Question:
Some questions for atheists : please read the detail. Thank u?
Pateriot
2012-08-01 06:19:55 UTC
Atheists
1) Do you think that Judaism, Christinaity, Islam are all man-made religions
2) if so, Do you think God in these religions are all man-made and imaginary
3) if so, why do u think that some people in history wanted to create these religions (for what purposes)
4) also, do u find it very easy or hard for u to realize that these religions and God in these religions are man-made
5) Do you think that Judaism, Christinaity, Islam are religions based on fear
6) If u think these religions are made for control the mass, then what benefits could the religious creators really get by creating these religions and to convert many people into them
7) do you think that there are many contradicitons, violence and incorrectness in their religious scriptures(also why)
8) do you think that religions sometimes preach immoral teachings
9)all above, if u really think that they are like that, why do majority of people in the world still believe in these religions(without questioning about them)

Thank u
23 answers:
?
2012-08-01 20:09:33 UTC
Bottom line: Most people are idiots
ferrisulf
2012-08-02 21:07:42 UTC
I'm not an atheist, but I'm a former Catholic who attended Catholic schools for 14 yrs. So can I answer too? Well, I'm gonna. :D As for the category of beliefs I fit into, I'm a "whatever", don't fit in any organized religion but do have my spiritual beliefs.



1. I believe every organized religion is a man-made religion.

2. Personally I do not believe in a god, but I do believe in spirit sorts, if you will. I guess I could say the god of these religions was man-made. Maybe could have been completely warped by people's imaginations over time?

3. People needed answers back then. Faith was the ultimate power. People follow a belief system steadfastly. You control the religion, you control the people.

4. When I began doubting Catholicism this was a very daunting idea that there is no god. Made me both fearful that there was no ultimate power and relieved for the exact same reason.

5. I don't believe they initially were created to bring fear. I think many of their teachings were, over time, twisted by people who had their own agenda in mind and worked the religion to serve their own needs. I don't believe any of these religions to be bad, per se. Somewhere along the line there were people who should not have been in control of these religions and it shows.

6. See answer #3.

7. Yes, I do think so. Contradictions? Read the Old Testament vs the New Testament. It goes from a "Mwahahahaa, I'm God!" to "I love you all!" god. As you read through them there is a LOT of violence of course. Those times were violent, religion or no.

8. I'm going to be careful with this one. I think religions teach some things that are not the same as my own set or morals. More than the religious texts themselves, I think there are, once again, people in charge that take things to the extreme.

9. I think most people DO question at some point and time. I know plenty of people who stay for the sake of community and family. There are plenty of places in the world right now where you wouldn't DARE leave Islam. You would be killed outright. In many areas of the world, religion holds a community together. In the US where I am, not so much anymore.
lhvinny
2012-08-02 02:57:07 UTC
"Do you think that Judaism, Christinaity, Islam are all man-made religions" This is not just a "think." It is a fact that the religions are man made, just like all religions are man made. The methods used to worship and pay homage to the gods are man made in all cases.



"if so, Do you think God in these religions are all man-made and imaginary" Yes. There is direct historical evidence showing how the Hebrew Yahweh was changed over time from a member of a polytheistic pantheon of gods to the only-worshiped member of a pantheon to changing into its modern form as a monotheistic god. Historical evidence directly chronicles these changes in Yahweh. We The modern monotheistic all powerful version of Yahweh was born in the 6th century BCE and was conceived by the author known as "2nd Isaiah."



"if so, why do u think that some people in history wanted to create these religions (for what purposes)" Because they believed in the existence of these beings for which there is no evidence. The creators of the religions were simply wrong. No need to consider motive beyond that. People do and believe silly things with no other reason than they were wrong all the time.



"do u find it very easy or hard for u to realize that these religions and God in these religions are man-made" No more difficult than any other fact that can be learned through study.



"Do you think that Judaism, Christinaity, Islam are religions based on fear" No, though I'm pretty sure some people believe only out of fear.



