Agreed 100%. RESPECT for others faith as you expect your own faith to be respected. IQ has nothing to do with faith. And no arguments will make anyone just change their mind. Becuase all they can answer in the end is "I believe.". But as the post I have quoted bellow shows a lot of atheists claim or insinuate that theism shows that someone is less educated or even stupid. That science is against religion. Maybe in your country the atheists are different. I spoke from personal experience. As an agnostic myself their behaviour disgusts me. And yet that poll showed that the MAJORITY believed in a deity. 51%. So my first post still stands. And the population who took this test was only from a single country too. Once humans began to settle after the farmer revolution? There are multiple burials grounds, cave drawings , petroglyphs, beads and other findings, that show that the prehistoric humans were active spiritually and had already developed some faiths. That at the least had to do with death. In my country I will tell you where they congregate. There is some areas they go and places. and btw religion doesn't equate church.
I don't understand .Are you saying that if a god existed it's reasonable to assume he would have shared the relevant information?
That is such a dumb, superficial, unreflected, pseudo do-gooder statement. If someone's faith includes believing in discrimination against women, homosexuals and actually by definition includes intolerance towards people who do not share that person's faith, then no, their faith will not get 100 % respect from me. If you respect that 100 %, then you are complicit in enabling discrimination. I respect everyone's freedom to have their own spirituality, but I do not respect ideological aspects of someone's faith which are an unacceptable expression of intolerance and discrimination disguised as religion.
if the people who have these faith harm the rights or lives of others who do not share their faith, then it's the law's job to protect them. They are criminals. No respect for criminals.
Agree with this except for one major part. I don't think Scientists believe they have the answer. If they do, they wouldn't continue discovering and learning new things to increase human understanding of this universe. Maybe some believe that they CAN get to the answer, but they certainly don't have enough information today to have the answer. In fact, Science completely reject the idea or claim that there is or is not a God (not necessary the Western God). That is irrelevant because it cannot be observed. Any claim of such is personal, and not based on Science, but faith IMO. People with very dedicated religious views, on the other hand, think they already have the answer. And once you think this way, there is no longer a need for additional discovery or learning that could reject that view. There isn't anything necessary wrong with this, as long as it's realized that it's a personal, faith-based view. Where it goes "wrong", is when that view result on others, who do not share the same view, being expected and held to the same causing suffering. The false sense of confidence may be true, but it's one that is readily broken and renewed with new information as it's foundation stands on ever changing discovery and understanding. That's the case for most Scientists. That's not the case for most people with very dedicated religious view, where their sense of confidence is diamond solid as it's foundation stands on faith of completed writings and stories that cannot change (but do have various interpretations). I'm not an Atheist, so I cannot speak for them. But I do wonder when someone said they are one, are they rejecting certain God (the one they grew up with for example), or all possibility of something higher. I think if it's all possibility, that's definitely also driven by personal faith.
This doesn't address my point that your blanket statement "100 % respect for others faith" is misguided. Many, if not all "religions" contain elements which simply deserve no respect whatsoever. I respect people's freedom to seek spiritual relief or some connection to God or whatever. But I do not respect intolerance, discrimination and supremacist ideologies just because they disguise themselves as part of a religion.
Have to disagree with this. There is not one doctrine or ideology that ALL atheists have to abide by. The only thing that atheists have in common is the rejection of any religious beliefs to be true. Everybody else has their own justification on the other aspects of the argument. Christians all reject Zeus as a valid God - an atheistic position when it comes to that God. Does that mean they also have another religion?
There's only two things I hate in this world: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures... and the Dutch.
...and Illinois Nazis. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ukFAvYP3UU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Didn't think of it that way. And so, google show this. http://atheists.org/activism/resources/what-is-atheism?
