Your beliefs are based completly upon geography

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predator_CA

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Not only Catholics, like yourselves, but every other religion on earth claims that they are right and everyone else is wrong. If you were born in a part of the world that condoned a religion other than Catholicism, than quess what, that’s the religion you would adhere to. How do you assuredly devote yourself to a religion that the majority of the world disagrees with. I believe anyone who believes in god is wrong, but certainly you can’t all be correct when you all contradict eachother. Please entertain to this quandry.
 
predator_CA said:
Not only Catholics, like yourselves, but every other religion on earth claims that they are right and everyone else is wrong. If you were born in a part of the world that condoned a religion other than Catholicism, than quess what, that’s the religion you would adhere to. How do you assuredly devote yourself to a religion that the majority of the world disagrees with. I believe anyone who believes in god is wrong, but certainly you can’t all be correct when you all contradict eachother. Please entertain to this quandry.
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Although things sometimes get heated here, most Christians have the basic tenets of the faith in common–things like the Trinity, Crucifixtion, Resurrection, Ascension, etc, etc.

I believe that it may be you who are in a quandary. 😦
 
predator_CA said:
Not only Catholics, like yourselves, but every other religion on earth claims that they are right and everyone else is wrong. If you were born in a part of the world that condoned a religion other than Catholicism, than quess what, that’s the religion you would adhere to. How do you assuredly devote yourself to a religion that the majority of the world disagrees with. I believe anyone who believes in god is wrong, but certainly you can’t all be correct when you all contradict eachother. Please entertain to this quandry.
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So what part of the world were you born in that made you atheist? And if its true that your beliefs are all based on where you are born then they can only go so far because somewhere else they dont believe that your beliefs are based on your geography.
 
You’re partially right. Due the the nature of truth, only one belief can be right.

Since your an atheist(?), you’re more in the minority, you’ve got 97.5% of the world against you. How do you assuredly devote yourself to a religion that the majority of the world disagrees with?
 
There are Catholics in India (Perhaps you’ve heard of Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta?) which is predominantly Hindu, and in Japan (there’s been an apparition of Mary there even). There are Buddhists in New York and Muslems in Britain.

Perhaps certain religions started in a certain area, so there are concentrations of them there, but the idea that we decide what we believe based purely on our geographic position is pretty ridiculous. What if I move? People follow what they believe to be true.

The majority of them follow Catholicism.
 
predator_CA said:
Not only Catholics, like yourselves, but every other religion on earth claims that they are right and everyone else is wrong. If you were born in a part of the world that condoned a religion other than Catholicism, than quess what, that’s the religion you would adhere to. How do you assuredly devote yourself to a religion that the majority of the world disagrees with. I believe anyone who believes in god is wrong, but certainly you can’t all be correct when you all contradict each other. Please entertain to this quandry.
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If you are saying that we were introduced to the Truth more easily because of our geography, then I would agree with you. Since most of us know someone who is Catholic when every single thing in their lives would have precluded that, it is hard to buy into your cynical attitude. I know a lot of atheists. They have only speculation they have no actual answers. Actually The Church agrees with your assessment that, “You can’t all be correct, because you contradict each other.” The Church teaches that all faiths are not just equal means to the same end. Doncha hate it when you agree with Her? 😃

As to how I can devote myself to a religion that the “majority” of the world disagrees with? Well, because my mom and dad raised me better than that. “If all of your friends were jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge would you too?”
 
What you say is every bit as true of atheism. Does that fact invalidate atheism?
 
Read it again after I changed your references to Catholicism and religion:
predator_CA said:
Not only athiests, like yourself, but every other belief system, including athiesm on earth claims that they are right and everyone else is wrong. If you were born in a part of the world that condoned a belief system other than athiesm, than quess what, that’s the belief system you would adhere to. How do you assuredly devote yourself to a athiestic beliefs that the majority of the world disagrees with. I believe anyone who doesn’t believe in god is wrong, but certainly you can’t all be correct when you all contradict eachother. Please entertain to this quandry.
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What you call “athiesm” is simply another belief system. If YOU were born in another country or region wouldn’t YOU likely be Hindu or Budhhist or whatever? Or is it that you are just a little bit more insightful than the people who believe in God and you think you would be that way no matter where you were born?

Take a look at Christianity in particular. Slightly more than 2000 years ago it didn’t exist. Just over 1900 years ago there were only tens of thousands of Christians in the entire world. Does that small number in proportion to the rest of the world make it any less valid? Does Christianity only become more valid as it grows? And only fully “true” if everyone in the world agrees that it is true?

There are over **1 Billion **Catholics worldwide of every race and people. And that’s not counting Orthodox, Prots, etc etc.

Your inference is that athiesm is right because so many religions disagree with each other. Yet hardly anyone, proportionally speaking, agrees with athiests. Your argument is illogical.
 
predator_CA said:
Not only Catholics, like yourselves, but every other religion on earth claims that they are right and everyone else is wrong. If you were born in a part of the world that condoned a religion other than Catholicism, than quess what, that’s the religion you would adhere to. How do you assuredly devote yourself to a religion that the majority of the world disagrees with. I believe anyone who believes in god is wrong, but certainly you can’t all be correct when you all contradict eachother. Please entertain to this quandry.
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First of all, it’s an obvious logical fallacy to say that because all religions can’t be right therefore none are.

In the second place, as CarlosG and NPS pointed out, your argument applies to atheism

And finally, as they also pointed out, Catholicism claims adherents all over the world. So by your argument, Catholicism is quite likely to be true, since people from all over the world have come to the conclusion that it is.

