They always find something to worship, as universally observable, whether it is the wooden idols of primitive societies, or the gods of success, money and material possessions of so-called sophisticated civilizations!
2007-04-28 23:03:10 · 19 answers · asked by periclesundag 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Yeah, if you don't worship God you'll end up worhsipping something else and its probably not gonna be a good thing.
2007-04-28 23:07:06 · answer #1 · answered by phil 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
there are no gods
and while I dont worship anything
I'm fairly certain most christians at least (I can't really comment on other religions as I haven't observed many followers) also seem to worship success, money and material possessions. I think it's more a comment on society than anything else.
edit: Uh preacher you realise that the majority of America is christian? The % of atheists is really quite small so your point it a bit moot.
2007-04-29 01:33:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Heh, personally I have no believe in God and no particular need to worship anything, least of all any of those things. I just live life as it comes, (successfully) I try not to dwell on anything at all really...
Existence is, as it is, to either insist that there must be something to worship, or that people always do insist upon this internally and find something to worship seem silly to me.
2007-04-28 23:13:19 · answer #3 · answered by yelxeH 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Excuse me? I am agnostic, and I certainly do not worship money, statues or even mathematics of science. I see the importance in some things, the worthlessness in other things. I don't worship anything.
I think you are confusing love for something with deification. I love mathematics, but I do not worship it. Some people love money.
2007-04-28 23:08:28 · answer #4 · answered by tom 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
this is a very good,valid question.i will answer from a Buddhist perspective since i am one.(it's an atheistic religion)
there are Buddhist temples with Buddha statues,Bodhi trees and Dhagabs(if u have ever seen a Buddhist temple u might have noticed a dome like srtucture that's pointed at the top)
Buddhists worship these
(1) Buddha statues-because they are meant to personify Lord Buddha (he's not considered as a deity-he was a mortal man)
(2)Bodhi trees ("Bodhi" is the name of that type of trees)-because it was a Bodhi tree that Lord Buddha sat underneath when he was meditating to get enlightened
(3) Dhagabs-because each Dhagab contains something that belonged to Lord Buddha that has been preserved with great effort over the years e.g. the most major temple in Sri Lanka contains a sacred tooth..some contain one hair of his etc
the difference is,when we worship,it's not really "worship".we do not pray to Lord Buddha to forgive us our sins (he's dead and gone'not "watching over us".we're on our own.and if we have done something wrong,no one can undo it or free us of our sins).our worship consists of reminding ourselves of his teachings.
the most basic worship would be saying to oneself
*i shall refrain from killing any living creature (this does not mean only humans)
*i shall refrain from stealing
*i shall refrain from engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct
*i shall refrain from telling lies
*i shall refrain from consuming intoxicants====most Buddhists engage in this short reminder daily.i do myself.
the longer worships would consist of repeating to ourselves more and more of his teachings.it is done in the Pali language so it may sound like a "prayer" to people who do not understand.
so u see,it's more a reminder...it's to make this reminder effective that we do it in front of a Buddha statue so we will be surrounded by a Buddhist atmosphere.oh and why we physically bow down and worship is because we respect him for what he taught us.it's got nothing to do with being a deity because he ISN'T one in the 1st place.Buddhists worship their parents and other elders as well.we are taught to stand up when a teacher comes to the class room and not to remain seated if an elder is standing without a place to sit etc..it's a way of showing respect.
2007-04-28 23:27:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm somewhat of an atheist at times. I regularly swap between that and agnosticism pending on mood.
However, I always have 2 gods:
Trent Reznor
Free Dominguez:
praise be unto NiN, and glory unto their magnificent copycats, the kidney thieves!
hallelujah and amen.
2007-04-28 23:09:56 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
You are right.
A lot of the American atheists on Yahoo Answers respond by saying, "no, no, no, we don't worship money..."
But look at America. We have a disproportionate amount of the world's stuff. We are filthy rich while millions starve, die from lack of basic medical care, or are otherwise in danger of their lives from poverty.
So we are partly responsible for their plight. We ARE our brother's keeper. Those who disagree are agreeing with Cain.
2007-04-28 23:22:38 · answer #7 · answered by Hawk 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
it is odd to think but yes some one who decides to not follow God will make a God of something be it money time pilosiphy their own mind or the self maybe even his own belly as it says in the bible a slugard regardith not God but worships his own belly
2007-04-28 23:09:05 · answer #8 · answered by steel warrior 01 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Religions themselves have turned God into a money making business.
2007-04-28 23:14:34 · answer #9 · answered by liberty11235 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You must know different atheists than I do. The ones I know don't worship success or comfort, they just don't see any reason to not be successful.
2007-04-28 23:07:35 · answer #10 · answered by Kuji 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