. We need your help to inspire people to think for themselves and follow their own instincts. War is wrong and only innocents suffer. It is okay for those in the Whitehouse to spew their war rhetoric and those in Downing Street to follow suit but how many of their family will fight in the wars they have started. Both being Christians, how can they negotiate peace with Muslims, when so much damage has been done already. Those who are genuinely concerned with the question of religion only need reply please no snide remarks or quotations from those supposedly 'holy' books this is a serious matter and one which we all need to take seriously.......
2006-10-09 23:48:00 · 25 answers · asked by pat P 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Civic Participation
Personally I hate religion but do not hate religious people because I believe that people should make their own decisions in relation to what they think is right for them.
I find all these different religions very confusing and is part of my reasons for being anti-religious.
The "Bible" is the worlds biggest selling book and was written by a human yet a lot of people believe in it why?
I was forced as a child to attend religious studies at school and hated every minute of it because when I asked questions I was treated like an idiot.
I find some of these "born again" Christians bogus and untrustworthy and was told once to destroy all my heavy metal music because it was evil and was against "Gods" way of life.
Yes lots of wars have been caused through different religions upsetting each other.
Thanks for a great question!
2006-10-10 00:09:47 · answer #1 · answered by mentor 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, I do not believe in religon.
Yes, I believe that this war is wrong, that it is partially caused by fanatic radicals from particular churches.
I do, however, believe in God. I have, in the past, argued from an agnostic position. Agnostic because I could no more proof the lack of a God than the existence of God. I just did not believe that it mattered.
Now I know that it does. I now believe that there are many paths leading to the One God. It really does not matter which path one is on as long as progress is being made.
Finally, I honestly believe that the road to peace is honest people working together, without trying to control each other, to achieve harmony. In my experience that requires help.
Suggested reading:
Markings by Dag Hammarskjold
Check out Unity.org
The Law of Love and the Law of Violence by Leo Tolstoy
and many many others
Good luck
PS: I know this is not what you wanted but is neither a smart *** response nor quotations from religous tracts.
2006-10-10 08:22:47 · answer #2 · answered by Chuck N 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have been an Atheist for more years than most here have been alive. To some degree your assertions stand on fairly solid ground. However, Atheists will only be a minority segment of the population. Many who purport to be Atheists aren’t and will return to the religion of their parents as they mature. Like it or not, religion is, and will remain, a major factor in our culture.
Obviously religion’s rejection of other philosophies has been, and will be in the future, a factor in wars. However, it isn’t the only factor and focusing only on religion as a causative factor is neither realistic nor workable.
Apparently war has been part of the experience of Homo Sapiens Sapiens since it evolved into existence. War has been a continual struggle between various degrees of individual freedom and control by a central government. These two concepts are not compatible and will cause abrasion between such competing cultures.
The war between cultures comprised mostly of Islam and those mostly Christian has existed for more than a thousand years, sometimes hot and sometimes cold. The cultures in which these two religions exist are barely able to exist side by side let alone come together. Neither is at fault and neither is right. Those who prefer a culture leaning toward individual freedom will pick one and those who prefer a central State will pick the other.
2006-10-10 07:14:11 · answer #3 · answered by Randy 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I do not beleive in a particular religion, more than another. I do however beleive in God. I agree with your point that there a many pointless "religious" wars going on. And that the books of faith that people beleive in are often misinterpreted. But it is the interpretations that make everyone special. No holy book not even the christian bible is 100% acurate, that has been debated for centuries. It is however a guidline for which people should follow. You say your atheist and that is fine by me, but you do make some very moral points, which is nice to see. When most people think of an atheist they think of devil worship witch is not true because you do not beleive in a devil. Most religious wars do seem pointless to us(meaning americans) because we do not beleive in the religions fighting. To them it is very important, so important they think a war is needed, this battle has been fought for a very very long time. I know you didn't want ant quotations from the 'holy' book, but the bible has proven a good record of historical events such as holy wars in the A.D. years. I do not see them coming to an end now they have been going on since before A.D. and they will happen till the end of time. It is a very sad truth. This topic seems very popular now in america especially because of the terrorist attacks. However it is not a "holy" war. A war over religions takes both sides fighting over it. The muslems are the only ones that think it's over religion, america just doesn't want inocent civilians killed on our ground.
I like your cause, but i must say i do not beleive it will help.