"If u think these religions are made for control the mass, then what benefits could the religious creators really get by creating these religions and to convert many people into them " Religion has been used as a toll to control others. That is a historical fact. I cannot say for sure if they were invented with the sole purpose of being control methods in mind.



"do you think that there are many contradicitons, violence and incorrectness in their religious scriptures(also why)" Again, this isn't a matter of think. This is a matter of fact. Yes, all of the holy books written about Yahweh show contradictions, violence and scientific errors. That's not a matter of opinion. Go to any Muslim website, they will show you the contradictions and flaws in the Torah and the Bible. Go to any Christian website, they will show you the contradictions and flaws in the Torah and the Qur'an. Go to any Jewish website, they will show you the contradictions and flaws in the Bible and the Qur'an. They refute each other.



"do you think that religions sometimes preach immoral teachings " Westboro Baptist Church. Need I say more?



" if u really think that they are like that, why do majority of people in the world still believe in these religions(without questioning about them)" Cognitive dissonance, "well that's not my version of Christianity" mentality, lack of historical study, lack of reading the holy texts, lack of rational thought in general are probably the top reasons.
?
2012-08-01 08:22:16 UTC
1) Obviously they are.

2) Yes, very well proven.

3) To control people. That was the ONLY reason Constantine put the counsels together. That is the ONLY reason behind the catholic church.

4) They are all man made, that is a fact.

5) Yes, you HAVE to do or not do certain things or you will be tortured forever by the gods of unconditional love.

6) Money and power.

7) Of course there are. They plagiarized ancient texts that described wars and the basic failures of man.

8) Absolutely.

9) Most people need to be lead and told what to do. It is the basic nature of the human animal. There are those who can think on their own but have always been the outcast or on the fringe. Look at school up through high school. The administration tries to promote the intellectuals, but the majority of people denigrate the intelligent. they are not "cool" or part of the better crowds. The athlete is the more crowned individual not the one who makes the world a better place. Sad, but that is the present reality.
?
2012-08-01 06:31:27 UTC
1 Yes

2 Yes

3 You we are over simplifying it. Go to snopes.com and look at all those urban legends. Do you think these were all deliberately invented by some guy in a room? No, they are the product of information being passed around, mistaken, mis-heard, mis-remebered (and yes genuine hoaxes) sometimes myths are not a deliberate or conscious creation. People use these myths to their advantage for power and wealth and become "religious leaders".

4. Easy

5. They are based on lots of things. Fear is one yes. There is also bribery and a few more complicated mechanisms at work.

6. They have been used to control masses, but not necessarily created to do so. The religious leaders get a lot of power from these religions. Look at Catholics for example. Everyone n the village has to go and tell the priest all their naughty stuff. All that knowledge, knowing everyone's secrets. That is power.

7 Yes. Because ive read quite a bit of the Bible.

8 Yes

9. That's a complicated issue. Religions are taught to children, everyone around them says its true. What else would they believe? Religions also have built in defense mechanisms. "People will try to tempt you, that is the devil, dont let the devil win!", "You should not doubt god" etc etc. Religion beings comfort, the promise of rewards, and the promise of punishment for defecting.



Hope this helps.
2012-08-01 06:24:22 UTC
1. Yes.

2. Yep, as far as I can tell.

3. Control.

4. Depends on upbringing. Some people are so thoroughly brainwashed by their parents and pastors that they cannot possibly believe otherwise.

5. Not entirely, but certainly partially, much moreso Christianity than Judaism.

6. Same as 3.

7. Yes, because there are. Read the books.

8. Yes. Christianity was the #1 support for slavery, the #1 support for denying interracial marriage, the #1 support for denying women's rights, and the #1 support for denying homosexual marriage.

9. Because of 4.



Religions were the first form of government, in which an imaginary super-powered deity was used to bribe and threaten people in the absense of a government with any real power.
2012-08-01 06:35:49 UTC
I dont feel like answering all those but heres a few.



