I was at work the other day (I work at a library) and there were three people sitting in chairs near where I was shelving books.
They were having a pretty loud conversation about religion. I am not 100% about who they were, but there were 2 female young adults and one older female adult. The 2 younger were questioning the older one about her religious beliefs.
If you are ready to feel like smacking your face into the wall, continue reading.
At one point they asked her something about the fact how christianity has so many branches and the lady went onto say (this is all paraphrased, I don't have THAT great of a memory)
"Well I don't think there should be so many branches of the same religion. We should all just practice the same thing because we believe the same thing. I don't know why we don't. It makes more sense. We should all just be one religion. I know that there are lots of other religions but there should just be the one since we all believe the same thing"
She obviously doesn't know her history. Even I don't know too much religious history, but I know enough to know that religions have split into smaller little ones, like how we have protestants, puritans, anglicans, etc, for various historical reasons. Although I do think it is stupid how religions still aren't letting some things go, I understand the reasoning behind it.
Anyways, the two girls always responded with justifying what she said by saying things like "It seems you don't care about the details and you just need to look at the facts and need to justify it."
The lady went on again for a while "I mean a lot of this doesn't make sense to me, like jesus being resurrected, it makes no logical sense. Jesus was born from a virgin, it doesn't make sense. I know a lot about my religion, well I don't know a lot about it but I have heard it all in church. You just have to believe."
"So the details aren't as important to you"
"The details don't matter to me, the history doesn't matter to me. I've been going to church since I was a kid and the details don't really matter."
"So the facts don't matter to you. That makes sense."
I missed a lot of the conversation, as I was working, but I did here them start talking about other religious beliefs like mormonism and buddhism.
I actually had to restrain myself from entering the conversation. They had no idea what they were talking about.
Essentially throughout the whole conversation this woman basically admitted that there are so many things that don't make sense in the bible, in her religion, but that those things don't matter to her and that she chooses to ignore them and continue her faith.
This is why people are still theists. People are afraid of being wrong, they are afraid of being a non-conformist, they are afraid to go back on the views they once held and carry on new ones.
You can't prove god exists, you can't not prove he exists. This is why agnosticism makes so much sense, but yet, I am an atheist.
This is the type of thing that makes me want to scream it from the mountaintops, broadcast it on TV, hand out brochures... the only analyzation, the one idea I always come back to in my discoveries is that people fear being wrong.
When you are in a debate and you suddenly decide you like the other idea better, are you going to confess that? No! Of course not! How embarrassing is that? Well 90% of our population believes in a god that doesn't exist, so I'd say it's more embarrassing to not switch sides when you realize the other side is right, because then you are contributing to a societal fallacy. Fallacy isn't the word I am looking for, mistake? I am not sure.
I rarely do, but if I do discover the other side is correct, or maybe even slightly correct, like if I am debating the existence of god and the other side does make a good point, I do commend them on their point and see its value. I continue my arguments because I am an atheist, although this one little point hasn't swayed me, I do tell them if it is a valid point.
I am not saying that if one little point on the other side is right, completely change your views, and I am not even telling you to be open-minded. The only thing I am asking you is to confess if you are wrong.
The one thing we don't need more of in society is lies and deceit controlling us. Truthiness is important.
We don't want our history textbooks (tablets, applications..) depicting our generation as a fiction novel, we want it to be non-fiction.
So stop believing in things that don't make sense. Use logic.
They were having a pretty loud conversation about religion. I am not 100% about who they were, but there were 2 female young adults and one older female adult. The 2 younger were questioning the older one about her religious beliefs.
If you are ready to feel like smacking your face into the wall, continue reading.
At one point they asked her something about the fact how christianity has so many branches and the lady went onto say (this is all paraphrased, I don't have THAT great of a memory)
"Well I don't think there should be so many branches of the same religion. We should all just practice the same thing because we believe the same thing. I don't know why we don't. It makes more sense. We should all just be one religion. I know that there are lots of other religions but there should just be the one since we all believe the same thing"
She obviously doesn't know her history. Even I don't know too much religious history, but I know enough to know that religions have split into smaller little ones, like how we have protestants, puritans, anglicans, etc, for various historical reasons. Although I do think it is stupid how religions still aren't letting some things go, I understand the reasoning behind it.
Anyways, the two girls always responded with justifying what she said by saying things like "It seems you don't care about the details and you just need to look at the facts and need to justify it."
The lady went on again for a while "I mean a lot of this doesn't make sense to me, like jesus being resurrected, it makes no logical sense. Jesus was born from a virgin, it doesn't make sense. I know a lot about my religion, well I don't know a lot about it but I have heard it all in church. You just have to believe."
"So the details aren't as important to you"
"The details don't matter to me, the history doesn't matter to me. I've been going to church since I was a kid and the details don't really matter."
"So the facts don't matter to you. That makes sense."
I missed a lot of the conversation, as I was working, but I did here them start talking about other religious beliefs like mormonism and buddhism.
I actually had to restrain myself from entering the conversation. They had no idea what they were talking about.
Essentially throughout the whole conversation this woman basically admitted that there are so many things that don't make sense in the bible, in her religion, but that those things don't matter to her and that she chooses to ignore them and continue her faith.
This is why people are still theists. People are afraid of being wrong, they are afraid of being a non-conformist, they are afraid to go back on the views they once held and carry on new ones.
You can't prove god exists, you can't not prove he exists. This is why agnosticism makes so much sense, but yet, I am an atheist.
This is the type of thing that makes me want to scream it from the mountaintops, broadcast it on TV, hand out brochures... the only analyzation, the one idea I always come back to in my discoveries is that people fear being wrong.
When you are in a debate and you suddenly decide you like the other idea better, are you going to confess that? No! Of course not! How embarrassing is that? Well 90% of our population believes in a god that doesn't exist, so I'd say it's more embarrassing to not switch sides when you realize the other side is right, because then you are contributing to a societal fallacy. Fallacy isn't the word I am looking for, mistake? I am not sure.
I rarely do, but if I do discover the other side is correct, or maybe even slightly correct, like if I am debating the existence of god and the other side does make a good point, I do commend them on their point and see its value. I continue my arguments because I am an atheist, although this one little point hasn't swayed me, I do tell them if it is a valid point.
I am not saying that if one little point on the other side is right, completely change your views, and I am not even telling you to be open-minded. The only thing I am asking you is to confess if you are wrong.
The one thing we don't need more of in society is lies and deceit controlling us. Truthiness is important.
We don't want our history textbooks (tablets, applications..) depicting our generation as a fiction novel, we want it to be non-fiction.
So stop believing in things that don't make sense. Use logic.
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