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  1. J

    Religion and Morality, Happiness, Hope and Love

    To me it's fairly standard religious rhetoric that mixes morality, wisdom, and the supernatural. Whatever in that quotation is good I already know, and I don't need anybody to explain it to me. Whatever in that quotation is unnecessary, I don't bother with. Whatever in that quotation is bad, I...
  2. J

    Religion and Morality, Happiness, Hope and Love

    I think it may be more accurate to say that some people think they need religion to be happy. Many religious people will tell you they need their religion to be happy or at least will tell you they need their religion to avoid feeling miserable and hopeless. They could be wrong, and the truth is...
  3. J

    Religion and Morality, Happiness, Hope and Love

    I don't think you need religion to do any of that, so we are in agreement on that issue.
  4. J

    Religion and Morality, Happiness, Hope and Love

    OK, but are you saying you don't need religion to love people?
  5. J

    Religion and Morality, Happiness, Hope and Love

    All societies need morality to survive as civilizations. An "evil city" is an oxymoron (although I sometimes doubt that truism in the town I live in). So whether we are religious or not, we need some kind of morality. Religion does not own morality and never did. Many religions falsely lay...
  6. J

    Religion and Morality, Happiness, Hope and Love

    I try to treat others the same way, but I do it on my own without being commanded to do so. Do you need to be commanded to love?
  7. J

    Religion and Morality, Happiness, Hope and Love

    I'd say that anybody who does evil habitually without remorse does not deserve my love. That is, I would not respect or laud evildoers because if I did, then I would be helping them to do evil. And that's one reason why religion's commanding people to love others unconditionally is a very bad idea.
  8. J

    Religion and Morality, Happiness, Hope and Love

    When the religious aren't admonishing unbelievers to believe in the God and miracles of their religion, they might ask unbelievers to consider the importance of the morality, happiness, hope, and love offered by their religion. For Christians, they have the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the...
  9. J

    An Easy Jesus for Practical Atheists

    The religious tend to display paranoia fearing that they are being deceived by unbelievers. The religious also tend to repeat themselves even after being corrected. The religious seek to find guilty all those they fear are deceiving their fellow believers. This phenomenon drove the...
  10. J

    An Easy Jesus for Practical Atheists

    I'm missing your point. What exactly is the point of your posting that you're convinced that I'm lying? It appears important to you that you prove that I am lying. Anyway, as far as my being accused of attempting to get you to rethink your position, I admit my guilt! You are seeing correctly...
  11. J

    An Easy Jesus for Practical Atheists

    I wouldn't say that everything Jesus taught was meant to be mere "parable" (I think you mean metaphor). While the examples you post above are obvious metaphors, much of what Jesus is quoted as saying cannot meaningfully be interpreted as metaphor. Was his "Heavenly Father" only a metaphor, for...
  12. J

    Religious Faith and Human Nature

    I'll be happy to debate you about the meaning and nature of religion on another thread devoted to that topic. When you engage in a debate, it's best to stick with the topic. If it helps, we can discuss Christianity in particular and how it may disregard the human tendency to deceive. Does...
  13. J

    Religious Faith and Human Nature

    I'm not interested in arguing semantics. I explained already what I mean by "religion." For the purposes of this debate, the "human commonality" under discussion is believing outlandish claims on very weak evidence especially when those outlandish claims involve gods, revelations from gods, or...
  14. J

    Religious Faith and Human Nature

    Thanks for the etymology, but I'm referring to religion in a broad sense understanding religion as beliefs in gods, miracles, or afterlives. Yes. I'm well aware that there are differences in religions, of course, but there are many common traits amongst them. I'm not sure what you mean by...
  15. J

    Religious Faith and Human Nature

    Yes, there are different religions, but they act in very similar ways. That's why they're all called "religions." So this debate is about religion in general. Yes, religion is not the only vice, but it is a vice nevertheless. That's why I spoke of "human nature" in the OP. (Did you read the...
  16. J

    Religious Faith and Human Nature

    That's correct. Now if only we could explain that principle to Jesus. We are told that people are blessed if they believe the Gospel without seeing. I'm not surprised that the Gospel writers had Jesus say that considering the evidence we have for Jesus. I've often wondered how Jesus would have...
  17. J

    Religious Faith and Human Nature

    Yes, that's another possibility, but as far as I'm concerned, being sincerely misinformed is as bad as being deliberately deceived if not worse. In the case of deception, only one party is mistaken, but in the case of a delusional religious prophet, both parties are mistaken! From the history I...
  18. J

    Religious Faith and Human Nature

    If there's one thing I know about people, it's that they can play the truth to get others to dance to that melody. If you're good at lying, then you can have a great advantage over other people. Business leaders and politicians prove so every day. Therefore I think it's wise to take great care...
  19. J

    An Easy Jesus for Practical Atheists

    If by "Christian" you mean a person who obeys the Gospel's injunctions, then yes, Christians are rare birds. One possible example of a person who did obey Jesus is Saint Francis of Assisi. He was celibate and lived in abject poverty devoting his entire life to his Christian faith. Of course...
  20. J

    An Easy Jesus for Practical Atheists

    OK, then I see that Jesus makes no difference to you aside from making lengthy excuses as to why you choose not to obey him. "Depart from me--I never knew you!"
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