It is being redistributed to the religious. Look at the ratio of services received verses tax revenues collected on a state by state basis.
how do people stop believing in what they used to believe? When does it become mythology?
The major religions of today, how close are they of becoming extinct? Will there be new ones? Will all be forgotten one day? Will they last forever?
...between a lack of education and poverty, and religion. The dumber and poorer a given population is, the more likely they are to be religious.
If you look at the profiles of the wealthiest men; you will find they disproportionately subscribe to religion.
Also, have you ever heard of a poor Mormon?
Go back to school on this one, and while you are at it, look up an article called "The God Gene."
Have you ever met a poor Jew? Not sure how many wealthy Mormons except for Romney and Donnie and Marie. Of course, if you marry 15 of them, that's got to hurt your cash flow. That's a lot of Little House on the Prairie dresses.
Yes, I actually HAVE met a poor Jew.
But I admit I haven't met many!
I kinda like that Mormon deal. They don't hurt the cash flow much as they sew their own dresses.
Once same-sex marriage is made a Constitutional right by the Supreme Court, it is only a matter of time before polygamy is allowed again for Mormons, certain sects of Judaism, etc.
used to fuck one on the side.
This post is just more evidence as to why and how some secularists have come to their narcissistic attitudes and many others are just plain arrogant.
with a large dash of hypocritical paternalism thrown in...
isn't WW a "champion of the little guy"?
Well of course its ignorant. Look who said it.
...when it comes to religion. But the overall trend over whole societies is based largely around wealth and education.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/03/technology/03online.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
The biggest odd ball is actually the United States. We're about as religious as your average 3rd world nation.
However, when you look at state by state breakdowns, you see that religiousity is far higher in the poorest states. In other words, the wealth of NY skews the data for the people in Mississippi.
http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2007/11/religiosity_and.html
You said, ". . . you see that religiousity is far higher in the poorest states."
So therefore you've stated that in your socioeconomic egalitarian mindset, the secularist have been taking advantage of the religious. Obviously their higher wealth needs to be redistributed to the religious.
It is being redistributed to the religious. Look at the ratio of services received verses tax revenues collected on a state by state basis.
I was raised fundamentalist and was HUGELY devout until I was 40 years old(3 years ago). You can not insult or ridicule anyone out of his religion. You can not use logic or reason to argue against religious faith because faith is not built upon logic or reason. I also know fundamentalists seek out like-minded authors who tell them what they want to hear. For example, Josh McDowell says the Bible is a perfect and Divine book because there are thousands of early manuscripts. I used to buy shit like that up and now I say what does that prove except people knew how to read and write way back then.
Anyway, the first arrow into my religious faith was I couldn't help but noticing the flagrant hypocrisy of many religious people. My family used to idolize Jimmy Swaggart like no other. When it was discovered Jim Baker had slept with his secretary, Swaggart went on national television and said Baker was "a cancer that needs to be cut out of the body of Christ". Of course Swaggart himself was visiting prostitutes at the time. Also, a former Pentecostal pastor of mine left his wife for the youth pastor's wife.
What really got to me though was I tried to do what few Christians ever attempt. I tried to read through the Bible start to finish. There were a couple reasons I never read the entire Bible despite being a Christian for decades. The first reason is most of the Bible is horribly BORING. But even worse, the Old Testament especially is a blood bath of oppression and violence. There is a verse stating if a man rapes a virgin, he must pay her father and MARRY her. There are verses that say a master can beat his slave as severely as he wishes so long as the slave doesn't die. A group of little children laughed at Elijah's bald head and God ordered two bears to maul 42 of them to death. How can a sane person get any inspiration from such drivel?
I didn't even mention the myths(Noah's Ark, Adam and Eve, etc) and the over 200 contradiction in the Bible. I barely scratched the surface of the atrocities in the Bible. David took an unauthorized census so God struck dead 70,000 innocent civilians. Are you kidding me?
So maybe the end of Christianity would be to simply ask people to read the entire Bible closely for themselves, and not only listen to sweet cherry picked verses from their minister.
We already have too many non tolerant extremists, from all sides.
http://englishatheist.org/fundyath.shtml
OK, I read most of your link. I didn't say I am an atheist. I do sympathize with atheist and for such a small minority, they are horribly maligned. They are not horrible and immoral people. They actually divorce at a far lower rate than born-again Christians(I heard rumors Benny Hinn is dating Paula White who are two recently divorced tele-evangelists). Self proclaimed atheists make up well less than 1% of the prison population.
I should start a counter list to the link you provided me:
You might be a Christian fundamentalist if:
1)You think it is ok for Christians to spend BILLIONS of dollars annually to vocally spread Christianity, but atheists have no right to express their ideas.
2)You laugh at people who say the universe just created itself out of nothing, but have no problem believing a God even bigger than the universe just created Himself out of nothing.
