Is it possible to finally PROVE religion wrong ?

Question

i as an atheist am wondering what it will take for all the religious to go "huh im wrong..."

i know in what ways religion is illogical, but they always counter by saying that God is beyond the universe, or something which you cant reply to.

and its also their willingness to accept.... some of them just don't accept that 1+1 is 2

Can we ever show religion its Flaw

i have made this argument over and over again (usually in a casual manner like this which has gotten me nowhere).

what’s crazy is people denying science (obviously there are theories flawed, but they do try their best to explain things) When on the other hand religion tells people that 1+1 is a shrimp puff.

how can you compare a Book written a thousand years ago (why is the fact that something is really old, and advantage ? it just shows that everything then was written with very less knowledge and understanding, when everyone thought the earth was flat !!!) When there is Modern science that shows us galaxies and Billions of stars and their workings..... ( i have to choose my words carefully otherwise the religious folk will start saying that evolution is only a theory. they are completely missing the point)

just because we havent been able to come up with explanations for some of the bigger questions, doesn't mean that you have to go settle with religion....

there is a LOT to say on this matter a lot of valid points to consider and this is nowhere close to forum for this kind of discussion.

but i only wanted to see your initial or summarized reactions and it is surprising to see how many of you are in support of religion...... well not really but im still shocked even though i was expecting this.

so either im right or im completely wrong....

im fine with the whole live and let live as long as it doesnt get a building. (ok im exaggerating). though it has it flaws, religions generally promotes a peaceful existence which i am thankful for.

But This is like the matrix. is it ok for people to live a lie even if it makes them happy or go outside the matrix to what is true....

student_of_life took the words right out of my mouth.
im glad to see, even though there is only a few, who think this way.

But i do hope what you said isnt the case. Its still 2007, we may advance enough in science and also psychology to prove either the existence or not of god.....

i respect all your decision to believe in god although i strongly reject the idea and hope you do too...

Answer 1

There is a way to disprove religion, or at least religions that need people to exist. Who needs religion anyway? Faith in God and faith in religion is not the same. (You said 'religion', right?)

Notice that religion needs to remain as an entity of power. So for it do be so, it has to:

...say things against the truth of the human soul. Humans, for them, should be born in sin and be naturally evil, so that humans will have to be saved.

...For this to be possible, humans should do penance or pay certain amount of offering or sacrifice to the controlling entity of the religion.

...They even have sets of rules for humans to follow; rules that is dependent on the moods and preferences of the controlling entity; rules that change as often as the controlling entity is replaced by another one.

...Religion has to exclude among the "faithful" those who do not cooperate and instill fear among the "faithful" that if they do not cooperate, they will be punished by God in some unknown-of dimension, usually in the fires of hell. For this to be possible, there should be another place which the "faithful" will enjoy. They call this "heaven" usually. But when asked where heaven or hell is, no answer. No one knows. Only God knows.

...For the process of punishment to be logical, religion has to say lies about the nature of God too which is the God of love. They will say that God gets angry, is jealous and vengeful, traits that doesn't stem from love, traits that best fit the entity that they invented, which is called the "devil". This "devil" can wage wars against God, seduce the "faithful" with tricks, and could even cause God to lose battle against it, when God is supposed to be all-powerful, right? This "battle" will cause the "faithful" to follow the cause of God and do battles too, as if God asked for it, as if God solves things the way humans do. Then you will see the "faithful" killing other humans that are said to be followers of the "devil", when the other camp thinks it's the other way around. These wars, are they product of love? Are they ordered by the God of love?

...And for humans to be born evil, God has to be able to mistakenly create imperfect beings...or...the devil must have enough powers to thwart God's plans. Where did the devil got its powers? From God Himself who created it. Why would God have to tolerate an enemy? Why not just eradicate it completely? He wouldn't! He couldn't! In His mercy, maybe later when His patience runs out, as if God's patience could ran out, as if God doesn't have everything in abundance. (They wouldn't admit that it is because if God were to eradicate the devil completely, religion would lose its power!)

And there's a whole lot more arguments against religion. I would be writing an entire book here in Yahoo! Answers if I were to write them all down.

Answer 2

During 1800s, Anthropologists had a problem as to
how to classify human beings. One researcher
proposed the expression "intelligent animal".
After advanced studies on monkeys, it was dropped.
Another researcher proposed "tool using animal".
After observing some animals making wooden tools
and sharpening them with knife like stones, it was
dropped. Another researcher proposed "weapon using
animal". A decade ago, a rare film was shot by an
amateur in an African forest. One short monkey was
hit very badly by a big monkey. The short monkey
prepared a wooden knife using stones and hid it on
the top of a tree. After some days, when the big
monkey came to attack the short monkey, it ran up
to the tree for the weapon it has hid and killed
the big monkey. The one thing that the
anthropologists found with any group of human
beings, even if they did not have contacts with
the out side world for thousands of years, has
spirituality with some form of religion. So, man
is a "spiritual animal" if you want to call him
that way.

The Upanishads say that "Manush" (human) was so
named because he has "Manas" a mind higher than
that of the animals which realizes the divinity in
creation. It was present since the creation of
human beings. Religion is the characteristic
feature of most of the human beings. It was not
attained through reasoning using mind. Illiterate
tribes located in inaccessible forests also have
religion. It is as eternal and and as unchanging
as the Almighty. Disbelief by a few will not
affect it.