3)People created religion so they could have hope, back when religions were originaly being made, people had what.. rocks and dirt and 20 years to live.. They of course knew everything must happen for a reason and without science and technology, religion is there only method of explaining why stuff happens the way it happens.



8) Yea, The Bible might not "preech" this but God did some pretty messed up stuff, he kills thousands and caused so much panic. The exact things were told will send us straight to hell.



9) Because were not in the year 8000 yet, Science still cant prove everything and people are still holding on to religious traditions, each generation as we know gets looser and looser on their religious practices, eventually we'll get to the point were you would look like a fool to believe in any such magical folklore.
?
2012-08-01 10:47:41 UTC
I'll tell you why. People wanna believe there are some rules and regulations to the world setup by a god (and they believe the particular god they were brought up to believe in is responsible) because it makes them feel better. For a lot of people religion is a nice simple box to put the world in, and it literally helps them get through the day.



It's all ridiculous though. It's not that being a Muslim isn't ridiculous, but being a Jew is: everything is ridiculous. Being a Catholic is ridiculous, being a Protestant is ridiculous, being a Baptist is ridiculous, being a Buddhist is ridiculous, being in anything is ridiculous; you're a f*cking human being.



If you attach yourself and your mind to any ideology you're gonna be on a road, and that road may or may not lead you in a good direction, but you're gonna stay on that road if you're attached to an ideology, and it can be a terrible road; it can be a road of circumcising your daughter's clitorus because that's a tradition. You know, these crazy people in Africa that cut holes on their lip and stretch them out to put plates on them, why is that? Because they got on a road and they stuck with that road, regardless of rational thinking, they didn't use rational thinking at all: they're just adapted to a predetermined pattern of behavior that makes life so much more simple. And that's what every religion is, man!



The problem is, no one knows. You cannot know. You can have your own beautiful personal experiences; you could have been the person that was actually touched by god. But when you start yelling and ranting that other people have to follow your lead, the world is gonna end, Christians are gonna be taken away; I know you're full of bullshit, and you know you're full of bullshit. And the real problem is, we can't say it. Because everyone has this religious freedom; the freedom to express yourself. Even if you're expressing yourself with nonsense: nonsense that helps scare lonely sad people lock onto that nonsense so they feel like they're a part of something. That's what religion is, it preys on people whose lives blow. So it's all nuts.



It's not like my stuff's cool and your stuff's not, and it's not that alcohol is the answer or drugs are the answer; there's just questions. And until we're honest about that we're never gonna evolve. The human race is stuck in a giant quagmire when it comes to our behavior and our thinking about our behavior. For a lot of people man, religion can give you some inspiration, but there comes a certain point and time where you have to pop the training wheels off and recognize that all of this morality that you've developed is good because it's good to treat other people good: it's good to treat other people the way that you want yourself to be treated. It's like the golden rule and there's a reason for it, and that reason is that we're connected in some strange way that we don't totally understand.



And unless you are good to other people around you, you're not gonna enjoy this life. You're just not. You're gonna be problems everywhere you go and you're gonna have problems everywhere you go; you gotta find a way to enjoy this life. It's not because of Allah, it's not because of Jesus, it's not because of anybody that may or may not have ever existed; it's because that's how you fit better in the world, that's how you stay positive. And it doesn't have to be some bullshit written five thousand years ago on animal skins. That doesn't have to be the golden rule because it's old, that's dumb.
?
2012-08-01 06:59:40 UTC
1) Yes



2) Yes



3) Err how many answers do you want? In the end it will be a combination of dozens of factors.



4) No, as an atheist that never had a religion it's fairly obvious.



5) Partly on fear yes. Fear of the unknown, fear of death. But there are other facets that are just as important, social cohesion has been a big one through the ages for instance.



6) Some probably went for control yes, but the reasons to spread have many many psychological, sociological and even physical factors. Seeking validation for your own beliefs by making others belief it as well is typically a strong drive. But for control it also gives a person more power over the fate of others; that apparently is a really strong motivator for some people.



