Notice how many gods you reject.

[Branden Albert's Huge Balls]

Proof #28 - Notice how many gods you reject

There are literally thousands of religions being practiced today. Here are 20 of the most popular, along with an estimate of the number of followers:

Christianity: 2.1 billion
Islam: 1.3 billion
Hinduism: 900 million
Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
Buddhism: 376 million
African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
Sikhism: 23 million
Juche: 19 million
Spiritism: 15 million
Judaism: 14 million
Baha'i: 7 million
Jainism: 4.2 million
Shinto: 4 million
Cao Dai: 4 million
Zoroastrianism: 2.6 million
Tenrikyo: 2 million
Neo-Paganism: 1 million
Unitarian-Universalism: 800 thousand
Rastafarianism: 600 thousand
Scientology: 500 thousand

[Source: Encyclopedia Britannica]

If you believe in God, you have chosen to reject Allah, Vishnu, Budda, Waheguru and all of the thousands of other gods that other people worship today. It is quite likely that you rejected these other gods without ever looking into their religions or reading their books. You simply absorbed the dominant faith in your home or in the society you grew up in.

In the same way, the followers of all these other religions have chosen to reject God. You think their gods are imaginary, and they think your God is imaginary.

In other words, each religious person on earth today arbitrarily rejects thousands of gods as imaginary, many of which he/she has never even heard of, and arbitrarily chooses to "believe" in one of them.

The following quote from Stephen F. Roberts sums up the situation very nicely:

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."

A rational person rejects all human gods equally, because all of them are equally imaginary.

How do we know that they are imaginary? Simply imagine that one of them is real.

If one of these thousands of gods were actually real, then his followers would be experiencing real, undeniable benefits. These benefits would be obvious to everyone. The followers of a true god would pray, and their prayers would be answered. The followers of a true god would therefore live longer, have fewer diseases, have lots more money, etc.

There would be thousands of statistical markers surrounding the followers of a true god.

Everyone would notice all of these benefits, and they would gravitate toward this true god. And thus, over the course of several centuries, everyone would be aligned on the one true god. All the other false gods would have fallen by the wayside long ago, and there would be only one religion under the one true god.

When we look at our world today, we see nothing like that. There are two billion Christians AND there are more than one billion Muslims, and their religions are mutually exclusive. There are thousands of other religions. When you analyze any of them, they all show a remarkable similarity -- there is zero evidence that any of these gods exist.

[lewdog]

I was raised Catholic from the time of birth until I was 15 when all that Catholic shit about priests molesting boys came out. I would go to church every Sunday and go to Catholic classes every Wednesday. The people at our church, like many in all religions, preach accepting while really throwing those who do not follow under a judgmental microscope. The judgmental natural, strict rule following of rules that really don't make a ton of sense, is what drives me away. As I became more educated, my acceptance of a tolerable religion because even less. Too many religious people use faith to make decisions, instead of going by things science has proven.

I am accepting of those who choose to practice religion if they remain within reason of their expectations of faith, show common sense about these many "rules" and don't preach to me. I have a good friend who prays everyday and has a strong faith in God, but he also lives with his girlfriend (tsk, tsk) and uses birth control. He has used religion to get him though difficult times, is one of the least judgmental people I have ever met but realizes the difference between science and religion. He has not taken the "literal" meaning of the bible and believes in using religion to make him a better person, while not having to follow all these "rules", like (gasp) protected pre-marital sex and building a relationship with a person before legally giving your life them. So while I myself do not have a place for religion in my life, I respect those who incorporate it into their life while not making it their ENTIRE life.

[RNR]

Originally Posted by stevieray

you too my brother..tell your son I said hey!

Will do! I will send you my facebook info, I do not get on much but there are some pictures from today~

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

ALL WORSHIP SAME GOD

BUT WANT TO KILL EACH OTHER

HOW POSSIBLE?

MAYBE RELIGION WRONG?

Because God is not without a sense of humor.

OH BTW GUYZ - I PUT THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMODITY ON EARTH RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THE CRAZINESS SORRY LOL

[blaise]

Originally Posted by Bump

whenever someone says they are religious, I immediately think of them as less intelligent.

Here's the thing - you don't seem intelligent.

[RNR]

Originally Posted by stevieray

you too my brother..tell your son I said hey!

Dude clean out your mail box so I can give you my facebook info~

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

ALL WORSHIP SAME GOD

BUT WANT TO KILL EACH OTHER

HOW POSSIBLE?

MAYBE RELIGION WRONG?

They don't even kill each other over religion anymore. That's just an excuse.

[whoman69]

Originally Posted by stevieray

that's not what you said...you said they ALL believe in the same God.

....and they don't. The Jews ignored the prophets and the prophecy of the OT being fulfilled through Christ....hence their temple being destroyed in 70 AD..... the Muslims, like the Jews, don't believe Christ is the Son of God.

That doesn't mean that they don't have the same God. They do.

[ClevelandBronco]

Originally Posted by whoman69

That doesn't mean that they don't have the same God. They do.

You don't really have much to say on this subject, do you?

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by Brock

Nah, it's the same god. The jews didn't ignore the prophets, they were the prophets. They just don't think Jesus was the messiah. Their temple being destroyed in 70 had nothing to do with anything. Whether the Muslims believe in Jesus or not, they're all worshipping the same god.

uh, ya they did...Herod, Caaipphus etc were not prophets....and Christ himself foretold that the temple would be torn down.

Not only do Muslims not believe that Christ was the Son of God, they don't believe you can even have a relationship with God.


and this takes me back to my first point to whoman69...that banner is going to be front and center for peace and security.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by whoman69

That doesn't mean that they don't have the same God. They do.

No, they don't.

[Branden Albert's Huge Balls]

Originally Posted by stevieray

and this takes me back to my first point to whoman69...that banner is going to be front and center for peace and security.

Which is the cycle of religion existing to control people repeating itself.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

They don't even kill each other over religion anymore. That's just an excuse.

...you're Jewish, go to SA with a Bible and see how it works out for you.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by Cassel's Reckoning

Which is the cycle of religion existing to control people repeating itself.

no, it's coming, but it isn't here yet.

[HonestChieffan]

Im always interested in these threads. I was raised Episcopalian and changed to Methodist when i got married and have been through a cursillo in the Catholic church in the Peoria illinois area.

It always amazes me how non believers seem so loud in their claims of disbelief and those who do have faith seem so confident in faith that we just listen to them. My faith strenghthened with birth of my son and continues to grow over time

We Methodists in my community have those crazy Catholics next door and on occasion we use each others parking lots. Across the road are Lutherans but they dont use our parking lot. Any thought of a fatwa against either of them is usually wiped out. When we plan a dinner, the mens ham and bean supper or the catholics having a chili supper

Christians of all faiths seem to get along. We even accept jews, Mormans, and baptists (they cook some kick ass stuff). Why do muslims seem more prone to kill their own who are in different tribes?

[Dave]

Originally Posted by blaise

Atheists here spend more time trying to convince people there is no God than religious people spend trying to convince people there is.

Okay...