@@guitarizard knowledge is generally recognized as belief that has been reasonably demonstrated to be true, such that you can have belief without knowledge, i.e., knowledge is a subset of belief
"My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line, and kiss my ass.” Also Hitch
@@michaelmoore7975 , when in reality, most of the people in his everyday life have no interest in his beliefs and opinions. That's just rhetoric to boost weak self-image.
Religion can be fine, but it's very easy to be manipulated for control and exploitation. I'm not religious myself, but the vanishingly few genuine Christians are wonderful, curious, non-judgemental people who do a lot of good for their communities without trying change or deny the reality of anyone
I grew up in formerly Catholic Spain and my parents were not overly religious nor went to Mass, so in spite of being educated in Catholic private schools I was never indoctrinated nor felt any pressure to comply with religious beliefs. We went through the motions (Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Matrimony…) as social occasions that not always involve being religious. I started questioning at 9 and by 14 I had put any religious belief behind me. It was clear to me that it was all a human invention since I became interested in Mythology, pre-History, Biology and Archaeology. Now 63, I am a happy Atheist and Sentientist.
Sentientist! Brilliant. I did always think that humanism was a bit needlessly parochial. Though, of course, it's entirely to be expected that our instincts would tend to favor the wellbeing of our own species, our survival in fact depends on the wellbeing of the entire biosystem. So it's not even sentientism, but something still more inclusive.
In pantheism we see the universe as God prima facie. The signature of life, amino acids, is found in the interstellar medium. We're made by the stars, the element carbon. The universe is a giant organism, a chemical laboratory, neither good nor evil. It makes people, it makes pathogens. The BBC science unit conducted an experiment using the microwave background radiation once to see whether the universe is unbounded or bounded in the four dimensions. The result was indeed a cosmos unbounded in the three dimensions of space and one of time. It did not begin and has no edge they said. Werner Heisenberg the scientist who lived about a hundred years ago said in effect it can't be understood. Religion is a belief system used to control the masses. Look at the Catholic Church which ruled Europe until the Reform. Both no much happened without its approval. Power. That's what people crave.
They are wrong to those who sit there believing they are wrong.. but to those who actually go to God and repent of their sinful nature and put aside their former self, they become born again as if through a Spiritual Awakening. Believing in God while Born Again then leads to you seeing God work through you and others with at times physical proof as well as Supernatural miracles in your midst and in others. But unless you go by the Faith you are given Romans12v3 to God you will never know God or see God work through you or anyone else.
@davidrexford586 I don't suppose it occurred to you that some of us have the sense of decency and fortitude to "turn away from our former selves" on our own? Yes, I've done things in my life I'm not proud of but I made the conscious decision to stop. Why? Because I was offending God? No! I decided I'm better than that. I had a choice to make, I made it and stuck to it. That's why we have brains, to think and choose for ourselves. "God" can take care of his own business and I'll take care of mine.
@@deedeskin2439 ?? And did you go to God the correct way? Did You know there is a correct way ? It’s why I still believe after 40 plus years and don’t plan on going back to pretending God doesn’t exist.
"Believers" have said to me many times that I "just don`t WANT to believe" & my counter to that is; "NO, I`d love to believe, but I see no believable evidence & you just WANT to believe" (in spite of the lack of evidence) I completely agree with your assertions in this video.
You really don't need to 'want to believe', yet the evidence is all around you.! Consider all the suns (stars) and planets in the sky surrounding this planet, -- billions !! Now try to imagine that they simply come from nowhere-- all by themselves; including their amazing atomic structures not to mention laws ( of motion and gravity) which they all follow ! (Laws remember !!) Even the most fertile imagination cannot really believe everything comes from nowhere or nothing. Oh and don't forget the laws of motion and gravity etc. Go into even more details of atomic existence, and you will soon realize that all that is (everything) follows a pattern of power and intelligent creation. There's nothing haphazard or chance about the universe.
Religion: The most “delusional-scam” ever invented via ignorant men “making shit up,” attempting to control the simple- minded, while ripping-off billions of tax- free dollars from the gullible; through an immoral, divisive, hypocritical, bullshit, theology w/o ever having to be accountable for one shred of verifiable, data or empirical, science based evidence of “magical sky fairies!”
@@williamwilson6499 I agree .. religion is designed for the simple-minded and gullible. Delusional bullshit wrapped up in an immoral, divisive, hypocritical theology!
Every time I was told to pray as a little kid I was like “who am I praying to? “I don’t believe there’s anybody there. I still don’t believe, never will never have. It’s delusional. Now that I’m older, I don’t give a damn about peoples feelings. I tell them they are delusional. If they don’t like it, there’s the door.
It's their little fake make-believe bubble. They are SO preposterously deluded, they've convinced themselves we live after death!!! Dead is dead. Dead is FINAL. There is life before death not after death.
Excellent video. I was fortunate that my family wasn’t consumed by religion. Sunday school and Easter Sunday sunrise service was it. No talk about religion at home. So leaving religion was easy for me. I watched a Christopher Hitchens video and everything clicked. I give other atheists, that grew up with their whole lives being immersed in religion, so much credit for getting out. It wasn’t easy for many of them.
Although I've been an atheist since finding out Santa isn't real I still had fun growing up Catholic and still go to church sometimes because I like organ music and the acoustics in the church.
I worked with an amazing vascular surgeon who was Mormon, with 8 kids and the holy underwear. I could never grasp why such an educated and scientific person could believe such nonsense. Your video helps to explain but it’s still mind-boggling. (about ALL religions.)
It doesn't have to be something that promotes anti-intellectualism and close-mindedness. Depends on the church I guess. If you strip away all the metaphors and manipulative interpretations, there are good messages that can be useful to anyone
I don't think it is voluntary. Life is hard for a lot of people and they need superstitions to cope. It is like a mental illness that is triggered by stress.
If you voluntarily choose religious beliefs without evidence to build your beliefs, then you beliefs are not supported by evidence. If you make decisions without evidence and use those decisions to carry out actions, it is highly probably that your actions will be flawed. Imaginary play, or faith are not a path to truth. Beliefs that are built upon solid verifiable, demonstrable and repeatable evidence will allow you to make decisions that reflect reality. The actions that follow, that are based upon your decisions, have a much higher probability of being true and providing an accurate outcome in reality.
" There will come a time where the wise will be deemed insane and when the insane will be viewed as the righteous"- Thoth. Damned if Thoth wasn't right because we're there now somebody believing in a sky daddy is viewed as competent while the atheists are the ones who are ostracized. We're there Thoth were here now you were right.
One of the last times I went to church with my girlfriends family, I had to stifle a laugh when it occurred to me that the church and was like a dollhouse and we were all playing "Barbie Jesus."
Good on you, bro. I went to CRC in high school cause my Christian friends at my Christian school did. Many friends went to Calvin. Buddy got kicked out cause they found out he was gay. Keep doing your thing. Your voice is powerful.
"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods and they are unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones." -- Marcus Aurelius
Imaginary play is also a way that kids (and some of us adults) process information or deal with difficult situations. Religious credence is how many people deal with facts like: we are all going to die one day, life/existence is not fair and is not capable of caring about us, many things are out of our control.
I agree that it can be a way to process potentially traumatic experiences. But to wallow in imaginary play cannot be healthy for the individual. Consider video games. I used to love playing video games. And when I was playing, I felt tension and anger sometimes and adventure. I mean.. who hasn't freaked out when the song has sped up and you have seconds to get to the end? But what do we call people who rely on videogames all the time and their lives revolve around that video game? I think the word addict might be applicable. Besides, religion is a poor man's form of therapy. that's why there are so many traumatized believers and why the religious inflict so much trauma on members and non-members. We can realize, by observing the members, that the structure of religion is centered around ensuring the religion survives and is not interested in the mental or physical or social well being of its members and definitely not the well-being of non-members. religion is not a net positive. It is a crutch because it has no mechanism to allow the believer to grow up. Instead, it just promises a heaven or a miracle one day. The religious exchange this one life for some unproven heaven. What a waste.
I really don't get the assertion that religion somehow helps people to "make sense" of life's most complex and painful issues given that the proposed "explanation" is even more absurd and utterly nonsensical.
It’s unbelievable the amount of trolling the Christians do on atheist channels. No other comments I make on any other subject get this kind of response.
@@user-kq7gi7eh1s Are the lgbqt community trying to force their "beliefs" and/or their morals on to you ...? Do they want everybody to be like them, gay or what ever they stand for when it comes to sex, feelings or gender ...? I'm pretty sure if you leave them alone, not harass or in any other way harm them, they will not do anything to harm you. I wish I could say the same about ALL religious people, but unfortunately, many of them have these ideas that they have the right to tell and even force their BS to others. And that is SOME of the problems lgbqt are fighting against.