7) I don't have to think that, it's objective fact. It's also understandable for books written by multiple writers over longer periods of time. Especially considering they were written hundreds to thousands of years before scientific methodology started increasing knowledge of the world around us at an increasing pace.



8) Yes, and not "sometimes". By design religious morals can not cope with advancing knowledge and technology. A lot of rules simply were written by leaders of tribes thousands of years ago in circumstances that simply aren't relevant any more.



9) A lot of people (really a *lot*) don't really think about their religion at all. The few that do tend to cherry pick only the stuff that is relevant or already in line with what they want to believe. The reason Christians aren't stoning adulterers any more isn't because of some theological reason, but because we understand it's barbaric and brutal. They just ignore parts of their own religion.

Culture is more of a driving force to keep calling yourself a certain religion then the religion itself.
Simon T
2012-08-02 11:21:05 UTC
1) Yes.



2) Yes.



3) I can only conjecture. An explanation of the unknown. The power, the money. Why does it matter? These deities did not start out as they are now. They all came from a pantheon of deities, which in turn came form nature spirits.



4) When I seriously looked at them, yes.



5) More guilt.



6) Power, money, influence.



7) Yes. Read them. The Torah/OT is full of violence done in the name of their deity.



8) Define immoral. In our current society in the USA discrimination against gay people is immoral (or becoming that way) The Abrahamic religions are claiming that anti-gay discrimination is justified by their deity.



9) Indoctrination, inertia, fear, peer pressure and guilt.
?
2012-08-01 06:25:18 UTC
1) Yes

2) Yes

3) Controlling the masses (Roman Catholic Church)

4)Very easy when you look at all the things that man fears is solved in these religions (death, ignorance, etc.)

5)Yes

6)Power, nothing but power. Read up on the Roman Catholic Church they had so much power before the eighteenth century. The Pope basically controlled all of Europe

7)Yes, because I can read

8)Some go against my morals, like their preaching against homosexuality.

9)Indoctrination, fear, pressure. Same reason others believe in their religion as well.
?
2012-08-01 07:41:18 UTC
1. Yes. Or, rather, they evolved from earlier, more simple religions. I find that concept fairly amusing, given all the religious denial that evolution is a thing.



2. Pretty much, yes.



3. I think they're something of an emergent phenomenon - they're a product of how humans look at the world (if they don't do it scientifically).



4. Fairly easy. Mine is just one naturalistic interpretation of what could be going on.



5. I honestly think fear is a part of it. Particularly for a lot of evangelists - they do it because they fear for the souls of the unbelievers, which is sweet but kinda unwelcome. Are they based on fear? I'm not sure. Maybe based more on hope? I'd like to think so. I suspect it depends on the individual.



6. I think a lot of organised religion is made for control. It seems like a fairly good way of limiting the behaviour of a population, preventing rebellieon (if God chooses the king, who are you to argue?), and, crucially, making fat wadges of cash. See the wealth of the Catholic church for evidence of that.



7. I'm only really familiar to any degree with the Bible, and that book is filled with unconscionable behaviour, on everyone's pary - God's, prophets', bad guys, good guys... everyone's a jerk, save one or two genuinely nice people. Even in the New Testament, which is on the whole more chilled, Jesus makes some pretty wierd decisions and statements. It's factually inaccurate, contradicts itself rather a lot (how did Judas die?), and can, if so interpreted, be used as justification for all kinds of horror.



8. Yes. For instance, gay marriage (if you don't want them married in your particular church, fine, but butt out of legislation, pls!), historically teaching the superiority of white people over black people, and anything else on rather a long list of things which actively work against the greatest utility for the greatest number of people.



9. I have no idea. I suspect becuase they are mostly unquestioning of authority (which is a human, not exclusively religious trait - see Milgram's experiments on obedience), and because they are unwilling to change because it may mean exclusion from activities they enjoy, and social groups they like to be part of. I know that I sort of feel I've missed out on a rather nice social event or two by not being affiliated with a church.





