if you could disband all religion, would you? and why? but... i know all of you will say yes, so in order to do this you would have to give something up, something personal. Could be money,status or whatever you feel is going to impact you as much as the people striped of their religion will be impacted. this is not to prove anything, just for fun.

"for He so loved the world, that He gave up his only begotten son"

Personally, if I were king of the world, I'd make anyone (over age 18)who professed a belief in some godthing get spayed or neutered. Get those defective genes out of my genepool.

Lol, that's hilarious. Natural selection just doesn't cut it.

I actually don't think that the world would be a much better place without religion (just because of all the people who are so dependant on it to give there life meaning + the folks who need some 'reason' not to lie, cheat, and kill) A world without individuals who think that they have the right to use a 'god-thing' as an excuse to be prejudice and an excuse to, well, lie, cheat and kill.
So yes. No extremists, please and thanks. I'll give you, um, a can of red bull for it. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

i think that all the people who think that they're going to heaven when they die should do each other a favor and kill one another to speed along the process.

then, the rest of us who don't believe in that sort of nonsense would have this planet to ourselves for our enjoyment without the believers looking down at us for our heathenism.


. . .

If we disbanded all current religions, and even wiped all human memory of those religions, I believe we would immediately have something very like religion spring into existence.

The problem is not that religions exist and propagate... its that, for many, they serve some basic needs. We would need to change a lot more about people and society before we could eliminate the vacuum that religion rushes in to fill.

I would hate to have all relgions disbanded. What would I have to complain and belly-ache about then? Gimme someone to hate, to sideswipe, to elbow, to ethnic-cleanse, but leave a sliver of them always, for the more things change the more things remain the same, and if they don't remain the same, then that would be cause for a big worry.

Oh, you also wanted us to say something that we'd give up. I'd give up my mortality. Or my celibacy. Either way.

that's why you spay or neuter everyone prone to that kind of belief.

good one.

lol such a sacrifice, how noble lol.

Hey, it only looks easy. You think living forever is fun? It's fate worse than death. An immortal life is a life made in hell.

I've heard that living forever consists mainly of boredom...

Interesting. Who told you? Was it a first-hand account? If yes, what are you doing on the Atheist forum? Not for... umm, not for... umm, I forgot. For room?

If I told you I'd have to kill you...

The only reason we age is because the telemeres(sp?) in our cells' DNA lengthen w/ each division, in effect telling our cells that they're older. Do you not think it is at least possible for a genetic anomoly to occur where the telemeres(sp?) do not lengthen? No godthing required.

Another interesting thing, if one could adjust a retro-virus to enter cells and periodically "fix" the telemeres, it is theoretically possible for anyone to live forever, excepting for illness or accident. If they could work it out right, you'd spend the entirety of your life at whatever age you desired.

I really think they should thin the herd a bunch before they try this, though.

I don't see why boredom is such a big problem. When you reach that point, you take a pill and gently slip away at age 300 or 2,000. Or you develop a taste for the rush of high-mortality-risk activities. Or you go into cold storage for a few hundred to see what the world brings.

I have lived in over a dozen cities and have had many, many jobs... I wouldn't mind having several centuries to continue doing the same all around the world. There are projects I'd like to engage which would take decades to accomplish.

There's a character in The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy that achieved immortality, by accident. He deceided to insult every intelligent being in the galaxy, in alphabetical order, to keep from being bored.

Good plan. But wait!! I'm immortal!

Every intellignt being except earthling humans. He insulted them too.

"Aren't I supposed to tell you when to take me out of cold storage now, before you put me in?"

"No, Sir, new process. Just ring this bell when you're ready to come out. This way you have quicker action."

(A half hour later, several cryogenic lab workers: )

"D'you want his gucci watch, or his liver?"

"I want his toenails!"

"Any amalgam fillings? Those went up ten points since the markets opened."

"Who gets his brain?" asks a whiny little voice from the back.

Everyone looks angry at the person who asked the last question.

Oh, that kind of immortality. I thought we were talking 'never die of old age', not 'can never, under any circumstance, die'.


That would suck.


though i wonder if periodic memory wipes (made by kleenex) might make it bearable.