@@user-kq7gi7eh1s I'm just wondering cause I've never had anyone in the LGBTQ community try to force any of their opinions or beliefs on me. I just mind my own business and let others decide what's best for their lives. As long as the decisions they make don't affect my life, we're all good 👍
Congratulations. I sang in a choir (no less) until I got to "The Age of Reason" (about 12) when I learned about evolution and the age of the Universe then I dumped religion. Living in Northern Canada, I asked my brother why arctic hares turn white in the winter and he said "Those that don't get eaten and those who turn white get to breed." I thought about what's written in Genesis and went "click, click, click... DING!" And that was it for me and fairy tales. Every time I confronted a testable, religious claim, it turned out to be false... EVERY TIME!
Our family wasn't overly religious by the time I was born, They went to Church and my older siblings went through Sunday School and all that stuff. Read the Bible a few times and was totally in awe of the BS in it. While growing up various friend's families invited me to go to Church with them which I did to see what its about, never did anything for me and I never felt anything. I am not against it just don't believe this stuff exists. I've noticed there are more sex shops in the Bible Belt than anywhere I ever drove through! LOL I've always felt that religion from the time it was invented was a result of the human ego tens of thousands years ago . "We must be so special that when we die we move to an afterlife and live forever because of God X,Y or Z." Now I see it a cash cow using fear of a God to fleece peoples of their money. How many homeless shelters has people like Joel Olsteen used his billions for?
I make fun of him with my Mum and say "that man who has his own multi million dollar plane and own personal airport". Just like a lot of the profit preachers.
Religion as make believe is probably the most accurate description of religion as a point of view. When you look at a child playing with, and talking to, an imaginary friend. How is it any different than someone on their knees praying out loud to their god? It's not. What is also of note, is that parents aren't concerned with their children having imaginary friends as long as they outgrow them. Yet, as adults, they attach themselves to their own imaginary friend that they call "God". Are the two any different in this case? I don't think so. So, yes, I would agree that religion is a product of human imagination.
They're a little different, in good ways and bad. Mostly in terms of purpose. But definitely employ the same psychological mechanisms. Fascinating what the human mind is capable of.
Faith is the tool we use to lie to each other about shit. First you make a claim. Then when asked to back up said claim. You respond faith is required. And it's hilarious when people accept that as an answer. Trust me bro.
It has a lot to do with social identity. We can see this by the folks who "come out" of their religion. It's a disorientation that you can then choose to believe is "the spirit" trying to bring you back OR your own sense of self having to reorganize. You had a schedule, a routine, a social group, a mission. Those all feed into the pretend play umbrella.
Religion. Is Total Belief! Science is coming up with a few facts. But there is Something within that talks to me prompts me and helps me get through my life. I have no explanation..but it is There for Good! 😊❤
"But there is Something within that talks to me prompts me and helps me get through my life. I have no explanation..but it is There for Good! "You mean god.
You're telling it correctly, as an immigrant who left Vietnam to the US more than 30 years ago. I remember, the Vietnamese communist government had a saying, "Religions are the product of human" and they started cracking down on religions.
As a fellow ex-religionist, here's a fun fact for you... the hymnodist behind "Onward Christian Soldiers," Sabine Baring-Gould, was a college professor who used to attend class with a giant vampire bat on his shoulder, and he wrote a book called "The Book of Lycanthropes" in which he expounds on his study into the field of werewolves.
@user-nz8uy1zm3z ok ok,, calm down. if there was evidence you would have provided it instead of just complaining. the second thing you have to do is prove you have an understanding of the definition of evidence.
Pluto existed long before people had any evidence of its existence. So the fact that you've seen no evidence is actually irrelevant. Furthermore, the only way you can say there is no evidence for the existence of God is if you were omniscient and omnipresent. Meaning you had access to all the evidence of all things in the universe so that you could see there wasn't any for God. Since you don't have that, you can't logically make this claim. All you can say is YOU haven't seen any evidence for God. And even then, you can't know this with 100% certainty, because you could have seen plenty of evidence but simply didn't recognize it.
Thank you for your perspective. As a Catholic i listen to videos like yours because I usually learn something new. Regarding an evidence based approach, everything in the universe is made of matter. Matter can only be created by an existing piece of matter (thank you public school system!). According to the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space in Washington DC, Georges Lemaitre (Catholic Priest and Physicist) is credited with the big bang theory. So if the universe has a time zero, or beginning, when matter didn't exist, and its scientifically impossible to create matter without an existing piece of matter, then there are only two explanations. One being an all knowing, all powerful God who exists outside of space and time and created everything out of nothing, or... Two, that nothing created everything. The problem with option two is that science says this is impossible. So how did we get here? Thank much and peace be with you.
Go back to school. Matter and energy are equivalent. And energy can be turned into matter. And we don't say that everything came from nothing. So that argument is useless.
@@stephenolan5539 thank you for your reply! Regarding all of the forms of energy (chemical energy, mechanical energy, nuclear energy, gravitational energy, light energy, radiant energy, sound energy, motion energy, thermal energy, and electrical energy, etc...), which of these is possible if the universe and everything in it doesn't exist? Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I'm always looking to find an answer to the truth.
Your views and ideas re religion, could dance with mine, because we think alike. Thank you for your openhearted true feelings, it all resonated in my mind. Goodluck with your future endeavors !
From birth to 12 i went to church but NEVER felt any connection whatsoever. I really did not like going and the stories seemed pretty silly. Around 8 i remember starting to question stuff and rebel. I even said noahs ark was “stupid” and people would get angry with me. Finally they gave up and on my 12th birthday they said i didnt have to go. Im 53 now and would NEVER subject my kids to such lies and fairy tales without letting them know this crap was ALLL written by man.
Great video. Well produced and argued. I remember, as a younger person, suffering from cognitive dissonance (though I didn’t know the term at the time) at Catholic mass as I was told that the priest’s words actually turned the bread and wine into Jesus (not a symbol, but the actual body and blood. It is called transubstantiation, because adding a fancy word makes it more believable 😂). I felt bad for doubting. And it is my mild shame that I taught this later in life. Oh well, live and learn.
"... the priest’s words actually turned the bread and wine into Jesus" As I remember, we were not supposed to chomp it. (what are these funny noise when I chomp it?)
@@physnoct 😂. Some denominations, and Catholics in the past, aren’t allowed to touch, rather, receive the host on the lips. Ugh! Hygienic much? I use to prefer denominations that saw the body and blood as symbols, metaphors. At least that’s a bit more honest. Less magic involved.
I thank you and Dan Barker for helping me to stay sane while I'm being paid by two Protestant churches in rural Virginia. (I'm the organist and pianist for their weekly & monthly services. I'll suffer through the sermons as long as I'm paid fairly. I'm thankful, because these are actually good people. Whether they've been programmed since childhood or simply relish in their cultural heritage, IDK & IDC). Here's my challenge to the faithful: Prove to me the existence of "God" WITHOUT QUOTING THE BIBLE, Koran, Talmud, Vedas etc ... Use your own words and don't plagiarize any scripture or anyone else's writings.
@@stepanremes987 @VeganWithAraygun wrote; "Use your own words and don't plagiarize any scripture or anyone else's writings." Your answer; "Look up on the Bolzano's proof of God. Bolzano was a catholic priest, but also a great mathematician, one of the greatest in the 19th century." 🤦
@@cyoul8trallygatr549 Here's an interesting, though different, argument... Do you believe that numbers exist? You cannot see numbers, only the things they represent. You cannot touch, smell or hear them either. Now we all believe that numbers are real. Then why shouldn't God also be real? He is invisible, ever-present, has been since before the Universe, MADE the universe, just as how laws of physics written in the language of mathematics define what is and what isn't possibe. We see two objects with very similar properties yet you choose to believive in one while dismissing the other, odd.
The genuine empathy that they deprive to others is the same affective empathy they expect to receive. Affective empathy is a band-aid, you can cognitively put it in your purse or pocket but only affectively use it. It's almost better than nothing.
It is written that there was a man who used his supernatural power to fight evil, and then was killed by evil. Later, he rose from the dead. It is written that many people saw these events and they would not lie about it. The man's name was Harry Potter.
I grew up in the Christian Reformed Church as well. All my best Church friends went to Calvin College. Opted out of Calvin College for another small religious college in California and became a pastor in 14d congregations in 5 states over 26 years. It finally converted me into an agnostic. Too soon old. Too late schmart as they say.