I'm making it sound like I think religion is the root of all evil or something, here. It is not - as ever, people are. There's a lot to commend more moderate religion, like the Church of England generally is. Although even they could do with being less weird at times - A church whose inception was solely to redefine marriage and make divorce possible... is now against the redefinition of marriage. Irony, anyone?
?
2012-08-01 06:28:33 UTC
1. yes

2. yes

3. to explain things they did not understand but its humans nature to want control

4. easy, too meany contradictions

5. yes, because there is eternal punishment involved

6. money and power

7. yes, because there are

8. sometimes, things like "if there different kill them" (not in those words tho)

9. they were taught from birth and most of the time what you learn as a truth when you're a baby and is constantly driled into your brain you believe for the rest of your life
2012-08-01 06:32:23 UTC
1) Yes

2) Yes

3) Political control, Purpose in life

4) Easy

5) In most cases

6) Political power, lots of money from taxes

7) Yes, dozens of millions of people have died in religious wars quite recently, + they contradict eachother.

8) Yes, definetly! Evolution is not a fact ? Loch ness monster proves evolution wrong? hahah...



9) BECAUSE OF BAD EDUCATION AND INDOCTRINATION!
fruitsalad
2012-08-01 06:30:35 UTC
1. Yes

2. Yes

3. To explain the unknown, provide an early moral/legal framework, as a political movement, and obtain power and control

4. Obvious

5. Yes

6. Power, status, wealth, control

7. Yes

8. Yes by today's standards

9. Indoctrination, lack of education, social pressures, feeling of belonging, warm and fuzzy feeling it provides
motes
2016-09-11 03:49:33 UTC
a million. OK so you are speaking approximately truthfully proving the non-life of those matters as an alternative than the default function of effortlessly being unsubstantiated. I cross in opposition to the grain somewhat right here I recall myself to be a gnostic atheist. I consider you'll be able to make an empirically supported case that a god does NOT exist. Sometimes absence of proof IS proof of absence and there are good outlined ways of statistical evaluation (corresponding to Bayesian inference) on the way to inform you, objectively, whilst it's and whilst it's not. It pretty much comes right down to the expectancy of proof. Let's take a bad first as an illustration; extraterrestrial lifestyles. There is not any proof of extraterrestrial lifestyles however the important factor is nor will have to we assume any at this factor. We've placed a person at the moon and despatched a couple of rovers to Mars that is approximately it. It's infrequently unexpected that proof hasn't grew to become up but. Therefore the loss of proof isn't proof in opposition to. But take the counter illustration of God. Has there ever been a extra carefully investigated query? Thousands of years, thousands of claims and not anything has ever arise with a unmarried shred of proof. At this factor I consider that does depend as a case that the purpose we've not located any is when you consider that there is no such thing as a. Is there room for doubt? Of direction there may be. I understand evolution is a reality, however of direction there may be continuously that one in one thousand million danger that I would be improper. The identical with god however that barely makes me "agnostic". At what factor does the margin of doubt emerge as so small that bringing it up turns into a little bit foolish. two. fifty three% of Americans (residents of a constructed, western proficient country) have no idea wherein our dimension of a 12 months comes from. I have a particularly low opinion of humanity so I do not situation so much inventory in what three billion primates consider. It's now not cynicism if it is factually correct. three. What if what if what if. Sure you'll be able to preface most likely ANY query regardless of how most likely absolutely absurd with "what if" and ninety nine% of the time it'll nonetheless be *technically* feasible. My favorite illustration of that is the sunshine pace rhinoceros. Imagine there may be, zooming approximately the universe, a rhinoceros that movements on the pace of sunshine. If it have been to collide with you, now not handiest could that be very painful however you could additionally instantly be elevated to the pace of sunshine in conjunction with the rhino, and when you consider that of the bizarre time distortion results of relativity you could be (out of your inertial reference body) trapped in that second ceaselessly. Frozen in time on the very second you have been hit via a rhinoceros. So you could be in everlasting torture, caught on this one tremendously painful second for eternity. Are you in any respect involved via the likelihood of this? No when you consider that it is most likely absurd, and so far as we all know now not inside the legislation of physics which could also be like a god.
Talon
2012-08-01 06:25:49 UTC
Yes,

