1 hour ago, Gottfrid said:

If this would be true, then you must be hyper religious, right?

If a basic question triggers this much defensiveness, seems you’re the one desperately clinging to blind belief just to help cope.

7 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

Even if you have never been there yourself, you could get on a plane tomorrow and go to Mongolia to prove it exists. That is not faith, it is verifiable reality. There are maps, photos, flights, and millions of people who can independently confirm it exists.

Calling that “faith in a higher power” stretches the word until it means nothing. The difference is you cannot do anything remotely similar to demonstrate that religion is true.

All the things you mentioned, except flying, is faith in your source. You want to separate the belief in one thing as being different than a belief in all other things. As I said before, Mongolia only exists because we collectively say it exists

6 hours ago, connda said:

Given the fact that this screed is nothing but your own rather dim-witted opinion which is not backed by a scintilla of hard evidence, you pretty well have shot down your own flawed premise. Nice try though.

Calling it a ‘screed’ and dodging with ‘no evidence’ is cute. If my observation has zero evidence, why are you so emotionally triggered by it, snowflake? Thanks for proving the point again. Dim-wittedly attacking the messenger is such a classic move when you can’t handle the message.

4 minutes ago, bunnydrops said:

All the things you mentioned, except flying, is faith in your source. You want to separate the belief in one thing as being different than a belief in all other things. As I said before, Mongolia only exists because we collectively say it exists

Lol, but I’ve actually been there as with the 3 people I travelled there with. You’ve just equated visiting an actual country with blind faith in a sky daddy. Peak cope. 🤣

3 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

Lol, but I’ve actually been there as with the 3 people I travelled there with. You’ve just equated visiting an actual country with blind faith in a sky daddy. Peak cope. 🤣

You have a lot of faith in your reality!

2 hours ago, save the frogs said:

One reason people are overweight is we stopped fasting.

During Ramadan in Indonesia more rice is consumed than at other times of the year.

It is supposed to be a time when ordinary people know what it is like to be hungry a condition which effects some poorer people.

Indonesians are not bad people it is just that an ancient tradition has not transitioned very well into the modern world.

31 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

Even if you have never been there yourself, you could get on a plane tomorrow and go to Mongolia to prove it exists. That is not faith, it is verifiable reality. There are maps, photos, flights, and millions of people who can independently confirm it exists.

Calling that “faith in a higher power” stretches the word until it means nothing. The difference is you cannot do anything remotely similar to demonstrate that religion is true.

There is a Mongolian lady who lives down at the end of my street.

50 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

The downside is wasting your time, money, and mental energy on something that is highly unlikely to exist. I see no merit in that. Seems like a big enough downside to me as it probably also affects your life in other negative ways if you go through your entire life believing n something that isn't true. Like waiting for Santa Claus to come down the chimney your entire life and he never does.

You do understand the futility of lamenting a decision after you're dead? Especially if you don't believe in an afterlife.

While I'm alive, I get to hang out with people whose lives are (more likely) lived according to a moral code. A couple of hours a month and a few bucks tossed into the collection plate seem a small price to pay for that. I'd rather expend my "mental energy" there than at the bars.

(Not that I claim that they're mutually exclusive... I see a lot of hungover, hurting units in church on Sundays.) But most of my spirituality isn't practiced in church anyway, and there are virtually no hangovers in those meetings. Lots of miracles, though.

Well it is certainly low IQ people who pretend to be warriors and invoke the name of God and Jesus when they are about to invade a foreign nation.

Meanwhile they don't have a spiritual bone in their toxic bodies, they are total CINOS, and they haven't spent a moment in earnest prayer in decades.

38 minutes ago, blaze master said:

There is a Mongolian lady who lives down at the end of my street.

Are you sure that is air you are breathing, bhunny? 😂

36 minutes ago, impulse said:

You do understand the futility of lamenting a decision after you're dead? Especially if you don't believe in an afterlife.

While I'm alive, I get to hang out with people whose lives are (more likely) lived according to a moral code. A couple of hours a month and a few bucks tossed into the collection plate seem a small price to pay for that. I'd rather expend my "mental energy" there than at the bars.

(Not that I claim that they're mutually exclusive... I see a lot of hungover, hurting units in church on Sundays.) But most of my spirituality isn't practiced in church anyway, and there are virtually no hangovers in those meetings. Lots of miracles, though.

I get what you’re saying about the practical side of it, and I’m not denying that community, structure, and having a moral framework can be beneficial. But that still doesn’t really address my original point.

You’re basically saying it’s worth it because it works for you, not because it’s actually true. And that’s kind of the part I’m questioning. If something isn’t true, I don’t see why we should build our lives around it, even if it comes with some benefits.

The upside you’re describing doesn’t seem unique to religion either. You can get community, purpose, and a moral code without needing to believe something that may not be real. So to me, it’s not just about whether it feels worthwhile, it’s about whether it’s grounded in reality in the first place.

Otherwise it just seems like choosing a comforting idea over a true one, and I don’t really see that as a small tradeoff.

10 hours ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

Is Religion Mainly Suited for Low IQ People?

Not necessarily religion but definitely conspiracy theorist, anti vaxxers, people with woke and left syndrome.

1 hour ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

Are you sure that is air you are breathing, bhunny? 😂

So you're telling me I can dodge bullets.