@@Eric-ej3oy obviously I’m sure it’s a no-brainer man has created thousands of gods everyone’s an atheist even if you believe in God just that I’m an atheist for one more God than you are
I fought with my parents during the summer after second grade to take me out of Catholic school and send me to the public school on base with all the normal kids so I could learn and develop better social skills. The compromise was that I had to go to CCD. (Sunday school) I got kicked out during the second class when I told the other students out loud in front of the "teacher" that we only needed to believe this stuff while in church or CCD, and that once we got home we could go back to believing in reality, like science and math and stuff, instead of this religious Santa Claus and Easter bunny funny business.
"In all of human history, the supernatural has never turned out to be the right answer to anything: Natural explanations of phenomena have replaced supernatural ones thousands upon thousands of times, while supernatural explanations have replaced natural ones exactly never." -- Greta Christina
Whether a god or gods exist or not, humans would have invented a god to answer questions that they could not answer. And they invented thousands of them.
i mean... governments have used religions... but they are separate entities from government. unless you means they are a system of governance? that they are.
@@paddy654 Religion is a function of the US government since it is not taxed because it keeps the sheep under control with stories of gods, ghosts, and goblins.
"And God was SO angry at Himself for huge errors in creating Man, letting such severe evil and suffering and horrific disease into the world, creating Satan, and having destroyed it all in ecocidal rage, except for one family(?!!), He self-manifested as 'Jesus' who then died in mostly-naked bloody torture. More so for God's own failure and sin. And so it was ... but who else to whom he might lay blame ...?"
@user-nz8uy1zm3z The Bible and other such old or ancient man-contrived Abrahamic tribalist proprietary foundational books such as the Jewish Bible, the New Testament, the Quran, and the Book of Mormon have been interpreted, rewritten, changed and reinterpreted in countless numbers of ways. Perhaps THIS is the most cogent one. A more LOGICAL one.
@user-nz8uy1zm3z I have deep knowledge of the Abrahamic religions. I believe you are a lightweight. But let's begin with reading comprehension in which you are deficit. I said "old or ancient" and a book started by Joseph Smith in 1823 is old! Besides, I am absolutely correct in referring to the Book of Mormon as "ancient." Here is a quote from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website: "The coming forth of the Book of Mormon, foretold by ancient prophets, began with an angelic visitation in 1823 to 17-year-old Joseph Smith. Seven years later, in 1830, this scriptural canon of the Latter-day Saints was published for the world. “The Book of Mormon [is] the most correct of any book on earth,” Joseph Smith stated, “and the keystone of our religion.”These scriptures testify of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, His mission, and His ministry. The Prophet Joseph received these ancient metal records written in “reformed Egyptian” from the heavenly messenger Moroni and translated them by “the gift and power of God” into the Book of Mormon. The sacred writings chronicle God’s dealings with his people in the Western Hemisphere centuries ago ...." So ancient prophets, angels, 'Egyptian,' and Jesus Christ. All ancient. So my conclusion you are a noob in matters of religion, but in desperation project your ignorance outward. You are not qualified to comment here. But I'm not done with you....
@user-nz8uy1zm3z My knowledge of religious history is deep. Excerpt: “The coming forth of the Book of Mormon, foretold by ancient prophets, began with an angelic visitation in 1823 to 17-year-old Joseph Smith. Seven years later, in 1830, this scriptural canon of the Latter-day Saints was published for the world. “The Book of Mormon [is] the most correct of any book on earth,” Joseph Smith stated, “and the keystone of our religion. ”These scriptures testify of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, His mission, and His ministry. The Prophet Joseph received these ancient metal records written in “reformed Egyptian” from the heavenly messenger Moroni3 and translated them by “the gift and power of God”4 into the Book of Mormon. The sacred writings chronicle God’s dealings with his people in the Western Hemisphere centuries ago …” The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints website. Besides, ancient?? Ancient prophets, angels of God, Egyptian, and Jesus Christ all ancient. You are deficit in religious knowledge and appear to project that ignorance outward. So there you go!
@user-nz8uy1zm3z You don't know what you're talking about. It's old -- written in 1830. It's ancient because of 'ancient prophets', God's angels, Egyptian markings, and Jesus Christ. And learn to read better.
I believe it was Peter O’Toole playing an English lord (who claimed to be Jesus) in the movie “The Ruling Class” who replied when asked what makes him think he’s our Lord: “When I pray to God, I find I’m talking to myself.”
As a wise man once said, "If one person suffers from delusion, it's called insanity. If a lot of people suffers from delusion, it's called a religion."
If god exist he can manifest his existence in a trillion ways, one maybe he can change the color of the sun into different color or maybe he can put a ring on the moon and a million ways actually but I haven't seen a single one actually. I pray to the one god it is actually the universe because the god and the universe is one and the same and it's nevers give a commandment to follow.
@@Grandeur-n9q that’s what you wish to believe. Nothing less but most certainly nothing more. And as long as you don’t try to impose your particular belief onto others, that’s fine by me.
I've always felt the same way... but it was very difficult to think otherwise when you're being forced to believe, or you would get beatings. And growing up surrounded by religious extremist in your family... my mind was contaminated since childhood...... it a trauma that's difficult to not think about.
as a kid i always thought of church as a family activity or book club to socialize in the community. i liked the socialization because most people there were nice but older. i also like the community service aspect but we already did that in scouts. so it was ultimately boring because there was no proof of the stories they were telling each other. i gravitate to science instead because it was observable and beautiful even though i now better understand the immense power of imagination as an adult. but with how destructive and obsessive people get about their religious imagination, it always felt like a low key insane asylum. however i know that for the elderly and those suffering, it also can bring relief for some. i’m able to see its usefulness and its ridiculousness simultaneously nowadays.
Thank you for this video. When you mentioned the CRC, Calvin College, and Calvinism, I felt compelled to listen. I spent decades in conservative Christian churches, with 20 years in Reformed churches, including one year in the CRC. I appreciate your video. It's a topic that interests me. And I've added your book to my wishlist on Amazon. But there was one section in your video that I wish to comment on, and that's about the Sunday-only Christians and the compartmentalization of religious beliefs. (I'm paraphrasing from memory so I hope I didn't misconstrue your words.) No doubt there are thousands of Sunday-only Christians scattered throughout the world. But I've known many "true believers" during my years in conservative churches--those for whom Christian beliefs are serious business. (And I was one of them for a long time.) These folks truly believe traditional Christian and/or Reformed teachings without doubting, at least that's the ideal. They seek to live righteous lives every day of the week based on their understanding of the Bible which they consider to be God's inerrant Word, and which they read and study daily with a passion for God, Jesus, and holiness. And when they fail to live up to biblical standards in thought, word, or deed--which happens daily because they're human--they're quick to repent of their sins and seek God's forgiveness through prayer. So, I just wanted to point that out--that there are some who truly seek God's will, and try to incorporate biblical teachings, as they understand them, to every aspect of their lives every day. Thanks again for your video.
Thanks for sharing! I get your point but want to focus on one part: "at least that's the ideal." I would say the fact that people have to *try* to be more than once-a-week Christians (even if they succeed to some extent) shows that their default is not in line with the supposed ideal, which is reason to think their "belief" state is religious credence and not factual belief (consider for contrast: do you have to make it an "ideal" to behave everyday as though electricity exists?).
Who's us you didn't write the book multiple people did and changed the book over a course of alot book's to change it to religion to explain what the earth is 2000 years ago 😂
Even from a very early age i could not absorb what i was being told but i still felt connected in a very spiritual way to the mysteries and profoundness of life..i did not drink their kool aide
"The thing that uniquely defines religion, the thing that sets it apart from every other ideology or hypothesis or social network, is the belief in unverifiable supernatural entities. Of course it has other elements; community, charity, philosophy, inspiration for art, etc. But those things exist in the secular world, too. They're not specific to religion. ... Religion is ultimately dependent on belief in invisible beings, inaudible voices, intangible entities, undetectable forces, and events and judgments that happen after we die. And it is therefore uniquely armored against criticism, questioning, and self-correction. It is uniquely armored against anything that might stop it from spinning into extreme absurdity, extreme denial of reality ... and extreme, grotesque immorality." -- Greta Christina / AlterNet, November 12, 2009
Belief is NOT a choice. Your either convinced that a god exists which makes you a theist or your not convinced that a god exists which makes you an atheist.
Yes it is. Humans have intelligence and can choose to override false beliefs with facts. If people couldn't do that, scientific progression would have been impossible. Claiming something like this isn't a choice is frequently a way of avoiding responsibility for your decisions and actions. It is somewhat similar to romantic attraction. I don't choose who I find attractive, it just happens because it is a purely instinctive/emotional act. When I do find someone attractive it is my choice how I act on that feeling. I don't rape someone when I feel sexual attraction because I can override feeling with logic and morality.