Yes,

controling people,

Easy

No

Money

No idea havent studied them dont care

yes

tradition, peer pressure kinda thing on steroids
?
2012-08-01 06:28:49 UTC
Mickey GG I hope you are trolling and not the world's greatest idiot. Hitler was a Christian first of all. Remember the Dark Ages? also when has ANYONE died of atheism? We only hate it when religious bigots like you fly planes into buildings. Just **** off.
?
2012-08-01 06:23:26 UTC
9) Sheeple
?
2012-08-01 06:25:04 UTC
I agree.

Why would a society of thieves and murders and adultry commuting people make up a book on how you shouldn't do these things.

However Islam is a false religion because they discredit that Jesus is the son of god.
Artemis
2012-08-01 06:24:12 UTC
The first parts of Genesis, from the tale of Creation through the tales of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel, the Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Wars of the Kings in which Abraham was involved -- are all based on earlier Sumerian records.



The origin of the Biblical seven days of creation is almost certainly the seven tablets on which the Enuma Elish was written. This is evident from the contrast between the first six Babylonian tablets describing Marduk’s acts of creation and the seventh tablet which is dedicated to a general exaltation of the god (and thus a parallel to the Biblical seventh day when God rested).



Whilst the term “gods” is full of awkward connotations for us, the Sumerians did not suffer from such problems, and referred to them as the AN.UNNA.KI, literally meaning “Those Who from Heaven to Earth Came”.’” They also described them pictographically as DIN.GIR – which shows an aerodynamically-shaped GIR inside a shaft-like underground chamber. A picture of a rocket-propelled spaceship, with a landing craft docked into it perfectly - just as the lunar module was docked with Apollo 11.”



From the archaeological discoveries, artifacts, and recovered records archaeologists and linguists have for two hundred years, found the Anunnaki (Sumerian: “those who came down from the heavens”; Old testament Hebrew, Anakeim, Nefilim, Elohim; Egyptian: Neter), an advanced civilization landed in the Persian gulf area around 432,000 years ago, colonized the planet, with the purpose of obtaining large quantities of gold. Some 250,000 years ago, the recovered documents tell us, the Anunnaki directorate decided to create a creature as slaves. They changed the genes of Homo Erectus and produced us, Homo Sapiens, a genetically bicameral species, for their purposes as slaves.



Around 6000 years ago they began gradually, to bring humans to independence. Sumer, a human civilization, amazing in its sudden, mature, and highly advanced character was set up under their tutelage in Mesopotamia.



The recorded historical documentation for the existence and deeds of the Anunnaki has become gradually available to us only since the early 1800’s. The excavation of the ancient sites of Mesopotamia brought to light the amazingly advanced civilization of Sumer and, with it, thousands of clay tablets containing not only mundane records of commerce, marriages, military actions and advanced astronomical calculation systems but of the history of the Anunnaki themselves. It is clear from those records that the Sumerians knew these aliens to be real flesh and blood. The library of the ruler, Ashurbanipal, at Nineveh was discovered to have burnt down and the clay tablets held there were fired, preserving them for our reading. One of the most impressive finds, in very recent time, has been a sealed, nine foot by six foot room in Sippar holding, neatly arranged on shelves, a set of some 400 elaborate clay tablets containing an unbroken record of the history of those ancient times, a sort of time capsule. The evidence is so overwhelming and robust that, if it weren’t for those with power enough to suppress, it would have been accepted and our world view changed a century ago or, perhaps, sooner.
cryptic_non_sequitur
2012-08-01 06:22:09 UTC
9)



indoctrination, fear and peer pressure ...



ask us a hard one ...
PrinceVultan
2012-08-01 06:21:33 UTC
Too many questions, can't be arsed.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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