Are all religions facing a retention problem?

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The miracle of cutting a context down to the conclusion so one can negate it by simply inserting the word not in capitals and inserting an exclamation at the end.

Honestly has that method ever worked?
 
Darryl_B said:
The miracle of cutting a context down to the conclusion so one can negate it by simply inserting the word not in capitals and inserting an exclamation at the end.

Honestly has that method ever worked?
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Has anyone in this thread agreed with you that atheism is a religion?? Atheism is NOT a religion.
Even John Paul II contradicts you. When speaking about Buddhism he said Buddhism is not a religion because it is atheist in nature.
 
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I had hoped Buddhism would be brought into the discussion (among the others), and I can well imagine you going down to Saint Ann Buddhist temple near where I live, standing up and telling them all that they are not a religion, just second class wannabes, however I have a little more trouble believing John Paul II in such a context, so a citation would be appreciated.
 
Darryl_B said:
I had hoped Buddhism would be brought into the discussion (among the others), and I can well imagine you going down to Saint Ann Buddhist temple near where I live, standing up and telling them all that they are not a religion, just second class wannabes, however I have a little more trouble believing John Paul II in such a context, so a citation would be appreciated.
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It’s in the Pope’s book Crossing the Threshold. I have it in print not online (so I can’t simply do a search) so you can buy it and read it for yourself.
However, one quote I do remember vividly in the book is when the Pope says “Buddhism is in large measure an ‘atheistic’ system” and yes Buddhists who read his book were not happy!!
 
So you are using recollection but one that may have passed through some filters.

To me Buddhism is a religion that does not define god. It is inconsequential to them to define god.
 
Darryl_B said:
So you are using recollection but one that may have passed through some filters.

To me Buddhism is a religion that does not define god. It is inconsequential to them to define god.
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Listen! YOU are the one who raised the issue that Atheism is a religion. It is NOT a religion.
Who else in this thread agrees with you??

By the way my recollection of that “vivid” quote has not gone through filters. I have read the book. Obviously you have not and are not prepared to read it even though I cited it as the source.
 
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Buddhism is certainly a world religion, but Buddhists are not necessarily religious. And while there are plenty of atheist Buddhists (particularly in the west), Buddhism as a religion is not atheistic, but it is apatheistic. That is to say, gods (defined as beings far superior to most humans in goodness, intelligence and power) may exist, but they play no part in the noble eightfold path.

Of course, atheism defined as a lack of belief in gods is neither a complete worldview in and of itself, nor is it a religion. But there are religious atheists, such as Jains, and there are irreligious atheists such as secular humanists.
 
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thistle said:
even though I cited it as the source.
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I don’t care about the argument one way or the other but as a scholarly point, you did not cite a source. That’s like saying “it’s in the Bible look it up” to prove something. A direct quote, not a recollection, and a page number are minimum requirements of a citation.
 
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Darryl_B said:
You make the claim that a religion makes a descriptive claim about the nature of the supernatural. Even by your own words that describes an atheist.
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I suppose this is something to agree to disagree on. IMO an atheist is responding “No” to the proposition by a theist that God (as defined by the theist) exist. The atheist is not assigning attributes.
 
We can certainly agree to disagree, my friend.

So on the one hand you will observe a decline in religion, and I will observe a shift in religion.

For me one important difference is perhaps how we approach the topic of our own religion towards those others who in your opinion have no religion, but in my opinion have a different religion.
 
Cicero (quoted by Aquinas) defined religion as a moral virtue, a part of justice, that “consists in offering service and ceremonial rites to a superior nature that men call divine.” Atheists deny that there is any supernatural or divine, so they are definitely irreligious. By saying they are religious would be attributing to them a virtue that they deny is a virtue — they would consider it more like a vice (because they think it’s all superstition, which is a vice). Atheists may have philosophies or political ideologies; but those are not religions, even though they can be intense commitments and radical worldviews, which they may try to “convert” you into. Or they may just try to deconvert you for various reasons, because we naturally argue for what we believe is true and good.

The move away from culturally compelled religion is a good thing, in my opinion, even if there will be far fewer religious people in the future. Quality over quantity.
 
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Darryl_B said:
So on the one hand you will observe a decline in religion, and I will observe a shift in religion.
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Those going towards atheism aside, what about those going to something along the lines of “spiritual but not religious”? Basically avoiding organized religion.

Do you see them as likely to revert to their original religion, change to another one, or do something else?
 
Am I a sideshow in a circus? Should I get out my crystal ball and tell you who you are? Do you believe you are the same as the woman sitting next you on a bus, the same as the old man playing chess with his friends, the child kicking the ball on the street? Did the pipes play and we not dance?
 
That is taken straight off the internet. But without giving it any general thought patterns.

Atheism is a choice one makes. I shave not because I suffer loss but because I have hair and choose to style it as I choose.

Maybe some do suffer from hereditary atheism.
 
I would suggest giving similes a rest, you don’t seem to know how to use them.

You do realise the sound bite slogan of hairstylists is derogatory to atheists.
 
Darryl_B said:
I would suggest giving similes a rest, you don’t seem to know how to use them.

You do realise the sound bite slogan of hairstylists is derogatory to atheists.
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Your suggestion is rejected. Beliefs are not volitionally chosen. And your derogatory remark about hairstylists is rejected as well.
 
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