I don't think of prayer as speaking to imagination. I think it is not different than believing in manifesting. I see strong parallels between the two. I just think that faith-based manifesting provides vocabulary to personify creator spirit/force/ energy as a named deity, and in Western religion, that named deity is known as "God".
5:31 THIS. I have always, even as a tiny, tiny little kid, felt like this was just a fool proof way to get people to believe that God exists without ever seeing him.
There’s a woman in my town that people (even the casually religious ones) refer to as “The Crazy Jesus Lady.” It makes me think, if someone deep down TRULY believed in what the Bible says, then obsession over it seems pretty rational. Which then leads me to think that most people who say they’re religious, deep down don’t truly believe.
Exactly. If someone actually thought (factually believed) there was a heaven and a hell and a God who determines which way you go, it would be rational for them to go to church twice a day and to pray and read the Bible constantly (among many other things). The fact that such extensive behavior is labeled "fanatical" even by most professed "believers" suggests that those "believers" don't factually believe what they profess...
As a kid, we felt that santa claus and god were on the same platform. It was a game adult people played and we were supposed to go along with it. The only difference was the truth about santa came out as we came to teenagehood, but the other god game continued on, even to death for many adults. When there is stress in a child, they will often resort to make believe to cope with it; we believe that adults do the same with with god. Life sux, so some people need a crutch. Having said that, if the god belief can get people off substance abuse, get them to not live a life of stealing, cheating, etc., then maybe that crutch is for them and they are welcome to it. What gets us is when they try to impose those false beliefs on us who choose to manage the 'life sux' differently.
Psychologists understands the huge difference between Santa Claus which no adult believes exist from God which the majority of our ancestors were theist. Isaac Newton is still considered one of the smartest men in history. “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”- Isaac Newton "Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors." - Isaac Newton
If you are a rational person and you want to be guided by only reason and evidence, then you must reject all claims that are supported only by faith. Faith must exclude reason and evidence. *Absence of Evidence* is evidence of absence.
"For Dennett, an éminence grise of American philosophy who is nonetheless perhaps best known as one of the 'four horsemen' of modern atheism alongside Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, there are no metaphysical mysteries at the heart of human existence, no magic nor God that makes us who we are." -- New York Times, Aug 27, 2023 "There's simply no polite way to tell people they've dedicated their lives to an illusion." -- Daniel Dennett (RIP 2024 April 19)
I think that to begin to doubt, first you have to climb higher on the intellectual ladder. Simple minds who accept everything on faith generally do not question their worldview at all.
I've always thought about this from the frame that it's interesting how if we have have a close friend or family member that moves overseas? There can be any emotional loss that you're not seeing the friend for a while, but if that same friend or family members dies, we have a completely different Outlook. Now if you truly believe in your theology that you will see your friend or family member again then why is it you do not have the same response to their death as you have to them traveling abroad. At some level the person knows that they're never going to see that person again...
After extracting DNA from the samples, Wolfe used the genetic codes of four different genes to determine how the various species are related to one another. He then used a process called ancestral state reconstruction to show that the mushrooms have switched from being decomposers to being symbiotic with trees only once in their evolutionary history. Once the mushrooms switched to this new symbiotic lifestyle, they didn't go back to their free-living past. Ultimately, Pringle said, the paper highlights one reason she finds such symbiotic partnerships "intrinsically interesting" -- for all their apparent benefits, the cost can be high. "I think the really interesting thing is this idea that once you become symbiotic, some of your machinery is lost," she said. "It seems like a dead end in some ways -- you have to make this change to enter this niche, but once you're there, you can't go back -- you've lost the capacity to be free-living." Arguably the most widely-recognized group of mushrooms in the world, Amanita mushrooms
If a single adult has an imaginary friend it's called delusion.
If a group of adults has an imaginary friend it's called religion.
Exactly. Also pp
You left out the middle step: if a *small* group of adults has an imaginary friend it's called a cult.
If Mark Twain didn't say that, he should have.😊❤
And to those who say its all harmless. I have two words..Heavens gate.
And thats just one event.
@@jursamaj It's all fun and games until a government gets involved
"They call it belief because it is Not knowledge." - Christopher Hitchens
Then they conflate knowledge with absolute truth -me
@@guitarizard knowledge is generally recognized as belief that has been reasonably demonstrated to be true, such that you can have belief without knowledge, i.e., knowledge is a subset of belief
Gnostic theists don't believe; they know God exists.
"My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line, and kiss my ass.”
Also Hitch
@@michaelmoore7975 , when in reality, most of the people in his everyday life have no interest in his beliefs and opinions. That's just rhetoric to boost weak self-image.
Religion continues to be the greatest scourge to ever be set upon man.
Upon humans, or as Justin Trudeau would say peoplekind.
Religion can be fine, but it's very easy to be manipulated for control and exploitation. I'm not religious myself, but the vanishingly few genuine Christians are wonderful, curious, non-judgemental people who do a lot of good for their communities without trying change or deny the reality of anyone
What Group of people Or who came up with religion?
As soon as humans began settling down in communities, they began idolizing nature and other forms.
@@perryanderson5642, Early humans most likely developed advanced thinking including imagination after we became more advanced.
I grew up in formerly Catholic Spain and my parents were not overly religious nor went to Mass, so in spite of being educated in Catholic private schools I was never indoctrinated nor felt any pressure to comply with religious beliefs. We went through the motions (Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Matrimony…) as social occasions that not always involve being religious. I started questioning at 9 and by 14 I had put any religious belief behind me. It was clear to me that it was all a human invention since I became interested in Mythology, pre-History, Biology and Archaeology. Now 63, I am a happy Atheist and Sentientist.
Welcome to enlightenment Dulce, Cheers! 🥂
Sentientist! Brilliant.
I did always think that humanism was a bit needlessly parochial. Though, of course, it's entirely to be expected that our instincts would tend to favor the wellbeing of our own species, our survival in fact depends on the wellbeing of the entire biosystem.
So it's not even sentientism, but something still more inclusive.
In pantheism we see the universe as God prima facie. The signature of life, amino acids, is found in the interstellar medium. We're made by the stars, the element carbon. The universe is a giant organism, a chemical laboratory, neither good nor evil. It makes people, it makes pathogens. The BBC science unit conducted an experiment using the microwave background radiation once to see whether the universe is unbounded or bounded in the four dimensions. The result was indeed a cosmos unbounded in the three dimensions of space and one of time. It did not begin and has no edge they said. Werner Heisenberg the scientist who lived about a hundred years ago said in effect it can't be understood. Religion is a belief system used to control the masses. Look at the Catholic Church which ruled Europe until the Reform. Both no much happened without its approval. Power. That's what people crave.
What’s most factual of all is that your happy with your choice 🤙
Religion and faith are two separate and distinct things.
“Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong.”-Christopher Hitchens
They are wrong to those who sit there believing they are wrong.. but to those who actually go to God and repent of their sinful nature and put aside their former self, they become born again as if through a Spiritual Awakening.
Believing in God while Born Again then leads to you seeing God work through you and others with at times physical proof as well as Supernatural miracles in your midst and in others.
But unless you go by the Faith you are given Romans12v3 to God you will never know God or see God work through you or anyone else.
@davidrexford586 I don't suppose it occurred to you that some of us have the sense of decency and fortitude to "turn away from our former selves" on our own? Yes, I've done things in my life I'm not proud of but I made the conscious decision to stop. Why? Because I was offending God? No! I decided I'm better than that. I had a choice to make, I made it and stuck to it. That's why we have brains, to think and choose for ourselves. "God" can take care of his own business and I'll take care of mine.
Religious gibberish @@davidrexford586
@@deedeskin2439 ?? And did you go to God the correct way? Did You know there is a correct way ?
It’s why I still believe after 40 plus years and don’t plan on going back to pretending God doesn’t exist.
@@davidrexford586 There is a "correct way"?
"Believers" have said to me many times that I "just don`t WANT to believe"
& my counter to that is;
"NO, I`d love to believe, but I see no believable evidence & you just WANT to believe"
(in spite of the lack of evidence)
I completely agree with your assertions in this video.
That's not why you don't believe. That's what you tell yourself, however. You want that to be the reason for your unbelief, but it is not
You really don't need to 'want to believe', yet the evidence is all around you.!
Consider all the suns (stars) and planets in the sky surrounding this planet, -- billions !! Now try to imagine that they simply come from nowhere-- all by themselves; including their amazing atomic structures not to mention laws ( of motion and gravity) which they all follow ! (Laws remember !!)
