Religion = arrogance.

[answers]

I'm going to make 2 points here.

1st: Religion involves beliefs that appeal to a person's arrogance. A Christian for example believes that God was not happy by himself and needed to create humans. They also believe that God loves them so much that he died for them.

Now I'm sure christians will come back and say, 'oh but we are sinners, and we humbly accept God's forgiveness and it is because of god's glorious love that he died for us.'

But the belief itself still involves the acceptance, that God thought that you were worth dying for. You don't see any teachings that god loves all the animals in the world so much that he would die for them. No christians believe that they are special, that they are 'son's of god' Jesus even teaches that christians are brothers and sisters to himself as they know god's will.

So christian belief in a nutshell, involves believing that humans/christians were created because god was not satisfied with the current way things were, that christians were worth the death of Gods son, that christians are the children of god, that god wants to spend the rest of eternity with christians because they are so amazing, that christians are worth listening to every second of every day when they pray, that god has nothing better to do then control/bless every part of thier lives, that god will listen to them and through prayer do what they want god to do for them ("jump through this hoop god").

Honestly when you look at it, Christian belief pretty much has god as their bitch.

2nd point:

Agnostics and athiests' beliefs do not involve any arrogant puffing up of themselves. They simply humbly believe that they exist, and they do the best they can with their lives. They don't sensationalize their existance, they accept it.

Religion is arrogance parading around as modesty.

 

[S.A.M.]

Agnostics and athiests' beliefs do not involve any arrogant puffing up of themselve

Yeh they just think people who are religious have a mental disease, have low IQ and need psychiatric evaluation. It also helps that most theists are black or female. So then they show us Bell Curve hypotheses about why white people, excuse me, I mean atheists are vastly superior human beings with tremendous geniuses in their fold/

 

[answers]

Show me a definition of athiest or agnostic that includes anything you jsut wrote Sam.

 

[S.A.M.]

Don't be silly. Atheists do not define themselves. They are defined as such by theists. I did not say anything about agnostics

 

[lightgigantic]

I'm going to make 2 points here.

1st: Religion involves beliefs that appeal to a person's arrogance. A Christian for example believes that God was not happy by himself and needed to create humans. They also believe that God loves them so much that he died for them.

Now I'm sure christians will come back and say, 'oh but we are sinners, and we humbly accept God's forgiveness and it is because of god's glorious love that he died for us.'

But the belief itself still involves the acceptance, that God thought that you were worth dying for. You don't see any teachings that god loves all the animals in the world so much that he would die for them. No christians believe that they are special, that they are 'son's of god' Jesus even teaches that christians are brothers and sisters to himself as they know god's will.

So christian belief in a nutshell, involves believing that humans/christians were created because god was not satisfied with the current way things were, that christians were worth the death of Gods son, that christians are the children of god, that god wants to spend the rest of eternity with christians because they are so amazing, that christians are worth listening to every second of every day when they pray, that god has nothing better to do then control/bless every part of thier lives, that god will listen to them and through prayer do what they want god to do for them ("jump through this hoop god").

Honestly when you look at it, Christian belief pretty much has god as their bitch.

2nd point:

Agnostics and athiests' beliefs do not involve any arrogant puffing up of themselves. They simply humbly believe that they exist, and they do the best they can with their lives. They don't sensationalize their existance, they accept it.

Religion is arrogance parading around as modesty.

You do realize that you are talking about Christianity (and even then, a poor version of it) and not religion, yes?

 

[GeoffP]

I'm going to make 2 points here.

1st: Religion involves beliefs that appeal to a person's arrogance. A Christian for example believes that God was not happy by himself and needed to create humans. They also believe that God loves them so much that he died for them.

Actually, Christians (reasonable ones) approach the issue with a great deal of humility, respect and responsibility. That's why there exist concepts like blasphemy and damnation. Cruel, yes; but they hardly put us above God.

They don't sensationalize their existance, they accept it.

Other than Rich Dawkins, you mean?

Religion is arrogance parading around as modesty.

So? Leave us to our collective arrogance, and we'll leave you to your - er - modesty.

I admit that this is a new kind of attack, though. Usually it's because of our harsh impressions of the afterlife that we get collectively damned.

 

[Nesm]

I'm going to make 2 points here.

1st: Religion involves beliefs that appeal to a person's arrogance.

That's a broad brush you're painting with there. (some) People believe in religion because they take it as truth; or at least as a fragment of the truth. Christians (as you've focused on) do a lot for the communities in which they live. There's a church around here which does the following:

• Builds schools in areas where communities do not have them;
• Runs an Aids center for pregnant women. This provides shelter, food and basic life-training;

The above 'establishments' are run purely as a service to the community. 'Religion' is left out of the equation - people interested are encouraged to rather attend meetings during the week.

I'm not trying to 'big up' any church or religious group here. But realize that there are millions of christian people who have good intentions, and act because the bible says: love your neighbor as yourself. Would they act with such compassion without religion? I'm sure they would - but what religious institutions are able to do is gather like minded people and enable them to change communities, at a very real level.

Arrogance? I think not. I get what you're saying, and I agree in part, but your generalizations require as much faith as does the pie in the sky.

And what happens if you find a wand which allows you to abolish organized religion? Do you have a strategy to put into place alternative platforms for communal gathering & community outreach?

 

[joepistole]

I'm going to make 2 points here.

1st: Religion involves beliefs that appeal to a person's arrogance. A Christian for example believes that God was not happy by himself and needed to create humans. They also believe that God loves them so much that he died for them.

Now I'm sure christians will come back and say, 'oh but we are sinners, and we humbly accept God's forgiveness and it is because of god's glorious love that he died for us.'