Religion, no matter which, has often been at the source of radical extremist and anarchy. All done under the excuse of religious absurdity.

There might be a "God" but what are the odds of it being one of the many that societies are currently idolizing and at worst killing in the name of? Slim IMO.

That leaves with me trying to find heaven on earth which seems to become more of a possibility these last few years.

2 hours ago, blaze master said:

So you're telling me I can dodge bullets.

No, they are not real either. I'm trying to tell you that you don't have to.

I guess what the op is asking is........."do you have to be really thick to believe in all this religious claptrap?.....YES....but there are exceptions.

If I had to pick a God it would be Christopher Hitchins.

37 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

No, they are not real either. I'm trying to tell you that you don't have to.

Thanks morpho....id still be a cognitive in the wheel without you 😆

My congressman in Appalachia was a faith healer.

So I def vote in the dumb as rocks column

19 hours ago, dinsdale said:

and it threatens an eternity of torture if you don't comply and believe in the unbelievable.

well, on another thread there was a murder suicide.

guy killed his gf and then killed himself.

then one poster wrote "RIP" in the comments section.

if I was the architect of the universe, I'm not sure I would allow murderers to "rest in peace" after death. I might want to give them a hard time.

11 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

well, on another thread there was a murder suicide.

guy killed his gf and then killed himself.

then one poster wrote "RIP" in the comments section.

if I was the architect of the universe, I'm not sure I would allow murderers to "rest in peace" after death. I might want to give them a hard time.

Smite me almighty smiter.

15 minutes ago, blaze master said:

Smite me almighty smiter.

And this is precisely why the religious bashers don't realize how stupid they are.

It's not either / or ---- It's neither / nor

Taking the Bible word for word = stupid

But you Bible bashers are equally stupid because you got NOTHING.

I'll elaborate more later.

1 minute ago, save the frogs said:

And this is precisely why the religious bashers don't realize how stupid they are.

It's not either / or ---- It's neither / nor

Taking the Bible word for word = stupid

But you Bible bashers are equally stupid because you got NOTHING.

I'll elaborate more later.

Its a movie quote you do realize that right ?

4 minutes ago, blaze master said:

Its a movie quote you do realize that right ?

No I didnt realize that

Why dont you link it next time?

7 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

No I didnt realize that

Why dont you link it next time?

I enjoyed this when it first came out...

18 hours ago, save the frogs said:

There are some positives in these texts, such as Muslims fast during Ramadan.

I think the Bible also mentions fasting.

One reason people are overweight is we stopped fasting. Fasting is anti-consumerism in a world where $$ is the new God and more is better.

Have you ever been to the Middle East?

How about Bumrungrad Hospital?

If fasting during Ramadan was helpful as you claim, Bumrungrad would be out of business.

22 minutes ago, blaze master said:

I enjoyed this when it first came out...

forgot about that one. I gotta do a jim carrey marathon.

God's not doing his job is exactly right.

14 minutes ago, Wingate said:

If fasting during Ramadan was helpful as you claim, Bumrungrad would be out of business.

sorry, not sure what you mean.

Middle Easterners probably have less obesity and diabetes than americans though.

23 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

And this is precisely why the religious bashers don't realize how stupid they are.

It's not either / or ---- It's neither / nor

Taking the Bible word for word = stupid

But you Bible bashers are equally stupid because you got NOTHING.

I'll elaborate more later.

Not sure what you mean by "got NOTHING".

Also not sure what constitutes a BIble Basher, but the epitome of silly is how "believers" think some timeless and omnipotent deity sat around for quadrillions and quadrillions of years, and then finally---a mere 13.8 billion years ago---decided to create a new massive Universe, replete with 2,000,000,000,000 galaxies, each one averaging maybe half a trillion stars, most stars likely with orbiting planets, and then in one nondescript galaxy, picked one small star that had a number of planets, created life on that planet, and then waited about 4.5 billion more years until still wildly inferior creatures could tell the deity how great it was and how thankful these creatures were for a meal or a daughter's passing of a math test, or that "my team" won a football game.

That's some serious need on the part of the deity, especially when these wildly inferior creatures are promised eternal torment and damnation if they don't suck up to the deity and boost its ego. These deities all sound incredibly human, as if they were invented by men. In fact, most deities have all the bad qualities of the worst humans...constant need for praise, petty vindictiveness, a demand that it's MY WAY or the path to Hell, etc.

I don't expect my gut bacteria to applaud me when I do something cool, yet any omnipotent deity would be even more superior to me than I am to bacteria, but according to theists, demands my constant praise and thanks.

I also wonder about this "soul" thing, as if it is something that supposedly lasts forever, so that if some deity was watching when a couple "does it", or a guy picks up a babe in a bar and takes her home for some boom boom, stands ready to insert a "soul" in the event of sperm meeting egg. Then this "soul" is carried all the way through life, even into advanced stages of dementia, so when an Alzheimer's patient, who is essentially in a vegetative state finally passes, total awareness somehow magically appears again, and can either enjoy eternity in bliss or torment.

7 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

sorry, not sure what you mean.

Middle Easterners probably have less obesity and diabetes than americans though.

Not anymore. Those giant eggplant garments hide a multitude of sins, as do the starched white thobes.