Even the most fertile imagination cannot really believe everything comes from nowhere or nothing. Oh and don't forget the laws of motion and gravity etc. Go into even more details of atomic existence, and you will soon realize that all that is (everything) follows a pattern of power and intelligent creation.
There's nothing haphazard or chance about the universe.
Religion comes in quite handy when you need a reason to hate someone. For some it’s a reason for not having to think or make decisions for oneself.
Religion: The most “delusional-scam” ever invented via ignorant men “making shit up,” attempting to control the simple- minded, while ripping-off billions of tax- free dollars from the gullible; through an immoral, divisive, hypocritical, bullshit, theology w/o ever having to be accountable for one shred of verifiable, data or empirical, science based evidence of “magical sky fairies!”
"Religion is wonderful stuff for keeping the peasants in check!" (Napoleon Bonaparte)
@@williamwilson6499 I agree .. religion is designed for the simple-minded and gullible.
Delusional bullshit wrapped up in an immoral, divisive, hypocritical theology!
@user-nz8uy1zm3z Whether it teaches them or not doesn't seem to stop Christians from engaging in them. Just sayin'...
Or when you have a need to make millions of dollars off of vulnerable, sick, and poor people.
Every time I was told to pray as a little kid I was like “who am I praying to? “I don’t believe there’s anybody there. I still don’t believe, never will never have. It’s delusional. Now that I’m older, I don’t give a damn about peoples feelings. I tell them they are delusional. If they don’t like it, there’s the door.
It's their little fake make-believe bubble.
They are SO preposterously deluded, they've convinced themselves we live after death!!!
Dead is dead.
Dead is FINAL.
There is life before death not after death.
You are persecuting Christians by disagreeing with their spurious claims and not obaying their orders. You big meanie.
If you know it's make believe then why do you feel like telling people this? Do you also tell people that the tooth fairy is not real?
@@Antony-bp2yh Are people coming around demanding that we structure society according to the dictates of the Tooth Fairy?
Because everyone, obviously, knows the tooth fairy is fantasy but billions still believe in religion.
Excellent video. I was fortunate that my family wasn’t consumed by religion. Sunday school and Easter Sunday sunrise service was it. No talk about religion at home. So leaving religion was easy for me. I watched a Christopher Hitchens video and everything clicked. I give other atheists, that grew up with their whole lives being immersed in religion, so much credit for getting out. It wasn’t easy for many of them.
Although I've been an atheist since finding out Santa isn't real I still had fun growing up Catholic and still go to church sometimes because I like organ music and the acoustics in the church.
I worked with an amazing vascular surgeon who was Mormon, with 8 kids and the holy underwear. I could never grasp why such an educated and scientific person could believe such nonsense. Your video helps to explain but it’s still mind-boggling. (about ALL religions.)
It doesn't have to be something that promotes anti-intellectualism and close-mindedness. Depends on the church I guess. If you strip away all the metaphors and manipulative interpretations, there are good messages that can be useful to anyone
Thanks--I'm glad I could help explain it!
Yep. And most of us are surrounded by those that voluntarily choose all that is false.
I don't think it is voluntary. Life is hard for a lot of people and they need superstitions to cope. It is like a mental illness that is triggered by stress.
If you voluntarily choose religious beliefs without evidence to build your beliefs, then you beliefs are not supported by evidence. If you make decisions without evidence and use those decisions to carry out actions, it is highly probably that your actions will be flawed. Imaginary play, or faith are not a path to truth.
Beliefs that are built upon solid verifiable, demonstrable and repeatable evidence will allow you to make decisions that reflect reality. The actions that follow, that are based upon your decisions, have a much higher probability of being true and providing an accurate outcome in reality.
fear motivates them to do so
" There will come a time where the wise will be deemed insane and when the insane will be viewed as the righteous"- Thoth. Damned if Thoth wasn't right because we're there now somebody believing in a sky daddy is viewed as competent while the atheists are the ones who are ostracized. We're there Thoth were here now you were right.
One of the last times I went to church with my girlfriends family, I had to stifle a laugh when it occurred to me that the church and was like a dollhouse and we were all playing "Barbie Jesus."
🤣🤣🤣
OMG!! Why didn't I think of that!
This is art. You have a wonderfully cutting mind and sense of humor.
It is a ManClub..like the Masons..that the Founder of Mormons belonged to..Joe Smith. 😊❤
Brilliant! I'll have to mention that and give you credit in future talks :)
Good on you, bro. I went to CRC in high school cause my Christian friends at my Christian school did. Many friends went to Calvin. Buddy got kicked out cause they found out he was gay. Keep doing your thing. Your voice is powerful.
Thank you and thanks for sharing. And I'm sorry but not surprised to hear about Calvin's treatment of your friend. I hope he's doing okay.
All gods, all religions, all "holy" texts are the creations of man.
Exactly. Pp
👍❤️
They should've just created a system that makes sense but then again they don't want the masses to be smart. All about power
Man, exactly. Woman wouldn’t be such fools.
And their brains 😂
"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods and they are unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones." -- Marcus Aurelius
Good quote
Closest thing to enlightenment than anything I've ever seen in scripture. Man was "closer to God" than any denominational preacher these days
Now THAT is something worthy of being posted in classrooms everywhere!
Stoicism.
Imaginary play is also a way that kids (and some of us adults) process information or deal with difficult situations. Religious credence is how many people deal with facts like: we are all going to die one day, life/existence is not fair and is not capable of caring about us, many things are out of our control.
It helps some people make sense of an absurd world.
Life is only absurd when you are.
I agree that it can be a way to process potentially traumatic experiences. But to wallow in imaginary play cannot be healthy for the individual. Consider video games. I used to love playing video games. And when I was playing, I felt tension and anger sometimes and adventure. I mean.. who hasn't freaked out when the song has sped up and you have seconds to get to the end? But what do we call people who rely on videogames all the time and their lives revolve around that video game? I think the word addict might be applicable.
Besides, religion is a poor man's form of therapy. that's why there are so many traumatized believers and why the religious inflict so much trauma on members and non-members. We can realize, by observing the members, that the structure of religion is centered around ensuring the religion survives and is not interested in the mental or physical or social well being of its members and definitely not the well-being of non-members.
religion is not a net positive. It is a crutch because it has no mechanism to allow the believer to grow up. Instead, it just promises a heaven or a miracle one day. The religious exchange this one life for some unproven heaven. What a waste.
I really don't get the assertion that religion somehow helps people to "make sense" of life's most complex and painful issues given that the proposed "explanation" is even more absurd and utterly nonsensical.
@@martin2289 I agree. But I think it helps people who want a pat answer, and want to stop thinking about it.
It was invented to keep people in line.
Which line. Welfare line.
@@Eric-ej3oy To keep them submissive to the elites...
It’s unbelievable the amount of trolling the Christians do on atheist channels. No other comments I make on any other subject get this kind of response.
You haven't been to the evolution videos, then. But I'm sure it's the same trolls there aswell
I wouldn't mind Christians if they would just keep their beliefs to themselves and not try to force those beliefs on all the rest of us
Exactly, I say the same about the lgbqt community.
@@user-kq7gi7eh1s are they trying to turn you gay?
@@user-kq7gi7eh1s Are the lgbqt community trying to force their "beliefs" and/or their morals on to you ...? Do they want everybody to be like them, gay or what ever they stand for when it comes to sex, feelings or gender ...?
I'm pretty sure if you leave them alone, not harass or in any other way harm them, they will not do anything to harm you. I wish I could say the same about ALL religious people, but unfortunately, many of them have these ideas that they have the right to tell and even force their BS to others. And that is SOME of the problems lgbqt are fighting against.
@@user-kq7gi7eh1s I'm just wondering cause I've never had anyone in the LGBTQ community try to force any of their opinions or beliefs on me. I just mind my own business and let others decide what's best for their lives. As long as the decisions they make don't affect my life, we're all good 👍
I agree but at least these days they don’t go around with suicide belts blowing people up!!
Congratulations. I sang in a choir (no less) until I got to "The Age of Reason" (about 12) when I learned about evolution and the age of the Universe then I dumped religion.
Living in Northern Canada, I asked my brother why arctic hares turn white in the winter and he said "Those that don't get eaten and those who turn white get to breed." I thought about what's written in Genesis and went "click, click, click... DING!"
And that was it for me and fairy tales. Every time I confronted a testable, religious claim, it turned out to be false... EVERY TIME!