2006-10-10 07:06:29 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I do not believe in religion. I am a second generation atheist with Christian ancestry. The War on Terror was not started by the White House, nor by Downing Street. Downing Street is a guide dog to the White House not a Lapdog. The War was started 1400 years ago and is against the infidels, atheists are considered infidels. All atheist should be prepared to condemn the Jihad War started by the Muslim fundamentalists. You are naive to blame UK and US, you are naive to consider that a peace can be negotiated with Muslim fundamentalists. Muslim fundamentalists take offence at all infidels. Taking offence is a blackmail strategy and any excuse real or imagined will do. It works because polite, educated respondents try to treat this as a real question, to apologise and negotiate. You cannot negotiate with those who manufacture offence as a weapon. Stop being so naive and do not expect other atheists to accept your agenda.
2006-10-10 07:19:54 · answer #5 · answered by Danny99 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Unfortunatly if one has no religion then really one has no basic of external morality and should not be concerned about the war. That is to say that to say that without a definative external moral being we are left with our own personal morality and unless you have some process where the strongest, oldest, fattest, tallest, or whatever are deemed to be more moral than other people you really can not argue the point that war is wrong.
I could, quite reasonably, take the view that nobody is truely innocent and thus war is not at all bad. I could, for example, take the futurist view that war is the only cleanser of humanity and that it is better for the world as a whole for wars to occur. It is a proven fact that technology develops exponentially faster during wartime and these developments generally have great benefits for people during times of peace. Without wars to increase funding on research and development then we would not have the levels of technology and medical treatments we have today.
If you think about the thousands of years or recorded human history not one single war has been stopped by a secular group persuading two entire religions to dissolve. If you look at different historical leaders who sought peace they were almost without exception religious leaders - Saladin (Salah al-Din), Mahatma Gandhi, Rev Martin Luther King Jnr, Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Nobel peace prize winner 1979), Jesus... and so on.
There are also significantly more religious pacifist groups than secular ones, such as Pax Christi (60,000 members), Anglican Pacifists Fellowship and so on.
"The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us - That man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God's creatures. Belief in God is to love one's fellow men." - Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
This war is not a holy war and will not be stopped by changing people's views on religion - their views on war must change.
2006-10-10 07:26:14 · answer #6 · answered by monkeymanelvis 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, I don't believe in religion I believe in the God Almighty.
Wars are caused by people! Religion is the excuse of wars. Why does not believing in God have to do with stopping war? It's PEOPLE who are doing the damage. There are wars within countries who all believe in the same thing but their problem is they have no respect for anyone other than themselves and power.
Get on to America and stop them from wanting to take over the war.
2006-10-10 07:24:30 · answer #7 · answered by buzybee 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am an atheist, bordering on agnosticism though. I despise dogma, but respect spirituality and the views others have.
You can't shake up cultures that are thousands of years old, and have their dogma deeply engrained. That is not the way. People need to move towards acceptance of everyone who is different, and respect their beliefs.
Start educating the illiterate. That is the only way to learn that Muhammed never taught about crashing planes on towers. Lacking that, innocents follow Jihadists because they can't read, and learn for themselves.
2006-10-10 08:24:48 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I believe there is one God. Whom ever you pray to they are but a disciple of the true God. The one God will accept everyone who wants to enter his kingdom. However you are right no one has yet been able to prove to some intellectuals that he exists. It is an individual thing. I do however believe he will not accept the people who have condoned war against others for their religious belief. I hope that you come to accept a God. If evaluation was the truth why are we the only creatures to talk and live as we do. Does not the bird in the sky want central heating in its nest. Would not an ant be 6 foot tall to stop people treading on him?
2006-10-11 05:42:40 · answer #9 · answered by deadly 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
My friend religion is a fuel that aggravates conflicts between human beings. religion most usually uses to rally lay persons in the campaign of states towards their interests.
It is not only religion that moves people blindly to conflict but modern ideologies for example capitalism, socialism, democracy, nationalism etc. If you determine to organize and strugle for peace you have to strugle for the emancipation of human being from the veil of ignorance and the illusion of irrational thinking. In the history of human society religion and ideologies act as a machine to make the majority to be blurred towards reality. In this regard religions are ideologies. It is the ideological aspect that devastates harmony not the belief system
2006-10-10 07:14:59 · answer #10 · answered by Abel M 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