Stephen Hawking on Religion

• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2010-06-11 03:07
  [video=youtube;I4I-XT5nH7g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4I-XT5nH7g[/video]
  
  Is the cat missing something?
  it seems quite obvious that science will be accepted more than religion.
  
  when the cat reads the youtube comments, they make the cat feel like they don't know what they're talking about ._.
• Hiccup wrote on 2010-06-11 03:12
  Well I don't think science will have an easy win, but eventually maybe.
• Chiri wrote on 2010-06-11 03:19
  Both are based on faith. While I am atheist and believe in science, its pretty much useless to get into arguments over religion.
• Cucurbita wrote on 2010-06-11 03:27
  The shift is very slow, but I'd guess it'd take another 200 years before religion in America becomes unimportant.
  
  Atheism is on a 1~2% rise per year though.
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2010-06-11 03:42
  Why did they have to name another philosophy just to oppose religion? ._.
  why can't humans just say that they don't believe in religion
• Magenera wrote on 2010-06-11 04:01
  Because since the dawn of humanity, we relied on religion to answer what happen after death. Till we ever get pass our fear of death (which we won't) it will exist. So in other words just give it a rest about which one is right, the one that is popular will be the one that wins out in the end. Or the one that kills and rid of all evidence of the other existing. What ever does it will win in the end. (bets on religion, end of the world scenario everyone goes for religion)
• Chiri wrote on 2010-06-11 04:25

  What ever does it will win in the end. (bets on religion, end of the world scenario everyone goes for religion)

  
  Explain why an overwhelming amount of holocaust survivors stopped believing in God.
• Cucurbita wrote on 2010-06-11 04:55

  Quote from Chiri;60505:

  Explain why an overwhelming amount of holocaust survivors stopped believing in God.

  
  
  But they survived.
  
  In cases of extreme desperation, people's minds will begin to deny themselves of truth in order to comfort themselves. In an apocalyptic situation, religion could also actually be used to restore order to communities.
  
  Referable example: The movie "The Mist".
  
  [video=youtube;ImOP6TS2SyI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImOP6TS2SyI[/video]
• Syrphid wrote on 2010-06-11 05:35

  Quote from Chiri;60430:

  Both are based on faith. While I am atheist and believe in science, its pretty much useless to get into arguments over religion.

  
  
  A lot of discussions over religion go sour, but that doesn't mean it's pointless to try. We all start at the same place, so why do we come to different conclusions? One side has to be better than the other. Talking about it allows us to see where we diverge, and how we approach the same things. I think it's really important.
  
  

  Quote from Magenera;60491:

  Because since the dawn of humanity, we relied on religion to answer what happen after death. Till we ever get pass our fear of death (which we won't) it will exist. So in other words just give it a rest about which one is right, the one that is popular will be the one that wins out in the end. Or the one that kills and rid of all evidence of the other existing. What ever does it will win in the end. (bets on religion, end of the world scenario everyone goes for religion)

  
  
  I don't fear death, but I do fear dying.
  
  I won't give it a rest. If someone says something that I think is wrong, I will stand up and ask questions. If they're ignorant, I will paste them. Then they will agree with me. And then my view will be popular. In any event, popularity does not imply truth.
• Cucurbita wrote on 2010-06-11 05:43

  Quote from Syrphid;60576:

  If they're ignorant, I will paste them. Then they will agree with me.

  
  
  Just don't over force yourself.
  Some people can't believe even if they wanted to because of everything they believe as "truth" has been engraved into their reasoning.
  
  

  We all start at the same place, so why do we come to different conclusions?

  
  
  The idea applies to more than one place, not just religion.
  Politics, philosophy, science, the best way to drink a slurpee. An answer must exist, but everyone will always believe their truth is the true truth.
• Chiri wrote on 2010-06-11 05:45

  Quote from Margatroid;60533:

  But they survived.
  
  ...
  Referable example: The movie ...

  
  
  An example from a movie? Sorry, movies does not describe the real behavior of people in desperate situations.
  
  Even if they survived, you can't toss their experience aside as irrelevant. They lived in what could only be perceived by them as 'the end of the world'. The ones that lived, waited for salvation and it never came. After a week, a month, years, of things not getting any better, they gave up their faith on god. Its the closest model to apocalyptic behavior you can get, really.
• Cucurbita wrote on 2010-06-11 06:30

  Quote from Chiri;60581:

  An example from a movie? Sorry, movies does not describe the real behavior of people in desperate situations.
  
  Even if they survived, you can't toss their experience aside as irrelevant. They lived in what could only be perceived by them as 'the end of the world'. The ones that lived, waited for salvation and it never came. After a week, a month, years, of things not getting any better, they gave up their faith on god. Its the closest model to apocalyptic behavior you can get, really.

  
  
  People who become desperate will resort to anything to make sense of things. A clever person could easily use religious material to sway them.
• Hiccup wrote on 2010-06-11 09:09
  People have a need for an answer. Religion just answers so many questions to people that they go with it. Now it's just taught and accepted when it's passed on, or not accepted and dropped.
  
  /religion thread
  
  My dad reads all his books.