Itachi Uchiha wrote: No one stays happy forever. If he has the power to stop everything and to make us happy, then why put us here in the first place? Why create earth at all?
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for us to see who is the best follower to him...

RebornChibiDiscoDhaos wrote:
Why do we have to follow God? Isn’t it your religon that says God will allow you in heaven based on what you were taught in life and if you followed the commandments?

petrofsky wrote:

What about the African Americans in america? They are extremely religeous, yet they are the most unhappy in America.

Red_Calibur9 wrote:
Follow God = get into heaven

Red_Calibur9 wrote:
Are you saying that it’s impossible for humans to stop suffering? Jesus did. It’s all our own free will to choose to do right.

RebornChibiDiscoDhaos wrote:
According to the Budduhism set of beliefs, the 8 fold path, we need no god to obtain 'heaven' so to speak.

NihilusRavager7780 wrote:

I wouldn’t say that. I’m not unhappy. What exactly makes us unhappy?

Itachi Uchiha wrote: Something had to have made God. Something cant just be around forever. The universe developed over a period of time.

By the way, gas formations, and other events made the universe, not a magical force.

There is no Satan either. He was just a way to scare people in believing in God and make the church get more power.
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Never ending questions... yeah satan has saying that before...

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Why do we have to follow God? Isn’t it your religon that says God will allow you in heaven based on what you were taught in life and if you followed the commandments?
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you disrespect other religions and making moslems, christian look bad and consider them as terrorist while other atheist are terrorist and yet you defend yourself and keep saying that religion are terrorist and what you doing is right...

so yeah...

petrofsky wrote:

Not all.

Poverty.

Itachi Uchiha wrote: Something had to have made God. Something cant just be around forever. The universe developed over a period of time.

By the way, gas formations, and other events made the universe, not a magical force.

There is no Satan either. He was just a way to scare people in believing in God and make the church get more power.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
Never ending questions... yeah satan has saying that before...

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Why do we have to follow God? Isn�t it your religon that says God will allow you in heaven based on what you were taught in life and if you followed the commandments?
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
you disrespect other religions and making moslems, christian look bad and consider them as terrorist while other atheist are terrorist and yet you defend yourself and keep saying that religion are terrorist and what you doing is right...

so yeah...

Red_Calibur9 wrote:
I’m not Buddhist.

NihilusRavager7780 wrote:

You make it sound like African Americans are the only race going though poverty. Not just African Americans are going though poverty.

petrofsky wrote:

I am well aware. I was using that as an example

Other examples:

Religeous poor people
Religeous Alcoholics/Drug Addicts
Muslims under bad government

I can go on.

NihilusRavager7780 wrote:

I am also well aware of what you speak of.

petrofsky wrote:

Good. Don’t want to appear like an ass. (though I kinda already have with this thread)

Osmium wrote: I feel the epistemological, metaphysical, and empirical problems of religion weigh heavily in favor of atheism.

Osmium wrote: While it’s true that an afterlife can logically exist without a deity, the world we live in almost certainly has no afterlife. The degree to which you are conscious of anything correlates directly with the amount of activity going on in your brain. Your brain activity, which can be measured by MRI, PET, and other neuro-imaging methods, is responsible for your consciousness. The mind is entirely a product of the brain and cannot conceivably be thought to exist outside of it. The belief in an afterlife is a very anthropocentric view: it presumes that we, as humans, are somehow exempt from nature’s laws and can — in some form — survive indefinitely. But that’s not the way it works, unfortunately. At the end of life is an eternal place of oblivion and rest.

The theory of a grand creator is incoherent.

Coleslaw not logged in wrote:
petrofsky - the idea that religious people are generally unhappy is an incredibly flawed assumption.

Coleslaw not logged in wrote: Yes, I wholly disagree with Itachi’s statement, but if I recall correctly you said something about African Americans being religious and unhappy, as if the two had anything to do with each other.
Also, regarding religious poor people and religious addicts/alcoholics: as opposed to what? Non-religious poor people and non-religious druggies? Religion has very little to do with it. However, if we are talking about global conflicts (e.g. sectarian violence in Iraq), then I would agree with the sentiment that religion (particularly differences in doctrine - such as the rift between Sunni and Shia Islam - and extremist interpretations) breeds misery.