3)You ridicule evolutionists for saying humans evolved from apes when they make no such claim.
4)You believe torturing someone in fire for trillions upon trillions upon trillions of years(forever) is a proper and just punishment for 78 years of not believing in an invisible and silent and unprovable God.
5)You might be a Christian if you have never even read the Bible start to finish(see my earlier post).
6)You vote to deny homosexual couples the right to marry because that institution is so sacred, but you love Rush Limbaugh who is on his FOURTH marriage(note: Jesus Himself condemns most remarriages).
7)You believe Tyrannosaurus Rex were on Noah's Ark 4,000 years ago(Creation museum teaches this).
1. I think everyone should have the freedom to express their ideas of faith or not and spend as much of their "own" money they wish to spend.Even though I am not a member of any church I am quite aware of the countless good many of them do for the poor.
2.I don't care what other peoples ideas are about who is the creator or not anymore than I care what adults willingly do in their bedrooms.I couldn't care any less.
3. I don't ridicule anyone who thinks apes came from God or man came from apes, just because I think man came from some sort of ape that hasn't been found ..AKA missing link
4.That seems like a harsh punishment that I have always argued against, starting in 2rd grade with the Nuns. In other words even when they had me convinced as a child ,there is a God,I often argued that God would not be so spiteful.
5.I have never read the bible from start to finish and I am not a Christian
6.If I belived in the Christian God,I would think she is smart enough to allow people to get out of unhappy marrigaes. I might not listen to Rush but he's smart enough to not stay in a fun marriage.
7. I went to catholic schools for 9 years.. I can't belive they withheld T Rex on the Ark adventures.
I'm saying atheists can't prove their point of view anymore than the Christians can and why should anyone care what someone else believes or not.
I think atheists get more clout than Christians in America,but most of them do seem to whine and complain the most. The loudest baby birds usually receive the most attention.
I didn't mean to criticize anyone for getting out of a rotten marriage. Just don't deny gays the right to marry because marriage is so "sacred" and then you yourself get married and divorced multiple times. That is hypocrisy.
You're saying atheists get more clout than Christians in America? Were you smoking something when you typed that? Atheists are the most maligned and vilified citizens in America. George H W Bush even said atheists should not be considered citizens of America because we are a nation under God. Furthermore, polls show most Americans would never vote for an atheist candidate for high political office even if he/she was immensely qualified.
"Just don't deny gays the right to marry because marriage is so "sacred" and then you yourself get married and divorced multiple times. That is hypocrisy."
Do you have any links where Rush said deny gays right to marriage because marriage is "so sacred" That sounds made up.If not, its a stupid statement by Rush.I have never heard that before.Seems the weak talking point I hear the most, marriage has always been between man and woman .I don't see the hypocrisy or a valid comparison between views on gay marriage and getting divorced.The reason gay marriage is more successful {so far} is because they are marrying the sex they desire. I would hate to think how many spineless people who marry the sex they don't desire, just to fit in society's view of normal.
IMO with separation of Church and State I don't see why the state has any authority at all on the matter. It should be up to individual churches and if a couple doesn't want a Church marriage, they should be able to go to a notary public..
wgarrow"You're saying atheists get more clout than Christians in America? Were you smoking something when you typed that? Atheists are the most maligned and vilified citizens in America."
Yeah I was smoking reality..The fact is Muslims and Christians and Jews are the most publicly villified citizens in America by a small percentage of Fundamentalist radical extremist Atheists,within a small Atheist population.
I have to admit the main religions fundamentalist radicals,sure do quarrel a lot with each other over who has the right idea.The Fundamentalist radical atheists like to scream how all the religions are wrong and bad for society.I disagree.
For such a small group from each faction they sure are loud IMO
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/12/national/main6291463.shtml
http://atheism.about.com/library/decisions/indexes/bl_l_AtheismIndex.htm
http://atheism.about.com/od/evolutionreligionreligious/tp/EvolutionCourtCasesSchools.htm
http://www.deism.com/deism_vs.htm
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had the entire Bible Old and New Testament MEMORIZED. More than just memorized of course, he could discuss any verse in a variety of contexts.
I loved engaging him in a variety of debates, for example concerning the Old Testament time lines vs. scientific data of isotope dating and astrophysics, etc. He was actually a very tolerant man.
I have no doubt you uncle was a very bright man. I wish I could pick his brain. Like how was there daylight and night time three straight days before the sun was created on day four? If humans were designed to live forever before Adam and Eve sinned and then brought death to all creation...well, if they HAD NOT sinned, no one would have ever died, so where would 100 billion people born in earth's history(and counting) fit on this small planet?
If they had not "sinned" there would have not been anymore people. The only two of them would have lived happily and forever. Supposedly now we have to pay for what they did. That would be ok but not everybody is paying or suffering the same. Some have too much money and some of us have none. I don't think I would like God very much. :-p