Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.
Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.
Donating = Loving
Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.
Log in or create an account to join the discussions on the Atheist Republic forums.
Donating = Loving
Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.
Donating = Loving
Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.
FREE E-BOOKS
Get the book "Why There Is No God" and one more book for FREE!
Sign up below for the Atheist Republic Newsletter to get the books.
Record Your Message!
Record your voice here for it to be aired on the Atheist Republic Voicemails Podcast.
Send us your views and opinions, your personal stories, messages of support, comments on recent news, or any comments you would like to share about your part of the world.
Note : By clicking record you are allowing us to broadcast your message on any of our platforms.
Affiliate Disclaimer
Links to atheist related books, shirts and movies and other atheism related products are affiliate links.
All proceeds will go to keeping the Atheist Republic website up and running; providing resources, advocacy, community tools and encouragement to atheists all over the world.
@GoH .....
No argument with most of what you say.....
Just a point ..... the use of religion by the rulers (to use your terminology) ..... true enough it is a weapon...but it can be a double edged weapon ..... equally as dangerous to the user as to the target.
For instance if you look at the Byzantine Emperors.... you find that they presented themselves as Gods appointed rulers , thus claiming divine sanction for everything they do ..... thus every attrocity and outrage becomes "Gods will".....
But then again.....anything you do in order to become Emperor is also "Gods will"....provided you actually get to be Emperor.
So you get a lot of emperors assassinated by close relations sons ,fathers ,uncles etc. because , "hey , so what ? I killed my brother to get the throne...... its the will of God."
Absolutely it has been practicing for many many years......devastating!!
I'd guess that it is no accident that the most successful religions instruct the believers to disregard the obvious injustices of society in exchange for the promise of some kind of fairy tale justice/reward after death.
I'd also speculate that a religion that did the opposite, would likely face intense opposition from the status quo.
Just my random thoughts, I can't back any of that up!
The main theme of every religion is to hate other religion to fulfill the business of few people.
"Religion is nothing but the weapon of the Rulers"
In fact I call it:
The very first weapon of Mass Destruction.
It is a type of politics and probably started in that manner and evolved with time.
The politics of today have evolved from religion in a very similar way, they make the people think dogmatically against each other with fake leaders(gods)to ignore the fact that the rulers(rich elite) always decide.
Mass manipulation against humanity is originated from religion.
You could put it this way: Religion and Rulers make for an unholy alliance! Religion justifies the ruler (think divine right of kings, appointed by the grace of God) and keeps the masses docile; rulers take care of religion (giving it state status, turning its dogmas into law, making criticism a crime). They both grow fat at the expense of the guys who do the real work.
Yet your moniker is "god" of humanity. Ironic and troubling. God is a weapon, a sales tool, a propaganda stunt, hype. But for the ignorant or those who have chosen to be ignorant, god is comfort no matter how much that statement is a lie. It's a crutch to blame things on and to give credit to, something to explain what is not known, and something to both create and wash away fear. Most of all god is just a word that has no substance but what each individual gives it.
If I am a leader and I declare that "god" has directed me to separate people and war against the ones I have separated. It only works if individuals believe what I tell them. So in essence god is stupidity.
excellent observation
"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people".
The statement by Karl Marx referring to religion as an opiate is often paraphrased in the way Lenin did :
"Religion is opium for the people. Religion is a sort of spiritual booze, in which the slaves of capital drown their human image, their demand for a life more or less worthy of man."
Or Charles Kingsley :
"We have used the Bible as if it were a mere special constable's hand book, an opium dose for keeping beasts of burden patient while they were being overloaded, a mere book to keep the poor in order."
I consider this a valid criticism of religion(but not of capitalism). Preachers are referred to as Pastors and priests as Fathers . The congregation is called a flock. Religion is seeking blind and obedient sheep. It's goal is to infantilize humanity and offer us opiate laced pablum as a substitute for freedom. The authoritarian power structure of religion is obvious.
Aaaaand another one....