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.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by stevieray

Incorrect...that would be you.

I know you are, but what am I?

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by listopencil

I know you are, but what am I?

deflecting.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by stevieray

ya, religion, not God.

You're half way there. Come on big fella. Make the leap.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by listopencil

You're fighting another losing battle by referencing individual state constitutions. They were deeply flawed. Go read the original Constitution of Virginia.

Were they "deeply flawed?" If so how. Or is this going by today's standards? I don't think that's a fair way to judge a past document. I don't know since I haven't read many of them. However, the whole of idea of a Bill of Rights did come from the states.

The thing that needs to be realized is that any state can be oppressive at any particular time. They should be changed at that level as it is closer to the people. States eventually disestablished their official churches and this was nearly complete or complete by the middle of the 19th century.

Centralizing social issues is not the best solution because if a violation of a right happens it applies everywhere. There's no where to go. So you can't always count on that. The other thing is too much centralization is more likely to lead to greater abuses because of the nature of that amount of power.

No system is perfect.

No agenda, stevieray. Other than pointing out that this isn't and never has been a Christian nation.

I think asking: "What does this mean?" would be a good starting point.

When people say this is a Christian "nation" it applies generally to the people of this country as well as the people who founded it—not the federal govt. Many of the people of that time were Christian, few were agnostic or Deist. Many Framers were Deist but some were devout Christians. Franklin and Jefferson were perhaps the most agnostic. The people's local laws reflected their values. Saying this does not mean the govt itself is Christian....it simply allows it.

na·tion
A large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.

Your religious beliefs are yours and have no place in policy or law.

I don't see how anyone can really make this claim as an absolute, which is just not obtainable.
Why should secular humanists have the right to impose their beliefs via policy or law?
Or atheists their atheism? It don't see how it is any different.

The fact is all law, save for procedural, is based on someone's values whether they come from humanism or religion. It's hard to absolutely perfectly neutral in policy or law. Fact is some personal behaviors do wind up on other people's plates—especially in a welfare state.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by stevieray

deflecting.

Is Jesus the son of God?

[RNR]

Originally Posted by stevieray

funny how you guys always come back to Christ, when that's never been the argument.

The only reason it always comes back to that is because of the large faction of Christians making claims regarding our founding and this being a Christian nation~

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by listopencil

You're half way there. Come on big fella. Make the leap.

I've always been here...I'm the one who has always claimed no SPECIFIC denomination, regarding the founding fathers

...feel free to link to where I've ever said we were a Christian nation.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by listopencil

Is Jesus the Son of God?

Sure.

[lewdog]

Stevieray

Do you believe something will happen on December, 21st?

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by RedNeckRaider

The only reason it always comes back to that is because of the large faction of Christians making claims regarding our founding and this being a Christian nation~

large faction? where?

[RNR]

Originally Posted by stevieray

large faction? where?

Ok bro talk to you later~

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by RedNeckRaider

Ok bro talk to you later~

so no answer? where is this large faction on the board claiming this?

[RNR]

Originally Posted by stevieray

so no answer? where is this large faction on the board claiming this?

I was not referring to you or anyone here. However if you are going to say this subject is not commonly debated in this country you are not paying attention. Hence my talk to you later reply~

[Brock]

Originally Posted by stevieray

large faction? where?

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by RedNeckRaider

I was not referring to you or anyone here. However if you are going to say this subject is not commonly debated in this country you are not paying attention. Hence my talk to you later reply~

ahhh. my context was here on the board...therefore our miscommunication!