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Catonian · #3 (**permalink**) 06-18-2008, 07:45 PM

Oh this is lovely! One of my favorite things is scholars such as yourself, forcing their opinions down the throats and people and chirping about how foolish religious people are. The world doesn't care about George Washington? And what relevance does that have to your argument? The loss of appreciation and observance the observance of historical figures is a tragic, tragic thing. We're too embedded culturally in what celebrities are doing than our own past... And I'm not sure whether you're condoning that or not, the tone of your statement sure sounds like it... And if that's the case, well... I already dislike you immensely.

You make it sounds as if religion is an invention based off of ego. Now, I find that somewhat of a contradictory statement. Isn't the pursuit of science and the furthering of our own knowledge and intelligence an act of extreme arrogance in itself? Science, without the drive of human ego that led to new discoveries and innovations, wouldn't exist. Religion would reign supreme in the belief category. It's ego that drives science, not religion. It's fear that drives religion. Fear, faith, or whatever you want to call it. How is believing in a higher being that has greater authority than all life in existence an egotistical thing? A large part of religion is faith, and a large part of faith is not trying to explain something, just believing in it.

Religions never just start to die off... Roman Paganism was replaced with the different sects of Christianity when Christendom took precedence over Paganism. For years ever after the Council of Nicaea, scads of offshoots to the "accepted" Christianity thrived in different parts of the Eastern and Western Roman Empire. Your argument that religion has slowly disappeared due to the realization of the mechanations of the world around us only reflects your own lack of knowledge on the subject. The number of religions decreased because of authority. Different sects of Christianity didn't disappear because innovation, they disappeared because of persecution and condemnation.

Paganism didn't disappear because we discovered more. It died off because the government that backed it slowly began to die off... Not because of discoveries, because the Pagan Romans slipped into a decline, which was the result of multiple things. Christianity was seen as a popular reform, one with strong moral standards. So Emperors, Pro-Magistrates, government figureheads began to adopt it to attempt and fix what had gone wrong... And when it proved to be too little too late, it was the Church that succeeded the Roman Empire. Paganism didn't disappear because we discovered the light bulb...

Despite all the bloodshed, killing, etc that religion has caused, it's the basis of government, and more importantly, moral standards. What you're condemning is the basis of the laws of society! I can make the arguable statement that without religion, society would be a hell of a lot more chaotic than it is now. Because no matter how you look at it, religion has done a lot more good than it has evil. It's led to the preservation of our past, our culture. It's the basis of giving, and some of the most foundational principles that we base our lives off of. Equality was such a popular consequence because of religion.

Society would be a lot more screwed up if we went around we were living without purpose... and that's the point I'm trying to drive here. I'm not condoning or condemning religion, but I am arguing the benefits that it's had on our society. And for you to blatantly condemn that, to argue that we live a purposeless life, is basically saying that you don't enjoy the relative peace of the world, or the equality offered to you. People like you, who forcibly push their opinions down the throats of people, spouting the uselessness of life and how purposeless we are, just (*)(*)(*)(*) me off.