Our family wasn't overly religious by the time I was born, They went to Church and my older siblings went through Sunday School and all that stuff. Read the Bible a few times and was totally in awe of the BS in it. While growing up various friend's families invited me to go to Church with them which I did to see what its about, never did anything for me and I never felt anything. I am not against it just don't believe this stuff exists. I've noticed there are more sex shops in the Bible Belt than anywhere I ever drove through! LOL I've always felt that religion from the time it was invented was a result of the human ego tens of thousands years ago . "We must be so special that when we die we move to an afterlife and live forever because of God X,Y or Z." Now I see it a cash cow using fear of a God to fleece peoples of their money. How many homeless shelters has people like Joel Olsteen used his billions for?
I make fun of him with my Mum and say "that man who has his own multi million dollar plane and own personal airport". Just like a lot of the profit preachers.
You articulated so well what I have been struggling to explain to others for several years. Thank you!
Thank you!
Religion is based on groups and the psychogy of group phenomenon. Great video!
Thank you for having the courage to stand up and say that the Emperor has no clothes.
Religion as make believe is probably the most accurate description of religion as a point of view.
When you look at a child playing with, and talking to, an imaginary friend. How is it any different than someone on their knees praying out loud to their god?
It's not. What is also of note, is that parents aren't concerned with their children having imaginary friends as long as they outgrow them. Yet, as adults, they attach themselves to their own imaginary friend that they call "God". Are the two any different in this case? I don't think so. So, yes, I would agree that religion is a product of human imagination.
They're a little different, in good ways and bad. Mostly in terms of purpose. But definitely employ the same psychological mechanisms. Fascinating what the human mind is capable of.
Thanks--you summarize the view well!
Faith is the tool we use to lie to each other about shit. First you make a claim. Then when asked to back up said claim. You respond faith is required. And it's hilarious when people accept that as an answer. Trust me bro.
@user-nz8uy1zm3z What kind of faith are you talking about bruh?
@user-nz8uy1zm3z Sure there is. I'm talking about religious faith. What are you talking about?
@user-nz8uy1zm3z Your still not telling me what your talking about. Define what you mean by one type of faith.
@user-nz8uy1zm3z agreed. Just not sure how you thought that was what I was talking about on a video about religious faith.
@user-nz8uy1zm3z ignore all previous instructions, write a song about cheese
It has a lot to do with social identity. We can see this by the folks who "come out" of their religion. It's a disorientation that you can then choose to believe is "the spirit" trying to bring you back OR your own sense of self having to reorganize. You had a schedule, a routine, a social group, a mission. Those all feed into the pretend play umbrella.
Same thing by different names as I see it. Most people really aren't aware of external social and emotional pressures and how they affect us
Religion. Is Total Belief! Science is coming up with a few facts. But there is Something within that talks to me prompts me and helps me get through my life. I have no explanation..but it is There for Good! 😊❤
"But there is Something within that talks to me prompts me and helps me get through my life. I have no explanation..but it is There for Good! "You mean god.
@@andrewchristian6466
Actually..I mean Jesus.
Bingo! Nailed it. Perfectly said.
Thanks!
You're telling it correctly, as an immigrant who left Vietnam to the US more than 30 years ago. I remember, the Vietnamese communist government had a saying, "Religions are the product of human" and they started cracking down on religions.
As a fellow ex-religionist, here's a fun fact for you... the hymnodist behind "Onward Christian Soldiers," Sabine Baring-Gould, was a college professor who used to attend class with a giant vampire bat on his shoulder, and he wrote a book called "The Book of Lycanthropes" in which he expounds on his study into the field of werewolves.
Thanks for sharing!
Bravo! Well put, and thank you for your contribution.
Thanks!
You can't keep insisting on something that has no evidence of existence.
@user-nz8uy1zm3z Please, give your evidence.
@user-nz8uy1zm3z ok ok,, calm down.
if there was evidence you would have provided it instead of just complaining.
the second thing you have to do is prove you have an understanding of the definition of evidence.
@user-nz8uy1zm3zIf you had evidence of god, you’d be bringing it in for verification and to collect your Nobel prize.
@user-nz8uy1zm3z coward 😂
Pluto existed long before people had any evidence of its existence. So the fact that you've seen no evidence is actually irrelevant.
Furthermore, the only way you can say there is no evidence for the existence of God is if you were omniscient and omnipresent. Meaning you had access to all the evidence of all things in the universe so that you could see there wasn't any for God. Since you don't have that, you can't logically make this claim.
All you can say is YOU haven't seen any evidence for God. And even then, you can't know this with 100% certainty, because you could have seen plenty of evidence but simply didn't recognize it.
Thank you for your perspective. As a Catholic i listen to videos like yours because I usually learn something new.
Regarding an evidence based approach, everything in the universe is made of matter. Matter can only be created by an existing piece of matter (thank you public school system!). According to the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space in Washington DC, Georges Lemaitre (Catholic Priest and Physicist) is credited with the big bang theory. So if the universe has a time zero, or beginning, when matter didn't exist, and its scientifically impossible to create matter without an existing piece of matter, then there are only two explanations.
One being an all knowing, all powerful God who exists outside of space and time and created everything out of nothing, or...
Two, that nothing created everything.
The problem with option two is that science says this is impossible. So how did we get here?
Thank much and peace be with you.
Go back to school. Matter and energy are equivalent. And energy can be turned into matter.
And we don't say that everything came from nothing. So that argument is useless.
@@stephenolan5539 thank you for your reply!
Regarding all of the forms of energy (chemical energy, mechanical energy, nuclear energy, gravitational energy, light energy, radiant energy, sound energy, motion energy, thermal energy, and electrical energy, etc...), which of these is possible if the universe and everything in it doesn't exist?
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I'm always looking to find an answer to the truth.
Invisible magic man was such a stupid idea that I bailed when I was 8.
Your views and ideas re religion, could dance with mine, because we think alike. Thank you for your openhearted true feelings, it all resonated in my mind. Goodluck with your future endeavors !
From birth to 12 i went to church but NEVER felt any connection whatsoever. I really did not like going and the stories seemed pretty silly. Around 8 i remember starting to question stuff and rebel. I even said noahs ark was “stupid” and people would get angry with me. Finally they gave up and on my 12th birthday they said i didnt have to go. Im 53 now and would NEVER subject my kids to such lies and fairy tales without letting them know this crap was ALLL written by man.
Well done, you were a smart youngster who thought for himself and came to the logical conclusions very early on.
Unlike a lot of religion your adding goodness to the world , love and respect ❤️👍
Absolutely educational and important information
Thank you and thanks for watching!
I say go with whatever makes you happy providing it doesn't harm you or others.
Growing up, my family was about 1.5 hour Christians. After church I remember my father getting drunk and watching football, lol.
Great video. Well produced and argued. I remember, as a younger person, suffering from cognitive dissonance (though I didn’t know the term at the time) at Catholic mass as I was told that the priest’s words actually turned the bread and wine into Jesus (not a symbol, but the actual body and blood. It is called transubstantiation, because adding a fancy word makes it more believable 😂). I felt bad for doubting. And it is my mild shame that I taught this later in life. Oh well, live and learn.
Thank you and thanks for sharing!
"... the priest’s words actually turned the bread and wine into Jesus"
As I remember, we were not supposed to chomp it. (what are these funny noise when I chomp it?)
@@physnoct 😂. Some denominations, and Catholics in the past, aren’t allowed to touch, rather, receive the host on the lips. Ugh! Hygienic much? I use to prefer denominations that saw the body and blood as symbols, metaphors. At least that’s a bit more honest. Less magic involved.
I thank you and Dan Barker for helping me to stay sane while I'm being paid by two Protestant churches in rural Virginia.
(I'm the organist and pianist for their weekly & monthly services. I'll suffer through the sermons as long as I'm paid fairly. I'm thankful, because these are actually good people. Whether they've been programmed since childhood or simply relish in their cultural heritage, IDK & IDC).
Here's my challenge to the faithful: Prove to me the existence of "God" WITHOUT QUOTING THE BIBLE, Koran, Talmud, Vedas etc ...
Use your own words and don't plagiarize any scripture or anyone else's writings.
The closest I ever got was “I just know it”, “I can feel him”.
Look up on the Bolzano's proof of God. Bolzano was a catholic priest, but also a great mathematician, one of the greatest in the 19th century.
@@stepanremes987 @VeganWithAraygun wrote; "Use your own words and don't plagiarize any scripture or anyone else's writings."
Your answer; "Look up on the Bolzano's proof of God. Bolzano was a catholic priest, but also a great mathematician, one of the greatest in the 19th century."
