Why has religion retained its appeal?

[Cyclone]

You just described Donald trump position

 

Well, that should be easy for you to demonstrate. When has he set out that position or said or done anything to indicate that it's his position?

[willman]

Did that rejection come through understanding or ignorance?

 

I was educated in a church based primary school, followed by Methodist Sunday School for several years.None of my family are church goers but the older generations did own bibles,which i was also bought to read. Along with Greek god legends,Aesops Fables and all the other fairy stories.

 

I like Cyclone have no belief in any Gods or deities.

That is based on educational lack of evidence of their existence.

 

(But then again i don't need anyone else to blame or thank for my gains or losses,as per the old adage "**** happens")

[Anna B]

I was also educated at a time when Christianity was practised daily in Primary schools, and underpinned a lot of the school ethos. I don't think it did me any harm, in fact probably a lot of good.

At least it gave me a basic knowledge of Christianity which I could then chose to reject if I so wished. How can you reject something you know nothing about?

 

I try to follow the teachings of Jesus, Ghandi, and the Dalai Llama. Does that make me a religious nut?

[Robin-H]

I was also educated at a time when Christianity was practised daily in Primary schools, and underpinned a lot of the school ethos. I don't think it did me any harm, in fact probably a lot of good.

At least it gave me a basic knowledge of Christianity which I could then chose to reject if I so wished. How can you reject something you know nothing about?

 

I try to follow the teachings of Jesus, Ghandi, and the Dalai Llama. Does that make me a religious nut?

 

Which is why rejection isn’t really the right word. I suspect however that most atheists have rejected the concept of gods etc for the reasons that have been outlined in other posts (like there being no evidence).

 

You’ve decided to live by the principals of people who you feel have good principles - that isn’t religion.

[SnailyBoy]

Which is why rejection isn’t really the right word. I suspect however that most atheists have rejected the concept of gods etc for the reasons that have been outlined in other posts (like there being no evidence).

 

You’ve decided to live by the principals of people who you feel have good principles - that isn’t religion.

 

Rejection is the right word when it comes to a claim.

 

Theists claim that god/gods exist.

 

You can either accept or reject the claim.

 

Atheists reject the claim because it hasn't met its burden of proof.

[Robin-H]

Rejection is the right word when it comes to a claim.

 

Theists claim that god/gods exist.

 

You can either accept or reject the claim.

 

Atheists reject the claim because it hasn't met its burden of proof.

 

Yes, when talking about a claim then it is reasonable to say atheists reject the claim. It is often said however that atheists reject belief or faith (which Anna suggested in her post - ‘how can you reject something you don’t know about..’). That is not true.

[Cyclone]

Rejection is the right word when it comes to a claim.

 

Theists claim that god/gods exist.

 

You can either accept or reject the claim.

 

Atheists reject the claim because it hasn't met its burden of proof.

 

Technically you can be without something (belief in deities for example) without ever having even considered it though. So it's not actively rejected because it's never even been considered.

[RootsBooster]

Can we please stop focussing on the exact literary meaning of the word atheism and focus more on where this atheism is rooted?

Did it come through never been in touch with religion not knowing what religion is all about.

Or did it come through fully understanding and seeing what religion is.

 

The literary meaning of the word and the root of atheism itself are pretty much the same. Because it is an absence of something, it's always been there.

The word simply reflects the something, absence of theism.

 

Because there was an absence of theism way before there was a presence of theism, you're looking at it the wrong way. It's like saying "Ah but why don't you have a bike?"

Theism and religion are the things that have been introduced, atheism is the state before that.

 

But this aside, how exactly is atheism religious?

[danot]

The word means an absense of belief in gods or deities - we can’t just stop focusing on what it means because its meaning is entirely the point.

 

It is entirely seperate from religion, and would exist in a world where the concept of religion never developed. It’s possible that we might never have ascribed a word to it, but that doesn’t change the underlying premise at all.

Religion and belief are man-made. Atheism only exists because of religion. If religion had never been formed, the word 'Atheist' would never have been coined, so religion is responsible for creating atheism.

 

There's no getting away from it.

[Robin-H]

Religion and belief are man-made. Atheism only exists because of religion. If religion had never been formed, the word 'Atheist' would never have been coined, so religion is responsible for creating atheism.

 

There's no getting away from it.

 

The word atheism might never have been coined, but the reality of it would still exist. You can’t say that religion is responsible for creating atheism.

 

Atheism is the absense of belief in gods. Are you saying that before religion was invented, there was no absense of belief in gods? That’s a remarkable claim.