In case you haven't figured out by now...

Religion is politics.

People have been making unsupported claims of the existance of an omnipotent/omniscient force called "God" and in some cases "gods" for what? Some say to explain existentialism. Others might say for self-fulfillment in the present and/or future/afterlives. But if you, for one second, take a look at the real fucking concrete world, you will see that nothing has been proved. The closest thing science has been able to prove is the Big Bang Theory explaining how the Universe might have begun. This itself is a theory. Nothing relating to the existance of god has been proven.

Yet, people still believe these unsupported claims for many reasons including tradition/culture, self-fulfillment, coercion, etc. The rule-makers of these reigions are the masters and the followers are the puppets.

Take a look at history. The Brahmins were the top castes in India. The pharoah was one of the "gods." The sharia, islamic law, is followed is many islamic empires, and still is today. The church was the central governing force in Europe for a long period of its history. But now, you may argue, religion is politically significant in only some countries. Sadly, this is only partially true. Terrorists use religion as an excuse to put their political ideas into action.

Discuss.

quote:Some say to explain existentialism.

I subscribe to the philosophy of existentialism and it does not need a deity to be explained, Sartre was an atheist.

quote:Originally posted by Adrenochrome:

I subscribe to the philosophy of existentialism and it does not need a deity to be explained, Sartre was an atheist.

ok....

quote:Originally posted by kramer3d:

Religion is politics.

People have been making unsupported claims of the existance of an omnipotent/omniscient force called "God" and in some cases "gods" for what? Some say to explain existentialism. Others might say for self-fulfillment in the present and/or future/afterlives. But if you, for one second, take a look at the real fucking concrete world, you will see that nothing has been proved.

What about the "real fucking concrete world"? Isn't that it?

quote:Originally posted by kramer3d:

Religion is politics.



Take a look at history. The Brahmins were the top castes in India. The pharoah was one of the "gods." The sharia, islamic law, is followed is many islamic empires, and still is today. The church was the central governing force in Europe for a long period of its history. But now, you may argue, religion is politically significant in only some countries. Sadly, this is only partially true. Terrorists use religion as an excuse to put their political ideas into action.

Religion was politics at one point in time. Now, however, they're hand in hand. It is through religion that many political things take root and are enacted, but they are not the same thing persay.

Example? We, in the USA, supposedly have a "seperate" church and state government. Our President is not a priest of any religion, but all of his legislature leads back to a Christianity-bias. Our politics aren't religion (look at Clinton), but depending on the individual in charge, they can appear to be.

[IanBoyd3]

quote:Originally posted by Abrahim:

What about the "real fucking concrete world"? Isn't that it?

Let me clear this up for you.

"The Real Fucking Concrete World" is equal to "The Real Fucking Concrete World." That's what we people have come to call it. You seem to be confusing the two. Your philosophy is very ridiculous. You are simply making an arbitrary assertion which uses the wrong words to define the wrong things and then you act like you have proved something profound.

"Reality" is simply that; it's what exists and is real.

"Reality" has never been shown to behave as a being; 'it' seems indifferent because 'it' is not an 'it.' It is not an entity of any sort. There is no central conscience throughout the universe. The universe does not behave as a being because it does nothing. Things happen inside of it; people do things within reality; none of this means that reality itself is a meaningful being or entity of any kind.

Stop calling reality God.

By doing so you say one of two things.

1. Reality itself is an entity with thoughts or some form of central consciousness which can do things and intervene and actively allow things to happen and so on.

or

2. You are simply calling all matter, and the space it occupies, God.

The first one is unproven and simply false; matter always behaves in the same way based on sets of 'rules' that we have figured out, and they never act differently to do anything- fires going out to not burn people, gravity reversing so someone doesn't hang, water evaporating instantly so someone doesn't drown, etc. The universe acts exactly as it should if it truly is just matter interacting without any design or purpose.

The second one is simply a gross misdefinition and incorrect usage of terms. It is also extremely and utterly arbitrary and serves no purpose- it means absolutely nothing.

Either way, you are being incorrect or arbitrary.

Stop.

Reality does not equal God.

quote:Originally posted by IanBoyd3:



Reality does not equal God.

Its the only God worthy of submission to, it has you and all things completely under and within its jurisdiction, every possible thing you can possibly think or do being possible because of it. If anything is worthy of being called a God it is Reality, and so have people called it God and later misunderstood it. Yes Reality does equal God and has and does in many religions.

quote:Originally posted by Abrahim:

Yes Reality does equal God and has and does in many religions.

I promised myself I'd stop dignifying your bullshit "reality" posts with a response, but I'm going to bite anyway. Please provide us with a list of religions in which reality=God.

Thank you.

What did you expect from humans? Seriously

quote:Originally posted by jsaxton14:

I promised myself I'd stop dignifying your bullshit "reality" posts with a response, but I'm going to bite anyway. Please provide us with a list of religions in which reality=God.

Thank you.

I did already, in "What is God" towards the end, its a long post towards the bottom where I explain how Hinduism, Bhuddism, Islam, Pantheistic Religions, and Ancient Polytheistic religions, Taoism are all making reference to Reality.

I'll copy paste a portion of it here:

"The one thing has been described in a billion ways over history by different people, and it is always an attempt to explain the one thing which EVERYONE knows willingly or unwillingly. There is no Elephant, Bearded man, Spirit Being, or any other explanation of the One thing.

The One Thing is not seperate from anything, or any of us, we are within it, a part of it, manifested by it, within it, and are completely dependant on it.

Some call it "What is Real" some give it other images and forms, thus limiting it in peoples minds and ruining the original concept.

Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, they all talk about the one thing and describe it in various fashions. Even Zoroastrianism, even Athiests can't deny the One Thing, they all call it by different names, it has no name save a name we give it.

Even the oldest religions, the most ancient hunter gatherer beliefs try to describe this one thing and mention it in their various fashions.

I call it "Reality" what encompasses all of us, objective, subjective.

Hindu's call it brahma (nominative singular), brahman (stem) (neuter[1] gender) means the concept of the Supreme transcendent and immanent Reality or the One Godhead or Cosmic Spirit in Hinduism; this is discussed below.

The Vedas depict Brahman as the Ultimate Reality, the Absolute or Universal Soul (Paramātman) [6]. It is the ultimate principle who is without a beginning, without an end, who is hidden in all and who is the cause, source, material and effect of all creation known, unknown and yet to happen in the entire universe.

Bhuddists include this belief as well as other religions that have sprung from Hinduism.

"Ishvara (ईश्वर in devanagari script, pronunciation /ī:sh vərə/), also variously transliterated (romanized) as Īshvara, Īshwara, Īshwar, Īśvara, etc. (Sanskrit: "the Supreme Lord, and hence the Cosmic Controller") is a Hindu philosophical concept of God meaning that entity or the Supreme Being which is the lord and the ruler of everything. It is also used in Buddhism to mean 'lord' or 'master', eg, Avalokiteshvara."

If you would like the whole document I can send it to you or copy paste it here, or you can find it in the end of "What is God?".