ReaperzXIII said:
This is long to type about so after your next reply can we just agree to disagree?
If you like.
I'll sum up my argument more clearly.
I do not believe in your god for the same reason I do not believe in Ra the Egyptian Sun God, or Zeus from Ancient Greece. The same reason I don't believe in any of the other 15 or so Gods that were Born of a Virgin mother, on Dec 25th, and rose from the dead (if you think this story is unique to Jesus, you are very mistaken, look it up).
Faith is not a valid argument for anything, its a cop-out, and avoids the argument completely. Its equal to me asking you what 2+2 is and you responding with "Cat".
A cop-out? It's harder to have faith than it is to not have faith, just like it's easier to lose hope than it is to keep it, so I fail to see how it is a cop-out.
Religion is a horrible, terrible, thing that is responsible for all the hate, greed, and fear we have in our world today, and the world as a whole would be VASTLY better if nobody believed in the magic sky man.
A horrible terrible thing? Which is why that is responsible for a lot of the morals people believe in today, how many of the laws in America and UK are based of religious beliefs, yes religion can drive people to do bad things but so can anything. Doesn't mean you should blame the idea, you should blame the way people express and interpret that idea, for example men are better than women at certain things and visa versa, someone might interpret that as saying men are better than women and use this to oppress them. It is not the idea's fault, blame the person's screwed up interpretation and values.
How would the world be better? If people don't believe in a god then most likely they don't believe in an afterlife and thus there is no consequences, when you die thats it therefore why not do anything you feel like? People will end up thinking this way and do horrible things then atheism will be the new horrible terrible thing.
Here is the thing that some people need to get into their head (not you specifically), their beliefs isn't necessarily better than other peoples, all beliefs will have their flaws, sure you can critcize it but just outright insulting it is childish and rude.
Also in a religion like Christianity if people stuck to the main basis of Jesus's teachings forgiveness and kindness then the world would be a better place BUT people don't and instead go around doing the wrong thing and say it is in the name of their religion when really their ignoring the main point. Such as the Christians attacking the Jews for being "Christ-killers" when Jesus specifically said "FORGIVE THEM, for they do not know what they are doing."
But people chose to ignore this and kill Jews using religion to justify their misguided beliefs
I know I said I'll stop but I felt like I had to reply to this.