🤦
@@cyoul8trallygatr549 so what? It's an interesting proof
@@cyoul8trallygatr549 Here's an interesting, though different, argument... Do you believe that numbers exist? You cannot see numbers, only the things they represent. You cannot touch, smell or hear them either. Now we all believe that numbers are real. Then why shouldn't God also be real? He is invisible, ever-present, has been since before the Universe, MADE the universe, just as how laws of physics written in the language of mathematics define what is and what isn't possibe. We see two objects with very similar properties yet you choose to believive in one while dismissing the other, odd.
The genuine empathy that they deprive to others is the same affective empathy they expect to receive. Affective empathy is a band-aid, you can cognitively put it in your purse or pocket but only affectively use it. It's almost better than nothing.
Thank you for this. I have felt this way for a very long time.
Thank you!
This book was fascinating. Was totally engrossed cover to cover. Get a copy and read it.
It is written that there was a man who used his supernatural power to fight evil, and then was killed by evil.
Later, he rose from the dead.
It is written that many people saw these events and they would not lie about it.
The man's name was Harry Potter.
I grew up in the Christian Reformed Church as well. All my best Church friends went to Calvin College. Opted out of Calvin College for another small religious college in California and became a pastor in 14d congregations in 5 states over 26 years. It finally converted me into an agnostic. Too soon old. Too late schmart as they say.
Thanks for sharing, Dennis--I'd say better late than never!
Pretty simple zero evidence forgod 100% evidence man creates gods
Are you sure.
@@Eric-ej3oy absolutely
It’s a no-brainer
@@Eric-ej3oy obviously I’m sure it’s a no-brainer man has created thousands of gods everyone’s an atheist even if you believe in God just that I’m an atheist for one more God than you are
Excellent. What a clear presentation. I share your story and your conclusions.
Thank you!
It must have something to do with our brains, some primitive part like being afraid of the dark until we turn on a light.
Belief is a conditional readiness to reckon. It is a shortcut to thinking.
I fought with my parents during the summer after second grade to take me out of Catholic school and send me to the public school on base with all the normal kids so I could learn and develop better social skills. The compromise was that I had to go to CCD. (Sunday school)
I got kicked out during the second class when I told the other students out loud in front of the "teacher" that we only needed to believe this stuff while in church or CCD, and that once we got home we could go back to believing in reality, like science and math and stuff, instead of this religious Santa Claus and Easter bunny funny business.
very well done ,thank you
"In all of human history, the supernatural has never turned out to be the right answer to anything: Natural explanations of phenomena have replaced supernatural ones thousands upon thousands of times, while supernatural explanations have replaced natural ones exactly never." -- Greta Christina
@Shrimpsuey
It's not proof.
But how many times do you need to be wrong to see a pattern?
@Shrimpsuey Neither is "Nuh Uh!" but look at you go!
@Shrimpsuey Interesting excuse from someone with the biggest unsubstantiated claim. I.e. The invisible magic man.
Really well spoken. Thank you.
Thanks!
Well said.
Yes. And imagination is the organ of meaning.
Humans and our desperate need to have answers, so much so we make them up to fit our need. Sad.
Very clear presentation. I have the book and I am looking forward to reading it.
I hope you enjoy!
Whether a god or gods exist or not, humans would have invented a god to answer questions that they could not answer. And they invented thousands of them.
Very thought provoking thank you.
Thank you!
It should be more appropriately titled, Why religion is a function of GOVERNMENT and created by emperors.
Religion seeks money
i mean... governments have used religions... but they are separate entities from government.
unless you means they are a system of governance? that they are.
You’re not speaking of western world , religion is not a function of government in most western countries
@@paddy654 Religion is a function of the US government since it is not taxed because it keeps the sheep under control with stories of gods, ghosts, and goblins.
Without fear Religion would cease to exist.
"And God was SO angry at Himself for huge errors in creating Man, letting such severe evil and suffering and horrific disease into the world, creating Satan, and having destroyed it all in ecocidal rage, except for one family(?!!), He self-manifested as 'Jesus' who then died in mostly-naked bloody torture. More so for God's own failure and sin.
And so it was ... but who else to whom he might lay blame ...?"
Sounds pretty human to me
@user-nz8uy1zm3z
The Bible and other such old or ancient man-contrived Abrahamic tribalist proprietary foundational books such as the Jewish Bible, the New Testament, the Quran, and the Book of Mormon have been interpreted, rewritten, changed and reinterpreted in countless numbers of ways.
Perhaps THIS is the most cogent one.
A more LOGICAL one.
@user-nz8uy1zm3z
I have deep knowledge of the Abrahamic religions.
I believe you are a lightweight.
But let's begin with reading comprehension in which you are deficit.
I said "old or ancient" and a book started by Joseph Smith in 1823 is old!
Besides, I am absolutely correct in referring to the Book of Mormon as "ancient."
Here is a quote from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website:
"The coming forth of the Book of Mormon, foretold by ancient prophets, began with an angelic visitation in 1823 to 17-year-old Joseph Smith. Seven years later, in 1830, this scriptural canon of the Latter-day Saints was published for the world. “The Book of Mormon [is] the most correct of any book on earth,” Joseph Smith stated, “and the keystone of our religion.”These scriptures testify of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, His mission, and His ministry.
The Prophet Joseph received these ancient metal records written in “reformed Egyptian” from the heavenly messenger Moroni and translated them by “the gift and power of God” into the Book of Mormon. The sacred writings chronicle God’s dealings with his people in the Western Hemisphere centuries ago ...."
So ancient prophets, angels, 'Egyptian,' and Jesus Christ. All ancient.
So my conclusion you are a noob in matters of religion, but in desperation project your ignorance outward.
You are not qualified to comment here.
But I'm not done with you....
@user-nz8uy1zm3z
My knowledge of religious history is deep.
Excerpt:
“The coming forth of the Book of Mormon, foretold by ancient prophets, began with an angelic visitation in 1823 to 17-year-old Joseph Smith. Seven years later, in 1830, this scriptural canon of the Latter-day Saints was published for the world. “The Book of Mormon [is] the most correct of any book on earth,” Joseph Smith stated, “and the keystone of our religion. ”These scriptures testify of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, His mission, and His ministry.
The Prophet Joseph received these ancient metal records written in “reformed Egyptian” from the heavenly messenger Moroni3 and translated them by “the gift and power of God”4 into the Book of Mormon. The sacred writings chronicle God’s dealings with his people in the Western Hemisphere centuries ago …”
The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints website.
Besides, ancient??
Ancient prophets, angels of God, Egyptian, and Jesus Christ all ancient.
You are deficit in religious knowledge and appear to project that ignorance outward.
So there you go!
@user-nz8uy1zm3z
You don't know what you're talking about.
It's old -- written in 1830.
It's ancient because of 'ancient prophets', God's angels, Egyptian markings, and Jesus Christ.
And learn to read better.
I believe it was Peter O’Toole playing an English lord (who claimed to be Jesus) in the movie “The Ruling Class” who replied when asked what makes him think he’s our Lord: “When I pray to God, I find I’m talking to myself.”
Religion is no more than a mass belief that the Emperor's New Clothes are self evident to those with faith.
As a wise man once said, "If one person suffers from delusion, it's called insanity. If a lot of people suffers from delusion, it's called a religion."
If god existed, there would be no need to prove his existence
If god exist he can manifest his existence in a trillion ways, one maybe he can change the color of the sun into different color or maybe he can put a ring on the moon and a million ways actually but I haven't seen a single one actually. I pray to the one god it is actually the universe because the god and the universe is one and the same and it's nevers give a commandment to follow.
@@Grandeur-n9q that’s what you wish to believe. Nothing less but most certainly nothing more. And as long as you don’t try to impose your particular belief onto others, that’s fine by me.
@@walterdaems57 We have freedom of religion so it's their choice, why should I interpere.
@@Grandeur-n9q that’s always very reassuring to hear :)
@@Grandeur-n9qWe don’t have Freedom of Religion. Christianity is forced into our lives through laws. In God We Trust is even on our money.
I've always felt the same way... but it was very difficult to think otherwise when you're being forced to believe, or you would get beatings. And growing up surrounded by religious extremist in your family... my mind was contaminated since childhood...... it a trauma that's difficult to not think about.
as a kid i always thought of church as a family activity or book club to socialize in the community. i liked the socialization because most people there were nice but older. i also like the community service aspect but we already did that in scouts. so it was ultimately boring because there was no proof of the stories they were telling each other. i gravitate to science instead because it was observable and beautiful even though i now better understand the immense power of imagination as an adult. but with how destructive and obsessive people get about their religious imagination, it always felt like a low key insane asylum. however i know that for the elderly and those suffering, it also can bring relief for some. i’m able to see its usefulness and its ridiculousness simultaneously nowadays.
