Thread: Religion: A fairy tale for grownups

Let's beat around the bush a little:

When you were young, were you afraid of the boogie man? Perhaps you behaved particularly well the week before Christmas? In short, were you another normal kid?

Probably. Does that mean you still check under the bed at night? Or do you still write letters to the North Pole?

These questions probably seem ridiculous to me. But if you're religious, they seem to me to be perfectly logical. Surely if you believe in one fairy tale you'll believe in the rest?

So essentially all religions have this god fellow (or fellowess). Some have more than one. HeShe is generally powerful, benevolent, omniscient and physically similar to humans, but HeShe is also often strict, harsh and sometimes downright scary.

To use the words of a better man than myself, a man in the sky has a list of 10 things he DOES NOT WANT YOU TO DO (for Christians, at least. But there are instructions in all religions in the style of the 10 commandments).

Can you not understand how absurd this is?
And yet a huge majority of the world is absorbed in, as I already titled it, this fairy tale for grownups.

Why? Do you fear death? Do you need a way to relieve your guilt? Are you unable to find the answers to lifes questions and if so do you turn to the absurd for a solution?

I can't understand why something so blindingly fictional can be so militantly popular with so many.

People kill for religion.
Would you kill for Santa Claus?

Originally Posted by Churlant

Even adults are afraid of the dark.

I imagine some of them are. Some adults probably believe in Santa Claus (though I can't explain how or why...)

But my point is, are they correct, are they justified? Should they be scared of the dark? Should they believe in Santa Claus? Should they subject themselves to others via religion?

Originally Posted by Churlant

Why do you suppose people are afraid of the dark, even when they know there's no such thing as monsters and such?

Because humans involved in an environment where they were preyed upon at night, necessitating hormones that lead to a fear response to heighten sense in order to survive. In order to be move consciously bold and move out of their element, they had to develop rationalizations for why they would be ok, ie God would protect them.

Originally Posted by Churlant

Why do you suppose people are afraid of the dark, even when they know there's no such thing as monsters and such?

I do not know. For the same reasons I don't know why people believe in Gods when they must know (if they apply logic) that the whole concept is absurd. Which is why I'm asking.

Originally Posted by Ferris

Because humans involved in an environment where they were preyed upon at night, necessitating hormones that lead to a fear response to heighten sense in order to survive. In order to be move consciously bold and move out of their element, they had to develop rationalizations for why they would be ok, ie God would protect them.

In my previous post I said I didn't know. But Ferris knows so there you go

Nobody has ever reliably documented any "Work of God"
Nobody has ever reliably documented "The presence of God"
The only evidence of God stems from a novel written thousands of years ago and then built on throughout the centuries.

The inexistence of God is, however, enough to prevent me from proving said inexistence. You cannot disprove something that doesn't exist. This doesn't mean that said something exists, simply that it cannot be disproven. Pink flying zombie unicorns don't exist, and it is because they don't exist that I cannot prove that they don't exist.

So yes, there's a logical loophole, but unbiased thinkers will arrive at the conclusion that the inexistence of God is a safe assumption to make.

I think I may have gotten slightly e-tongue tied in this post.