Edwin
 
Just an add on:

I find it funny (as in strange) that athiests use the variety of religions as a point of argument against the existence of God.

To me, the existence of religion in every race in every country in every region in every century shows the universal truth of man’s search to fulfill something inside him that longs for some essential thing which no human relationship or anything in the natural world or any man-made product can give him/her.

It’s more universal than the need for sex, and seemingly ranks behind only the need of the essentials of food and shelter. I’m baffled by what in this universal search proves to athiests that there is no God.

Indeed, the very fact of an “athiest” coming 'round to a place like this tells me that the person is trying to fulfill that need in some fashion.

Care to elaborate, “predator CA”?
 
Well, I am (now) Catholic.
I was born in the largely-Protestant United States
and was raised on the doctrines of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Geography determines my belief ??!
I think not.
 
I’d say the your initial belief system is based primarily on what is taught to you by your parents (or whoever it is that influences you in your early years). It’s the culture of those who influence you, not your geography that starts you down a path.

Once you reach the age of reason, your beliefs become a function of your diligence in the search for truth, your ability to investigate various alternatives and your ability to overcome your pre-concieved notions.

In some cultures making the investigation itself or professing a change could prove very difficult (perhaps even resulting in your death).

The plurality of resulting beliefs does not make them all true. (Or untrue.)

Perhaps my thinking is too simplistic, but it really comes down to two choices. Either there is ONE truth and we should all be seeking it out, or there is NO truth in which case it pretty much doesn’t mater what we believe.

As a Catholic, I obiously profess to believe the former.

If you believe in the later, then you really don’t have a postion to argue other than disagreeing with “my” assertion that there is truth.

Until we agree on that point it pretty much doesn’t matter which “truth” is “Truth”.

Once you accept that there is a “Truth” then I think we can narrow the field of choices dramatically with the application of some basic observations of reality and the use of human reason.

At least this is the track that I’ve followed.

Turns out I ended up back where my parents started me. (But then I’ve been blessed that way. 🙂 )

Chuck

Chuck
predator_CA said:
Not only Catholics, like yourselves, but every other religion on earth claims that they are right and everyone else is wrong. If you were born in a part of the world that condoned a religion other than Catholicism, than quess what, that’s the religion you would adhere to. How do you assuredly devote yourself to a religion that the majority of the world disagrees with. I believe anyone who believes in god is wrong, but certainly you can’t all be correct when you all contradict eachother. Please entertain to this quandry.
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predator_CA said:
Not only Catholics, like yourselves, but every other religion on earth claims that they are right and everyone else is wrong. If you were born in a part of the world that condoned a religion other than Catholicism, than quess what, that’s the religion you would adhere to. How do you assuredly devote yourself to a religion that the majority of the world disagrees with. I believe anyone who believes in god is wrong, but certainly you can’t all be correct when you all contradict eachother. Please entertain to this quandry.
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Well, had you been born 400 years ago, the odds would have been pretty fair that you’d be in a part of the world that had a non-Copernican view of the heavens/solar system. Precious few people hewed to a heliocentric model back then, and even then, their explanations of the details were sometimes contradictory–and the vast majority of people who believed in other models certainly contradicted each other. Perhaps, bold iconoclast that you undoubtedly would have been, you’d have rejected the existence of the sky.
 
Well said, Chuck. It’s plainly obvious that the situation you are born into affects many things in your life, religious beliefs being one of them.

Americans and others are blessed enough to be able to freely examine, explore, and investigate other belief systems and religions. It is much more difficult in many countries because of societal pressures and, in the specific case of Islam, you literally endanger your life and those of your family if you explore other religions.

The interesting thing is that virtually no religion besides Christianity has any converts who go from one religion to another in any great number. Sure, you’ll know someone who knows someone whose brother-in-law became a buddhist or whatever, but large numbers of Hindu or Buddhist or Muslim converts are virtually non-existent.(except at the point of a sword in Islamic cases)

(So the next argument becomes “Well, Christianity is a religion of conversion and they set out to do just that. Other religions don’t do that.”

We can go down that road if the discussion warrants it.)
 
I’ve had several instances in my life of people trying to
convert me to their religious worldview and/or denigrate and negate my own.

And for a while,
I myself tried to convert people to the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Thank God (literally) that most of my intended victims
weren’t interested in converting. I would, today, feel terribly guilty for having converted anyone to that cultic, isolationist group.
 
Hmmm. We seem to have lost Predator CA. I wonder if he or she still cares about the question.
 
I doubt if he/she is hiding from the question—probably just busy. A lot of athiests and other non-RCs pop into CA here and there for reasons they do not yet understand.

I don’t have a problem with him asking the question, even if he intends to inflict a little “gotcha” into his statements. Usually it’s a younger college-age male who is in the stage of “Question Authority” and has a general mindset which tells him that his generation is the first one to ask all the important questions, and he’s surrounded by people who think all religion is b.s. mind-control etc etc.

In general, I applaud young independent thinkers who go through all the questions. Many of these kids become christians because of all the question asking. And those who, after becoming christian, still keep asking questions usually end up Catholic.
 
Ah, predators the world over like to feel they swoop down from the hills onto the flock of sheep and put them into fear and disarray. Lots of young predators like that feeling, but eventually their hormones stop rushing and they dry out behind the ears. Then they can be talked to and begin to understand that they are more the goat bleating at the sheep than the wolf. They feel so fierce like my little 2 year old 10 pound pooch who thinks she’s a large dog, with huge sharp teeth, and a bad attitude.
 
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