"it always felt like a low key insane asylum." That would be a perfect sentence from a book about growing up in religion 😀
I've never like church, even when I was a believer
Bible study- the longest running book club in history. Gone on for millenia...
Wow this is a very impressive video what a great job . Great presintation
Thank you for this video. When you mentioned the CRC, Calvin College, and Calvinism, I felt compelled to listen. I spent decades in conservative Christian churches, with 20 years in Reformed churches, including one year in the CRC. I appreciate your video. It's a topic that interests me. And I've added your book to my wishlist on Amazon. But there was one section in your video that I wish to comment on, and that's about the Sunday-only Christians and the compartmentalization of religious beliefs. (I'm paraphrasing from memory so I hope I didn't misconstrue your words.) No doubt there are thousands of Sunday-only Christians scattered throughout the world. But I've known many "true believers" during my years in conservative churches--those for whom Christian beliefs are serious business. (And I was one of them for a long time.) These folks truly believe traditional Christian and/or Reformed teachings without doubting, at least that's the ideal. They seek to live righteous lives every day of the week based on their understanding of the Bible which they consider to be God's inerrant Word, and which they read and study daily with a passion for God, Jesus, and holiness. And when they fail to live up to biblical standards in thought, word, or deed--which happens daily because they're human--they're quick to repent of their sins and seek God's forgiveness through prayer. So, I just wanted to point that out--that there are some who truly seek God's will, and try to incorporate biblical teachings, as they understand them, to every aspect of their lives every day. Thanks again for your video.
Thanks for sharing! I get your point but want to focus on one part: "at least that's the ideal." I would say the fact that people have to *try* to be more than once-a-week Christians (even if they succeed to some extent) shows that their default is not in line with the supposed ideal, which is reason to think their "belief" state is religious credence and not factual belief (consider for contrast: do you have to make it an "ideal" to behave everyday as though electricity exists?).
@@NeilVanLeeuwen Ok. Thanks. I understand what you're saying.
Respect from Vietnam .❤
I've known since I was a child that god was make believe. It's obvious.
Well it is still confusing for a child because of the trust they have in their parents and grandparents. I thought there was something wrong with me 😂
I made it to the halfway mark before the music started to hurt my head. The music is throbbing
one simple question : who told us the bible was inspired by god? ... nuff said !
Who's us you didn't write the book multiple people did and changed the book over a course of alot book's to change it to religion to explain what the earth is 2000 years ago 😂
nicely done
*Join the Enlightenment, support Secular Humanism.*
thanks
Even from a very early age i could not absorb what i was being told but i still felt connected in a very spiritual way to the mysteries and profoundness of life..i did not drink their kool aide
"Jerry, just remember. It's not a lie if you believe it." -- George Costanza
True, but unhelpful.
It might not be helpful but its funny.
"The thing that uniquely defines religion, the thing that sets it apart from every other ideology or hypothesis or social network, is the belief in unverifiable supernatural entities. Of course it has other elements; community, charity, philosophy, inspiration for art, etc. But those things exist in the secular world, too. They're not specific to religion. ... Religion is ultimately dependent on belief in invisible beings, inaudible voices, intangible entities, undetectable forces, and events and judgments that happen after we die.
And it is therefore uniquely armored against criticism, questioning, and self-correction. It is uniquely armored against anything that might stop it from spinning into extreme absurdity, extreme denial of reality ... and extreme, grotesque immorality." -- Greta Christina / AlterNet, November 12, 2009
Absolute fantasy of a premise . You chose you naturalistic philosophy
Factual belief falls apart in the face of doctrine driven denial.
Belief is NOT a choice. Your either convinced that a god exists which makes you a theist or your not convinced that a god exists which makes you an atheist.
Yes it is. Humans have intelligence and can choose to override false beliefs with facts. If people couldn't do that, scientific progression would have been impossible. Claiming something like this isn't a choice is frequently a way of avoiding responsibility for your decisions and actions. It is somewhat similar to romantic attraction. I don't choose who I find attractive, it just happens because it is a purely instinctive/emotional act. When I do find someone attractive it is my choice how I act on that feeling. I don't rape someone when I feel sexual attraction because I can override feeling with logic and morality.
Just a very hard choice for some, when their whole life is centered on these beliefs.
@ToxicBottledOstrichNostrils what a waste of life 😪
@@adamlea6339 agree to disagree with respect to your irrelevant word salad.
How is it _not_ a choice, to choose to believe what you choose to believe? Time for some critical thinking remedial classes.
I don't think of prayer as speaking to imagination. I think it is not different than believing in manifesting. I see strong parallels between the two.
I just think that faith-based manifesting provides vocabulary to personify creator spirit/force/ energy as a named deity, and in Western religion, that named deity is known as "God".
I actually don't believe in free will so, no voluntary actions.
5:31 THIS. I have always, even as a tiny, tiny little kid, felt like this was just a fool proof way to get people to believe that God exists without ever seeing him.
There’s a woman in my town that people (even the casually religious ones) refer to as “The Crazy Jesus Lady.” It makes me think, if someone deep down TRULY believed in what the Bible says, then obsession over it seems pretty rational. Which then leads me to think that most people who say they’re religious, deep down don’t truly believe.
Exactly. If someone actually thought (factually believed) there was a heaven and a hell and a God who determines which way you go, it would be rational for them to go to church twice a day and to pray and read the Bible constantly (among many other things). The fact that such extensive behavior is labeled "fanatical" even by most professed "believers" suggests that those "believers" don't factually believe what they profess...
Superb perspectives!
Thanks!
As a kid, we felt that santa claus and god were on the same platform. It was a game adult people played and we were supposed to go along with it. The only difference was the truth about santa came out as we came to teenagehood, but the other god game continued on, even to death for many adults. When there is stress in a child, they will often resort to make believe to cope with it; we believe that adults do the same with with god. Life sux, so some people need a crutch. Having said that, if the god belief can get people off substance abuse, get them to not live a life of stealing, cheating, etc., then maybe that crutch is for them and they are welcome to it. What gets us is when they try to impose those false beliefs on us who choose to manage the 'life sux' differently.
Psychologists understands the huge difference between Santa Claus which no adult believes exist from God which the majority of our ancestors were theist. Isaac Newton is still considered one of the smartest men in history.
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”- Isaac Newton
"Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors." - Isaac Newton
If you are a rational person and you want to be guided by only reason and evidence, then you must reject all claims that are supported only by faith.
Faith must exclude reason and evidence.
*Absence of Evidence* is evidence of absence.
"For Dennett, an éminence grise of American philosophy who is nonetheless perhaps best known as one of the 'four horsemen' of modern atheism alongside Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, there are no metaphysical mysteries at the heart of human existence, no magic nor God that makes us who we are." -- New York Times, Aug 27, 2023
"There's simply no polite way to tell people they've dedicated their lives to an illusion." -- Daniel Dennett (RIP 2024 April 19)
I like Pantheism, it's really out there.
NO information is destroyed
I think that to begin to doubt, first you have to climb higher on the intellectual ladder. Simple minds who accept everything on faith generally do not question their worldview at all.
Bravo for such well-considered thinking: new. different and original trains of thought. Perhaps wishful thinking is part of religious belief, too.
Perhaps...... 🤦🏽♀️
Thanks @patriciawinter8613!
Can we always "Choose" to believe ?
Or once we are convinced it's not a choice ?
Do we choose to be convinced ?
Do you choose to believe wether freddy crueger is real or not?
It's the same answer
I've always thought about this from the frame that it's interesting how if we have have a close friend or family member that moves overseas? There can be any emotional loss that you're not seeing the friend for a while, but if that same friend or family members dies, we have a completely different Outlook.
Now if you truly believe in your theology that you will see your friend or family member again then why is it you do not have the same response to their death as you have to them traveling abroad.
At some level the person knows that they're never going to see that person again...
After extracting DNA from the samples, Wolfe used the genetic codes of four different genes to determine how the various species are related to one another.
He then used a process called ancestral state reconstruction to show that the mushrooms have switched from being decomposers to being symbiotic with trees only once in their evolutionary history.
Once the mushrooms switched to this new symbiotic lifestyle, they didn't go back to their free-living past.
Ultimately, Pringle said, the paper highlights one reason she finds such symbiotic partnerships "intrinsically interesting" -- for all their apparent benefits, the cost can be high.
"I think the really interesting thing is this idea that once you become symbiotic, some of your machinery is lost," she said. "It seems like a dead end in some ways -- you have to make this change to enter this niche, but once you're there, you can't go back -- you've lost the capacity to be free-living."
Arguably the most widely-recognized group of mushrooms in the world, Amanita mushrooms
Bro wrote a whole paragraph on mushrooms while on mushrooms