But the belief itself still involves the acceptance, that God thought that you were worth dying for. You don't see any teachings that god loves all the animals in the world so much that he would die for them. No christians believe that they are special, that they are 'son's of god' Jesus even teaches that christians are brothers and sisters to himself as they know god's will.

So christian belief in a nutshell, involves believing that humans/christians were created because god was not satisfied with the current way things were, that christians were worth the death of Gods son, that christians are the children of god, that god wants to spend the rest of eternity with christians because they are so amazing, that christians are worth listening to every second of every day when they pray, that god has nothing better to do then control/bless every part of thier lives, that god will listen to them and through prayer do what they want god to do for them ("jump through this hoop god").

Honestly when you look at it, Christian belief pretty much has god as their bitch.

2nd point:

Agnostics and athiests' beliefs do not involve any arrogant puffing up of themselves. They simply humbly believe that they exist, and they do the best they can with their lives. They don't sensationalize their existance, they accept it.

Religion is arrogance parading around as modesty.

As previously noted, you are painting with a broad brush that appears to be the brush of arrogance as well. I can see how you could legitimately claim that some Christians are arrogant. But arrogance in not restrictied to Christians or any other group including athiests.

Two there is nothing in Christian dogma that is inherently arrogant. Belief that one is worthy of love is not arrogance. It is probably healthy. To know that someone sacraficed for you, shows not arrogance, but that you/we should be humbled that others sacraficed something to give us what we have today and we should do the same.

The example provided by Christ is an archtype that we as Christians should try to emulate in our daily lives. Regretably many of us fall short. But with forgiveness, we can be forgiven; dust ourselves off and try again.

 

[NMSquirrel]

I'm going to make 2 points here.
God loves them so much that he died for them.
it is because of god's glorious love that he died for us.'
God thought that you were worth dying for.

ok i'll bite..

that christians were worth the death of Gods son, that christians are the children of god, that god wants to spend the rest of eternity with christians

um the problem here is it is not exclusivly christians.
he is refering to ALL of us,not just a particular group of ppl.

Honestly when you look at it, Christian belief pretty much has god as their bitch.

do i hafta rehash my other posts or can i just assume you have read them and understand my point of view..(didn't say you have to agree with them,just understand)

2nd point:

Agnostics and athiests' beliefs do not involve any arrogant puffing up of themselves. They simply humbly believe that they exist, and they do the best they can with their lives. They don't sensationalize their existance, they accept it.

are you saying it is not arrogant to rely on their own opinion as to gods existence? (or lack thereof)

Religion is arrogance parading around as modesty.

in a nutshell (see comment about rehashing)
religion is arrogant..believers can be(thats part of the human condition)

 

[mike47]

Don't most religions call for modesty, simplicity and not arrogance ?.... .

 

[glaucon]

Don't be silly. Atheists do not define themselves.

Don't be sillier.
I take exception to this. I certainly define myself.
Alas, it's also true that we each define ourselves, so the point is moot.

Kind of like the thread topic itself is. I'm generally not the first person to jump to the defense of religion [big surprise here for some of you folk...lol], but the OP here is making a fallacious correlation. The quality of being arrogant has little to do with the nature of the object of that arrogance. Any person can be arrogant, for whatever reason they choose.

 

[answers]

I know what you guys are saying. But I really think it's worth thinking twice about.

These religions make a huge deal about their followers. That they are special, better than non-believers, will be rewarded with eternal life in glory.

There are a lot of beliefs there which you have to have on some level a sense of arrogance to accept.

I'm not even sure if it's a conscious level.

It's just in their nature for believers to think that they deserve more than this life.

 

[NMSquirrel]

These religions make a huge deal about their followers. That they are special, better than non-believers, will be rewarded with eternal life in glory.

this is still not confined to believers..it is part of the human condition to give themselves a sense of worth,whether it be justified or not..

It's just in their nature for believers to think that they deserve more than this life.

again this does not apply to just believers..

it is the nature of humanity to believe they deserve more than they get..

 

[Doreen]

I'm going to make 2 points here.

1st: Religion involves beliefs that appeal to a person's arrogance. A Christian for example believes that God was not happy by himself and needed to create humans.

[sinp]
.

As a start, the thread should be called Christianity = Arrogance.

 

[answers]

NMS

So you are saying that religion appeals to the arrogance which is general to all mankind?

 

[answers]

I focused on Christianity, but many things discussed are beliefs shared by other religions.

 

[Doreen]

Agnostics and athiests' beliefs do not involve any arrogant puffing up of themselves.

First many atheists would say the term 'atheists' beliefs' makes no sense.
Second, agnostics are claiming to know, absolutely, that no one can know if there is a God or not. This is not a humble claim. Note: I am using the sense of agnostic as intended by the person who came up with the word. Other people use it differently. This also holds true for 'atheist', since some atheists do have the belief there is no God.

They simply humbly believe that they exist, and they do the best they can with their lives. They don't sensationalize their existance, they accept it.

Could you back this up with some evidence

 

[answers]

Doreen so are you saying that agnostics claiming that no one can know if there is a god or not, is as arrogant as believing that you are chosen by god?

 

[Doreen]

I focused on Christianity, but many things discussed are beliefs shared by other religions.

`1) you have made a unique theological interpretation regarding God's dissatisfaction. I personally do not, in all cases, make things because I am dissatisfied. I don't know why you assume the Christian God must have had this as a motivation. 2) The rest, relating to Jesus, has nothing to do with other religions.

 

[Doreen]

Doreen so are you saying that agnostics claiming that no one can know if there is a god or not, is as arrogant as believing that you are chosen by god?

Are we talking about Jews now?