"The percentage of atheists in the world is less
than 5%"

http://www.positiveatheism.org/india/s1990c48a.htm

"Atheists are all scientists" ?

http://www.non-religious.com/statistics.html

Religion is not a blind following. It is a sub-consciously driven
group ritual. It calms the 'collective unconscious' mind. The
religious culture brings unity and belongedness among the followers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious

" Are Atheists More Depressed than Religious People?

In recent years, the view that religious belief and
participation in religious acts of worship has a positive
effect upon the well-being of man..."

http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php

"Is a Belief in God Beneficial? Or, What's an Atheist to Do?

1) Religious attendance is correlated with longevity.
2) Religious belief has been associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms.
3) Religious beliefs may help with addiction.
4) Religious attendance is correlated with lower blood pressure.

http://jewishatheist.blogspot.com/2006/01/is-belief-in-god-beneficial-or-whats.html

Answer 3

Some of us wonder the same thing about atheists. I mean, how do you explain that the bible said the world was round 2,000 years before it was accepted by man? The bible (book of job) also goes into great detail to describe a dinosaur living at the time. (book of job was written about 2000 years B.C.) But you say what about all the geologic dating methods we have to prove that dinos existed millions of years ago and not thousand? Well go out there, find a rock from a lava flow that you KNOW happened in the last 50 years or so and have it dated. A man did this once to see what answers he got and he was surprised to find that the dating method said the rock was 180,000 years old when he knew for a fact it was less than 50! You will also find some inconsistancies with dinosaur bones. They will date it one way and when they dont like the date, they will use another method to "prove" the date. But if you are making kool-aid and you put a cup of sugar in it, it doesnt matter how many different ways you have to measure it, it should come up as there is only 1 cup of sugar every time.

Answer 4

It is obvious, to me, that religion satisfies some deep and basic human need. Why does worship make people feel better? It satisfies this need (well, for some people). If this need is biologically-based, then it should follow a basic bell-curve; most people have a medium need, some have a really high need, and some people have next to no need. The less need one has, the more likely one is an atheist.

Anyways, define this need as purely psychological, develope a suite of counseling and therapy techniques that address it, and make these techniques the standard rather than the exception.

... Or define this need as purely biological, find a biologically- or chemically-based alternative to satisfy it, and give that alternative to as many people as possible.

...Or some combination thereof! Then watch the fear of God, which is really just a fear of ourselves projected, dwindle. Watch religious fervor be transformed into something purer and more wholesome. Watch the end of religious fanaticism...


Saul

Answer 5

You can, but that is no guarantee people will accept it. People are incredibly irrational. You can make the most airtight argument against the existence of God, an argument to which even saying "God is beyond the universe" would not defend religious belief, but you will still convince very few people. You'll get the more thoughtful ones maybe, but you have to wait until the rest die off. This is inevitably how values change: not by rationally convincing people of the error of their ways, but them dying off and their children being brought up in a slightly more critical environment which makes them slightly more likely to reject the beliefs of their parents.

Modern religion will almost certainly go this route. It already has gone this route in some developed countries, and most developed countries show at least a slight trend toward atheism. Looking at the scope of human history, most modern religions have a very brief history, a few thousand years at the most. Considering that humans have been on the earth for hundreds of thousands of years, it requires a very short frame of reference to see modern religions as a permanent force. The psychological needs they may tap in to (as previous religions and superstitions did before them) may still exist, but psychology, philosophy, and politics tend to handle those needs as well or better than religion did.

Answer 6

This has been done. Religious certainty is characterized by an imperviousness to logic and skeptical scrutiny. Therefore, we may definitively demonstrate that a religion's core tenets are false, and there will still be those that believe in them. This is the power of emotion over rational thought.

The most skillful approach will attempt to weaken that emotional attachment before an attempt at logical refutation is made.

Answer 7

No.

Because in the ultimate end you cannot disprove that man is a creature that is unable to believe in anything.

Life just does not allow man to do that. Because there are too many things in life that are special to man and that he is willing to protect or even die for.

Religion will always exist because a man cannot deny a fellow man the right to believe as he chooses. The same is true for atheism.

Answer 8

People who believe that science has the answers to all of life's questions will never fully understand or accept religion. Likewise, people who believe that religion has the answers to all of life's questions will never fully understand or accept science.

In science 1+1=2.
In religion @+&=!!!.

They are 2 different languages. Scientific logic cannot prove or disprove religion and religious belief cannot prove or disprove science. Any attempt by one to prove or disprove the other is pointless. Both sides need to accept this and quit fighting about it.

Answer 9

If you don't believe in a God, why are you obsessed with disproving him? Your high and mighty intelligence must have found the answer to life, the universe and everything....so why do you want everyone to think as you do? And by the way.....scientific theories are always being revised and dropped when new discoveries appear. Remember, everyone used to think the world was flat.... What was once 1+1=2 could change to 1+1=string cheese tomorrow.

Answer 10

You can't make everyone not believe. But I've always wondered what would happen if we discovered aliens. What would they think if they they didn't have Christianity as a religion, if they even had one at all. Maybe they would have enough scientific knowledge that they wouldn't need religion anymore. Hopefully Christians wouldn't try to convert them if they did have some kind of religion already. But then again they may just think God sent them there to let them teach the aliens about Him.