How many GODS do you have?

[Baruch]

I find it fascinating that people need the concept of god in order to do good.

i find it fascinating that people need the concept of the DNC in order to do good (sarc).

[Baruch]

People are brainwashed to believe there is someone powerful watching you, so if you transgress, you will be punished. As a toddler, you have your parents watching over you. But as an adult, you need someone all present, all knowing to do that job of oversight. And God is the perfect prop for this - the Wizard of Oz is just a parable that has been going over for centuries.

Now you have personal assistants finking on you to Apple.

[Baruch]

It was assumed that the masses need a perpetual carrot and stick system to synthesize morality.  Stalin and Hitler are examples of how evil people can become when those constraints are removed.   The case of genuinely ethical atheists is an anomaly worth investigating.

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Atheists love politics, but claim it isn't a religion.  It is an ideology however, and it kills more people than the Spanish Inquisition.

[Simon Moon]

Fact is they were both atheists.

Fact is, by his words in public and private, Hitler believed in a god.

In fact, he was a creationist.

He also persecuted many atheist groups/

You are misinformed on this.

[Mr.Obvious]

Fact is, by his words in public and private, Hitler believed in a god.

In fact, he was a creationist.

He also persecuted many atheist groups/

You are misinformed on this.

He also had a bit of a messiah complex.

And he was a vegeterian.

Ergo, vegetarians are evil.

[josephpalazzo]

Their belief in God is already absurd. That they also believe that atheists have no morals is just another absurdity added to their portfolio of absurd beliefs.

[Unbeliever]

If anybody tell you that God create billions of people, knowing ahead of time that they are destined for punishment that is something very very silly to say.
Even the so called believers get punishment if they do the wrong thing.
Reactions to previous actions hit everybody regardless whether they are theists, atheists or materialists and the reactions that you may call them  punishment are all about restoring the lost balance.

There is no permanent hell so the reactions to previous actions are of temporary nature.
The only permanent thing that exist is the nirvana all the rest come and goes as evolution take place.

I don't think in terms of reward/punishment, or "karma," rather I just consider that there are good and bad consequences to our actions.

[Unbeliever]

I find it fascinating that people need the concept of god in order to do good.   

Yeah, as Abraham Lincoln said, "when I go good, I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad. And that's my religion."

[Unbeliever]

Fact is, by his words in public and private, Hitler believed in a god.

In fact, he was a creationist.

He also persecuted many atheist groups/

You are misinformed on this.

Funny how none of the Catholic Nazis were ever excommunicated by the RCC, huh?

[Absolute_Agent]

Fact is, by his words in public and private, Hitler believed in a god.

In fact, he was a creationist.

He also persecuted many atheist groups/

You are misinformed on this.

If anything your view is supported by only a minority of historians, and regardless of his beliefs, his objective was the obliteration of all religion in favor of scientism.

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[Absolute_Agent]

Their belief in God is already absurd. That they also believe that atheists have no morals is just another absurdity added to their portfolio of absurd beliefs.

I am of the firm opinion that the masses do require some external structure reinforcing morality.  Religion is an effective component of a system of social order that includes secular laws.  If we didn't need external reinforcement, then there wouldn't be anything like law enforcement in society.  Ethical atheists are a good example of an exception to the need for religious reinforcement.  But how they would function in an environment without religion or secular laws is a different question.  I don't know if it's ever been studied.

I'm curious, are you and or many atheists on the Marxist or Anarchist end of the political spectrum?

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[Mike Cl]

It's linked to the concept of original sin, an entrenched doctrine that people are intrinsically evil.  I don't agree with this doctrine, but have experienced its impact personally due to growing up in a fundamentalist environment.  When I detached from that environment, I found that internal impulses towards negative behavior subsided.



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That was a good insight, in my view.  And I am familiar with that concept--Original Sin.  It is one of the reasons I find it impossible to think god is anything other than a human fictional construct.  God is the one and only Creator of the entire universe; yet he cannot get his creation correct.  And he blames it upon his creation and not on the originator of it all.  But, Original Sin  is a brilliant concept to foist upon the masses as an instrument of control.  And it has been wildly successful.   

[josephpalazzo]

I am of the firm opinion that the masses some people do require some external structure reinforcing morality. 

Religion is an a cheap effective component of a system of social order that includes secular laws.

If we didn't need external reinforcement, then there wouldn't be anything like law enforcement in society. 

Agree

Ethical atheists are a good example of an exception to the need for religious reinforcement.  But how they would function in an environment without religion or secular laws is a different question.  I don't know if it's ever been studied.

Atheists are no different. There will be some who will need external reinforcement. Nothing is perfect, including atheists.

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[Unbeliever]

But, Original Sin  is a brilliant concept to foist upon the masses as an instrument of control.  And it has been wildly successful.   

No one's ever explained, to my knowledge, how "original sin" is passed from generation to generation. Is it passed through the genes? Does the soul have spiritual genes to pass it? Just how does that work?

[Mike Cl]

No one's ever explained, to my knowledge, how "original sin" is passed from generation to generation. Is it passed through the genes? Does the soul have spiritual genes to pass it? Just how does that work?

I think it passes from generation and is stamped upon the soul of all who are born and will be born.  It is a masterful piece of propaganda!  One is sinful from birth and the only thing that can purge that is to accept Jesus as you saviour.  And how do you do that?  Just listen to whatever christian leader you like.  It helps keep the coffers full!