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I read the stats on alcoholism rates yrs ago, dont know where.
Are you asking if alcoholism is caused by atheism ?
No it isnt.
Im a recovered alcoholic, i was atheist and i still know it didnt arise from atheism.
Sounds contradictory but the medical fact is that alcoholism is Primary, its not a symptom of some underlying condition, all you need do is count the number of priests in AA.
However, chances of complete recovery are tied to how spiritual the revovery program is.
As far as atheists being more intelligent. Dont think so.
Intelligence tied to suicide rates ?
Doubt it, the cause goes deeper than the correlates.
I would look at a worldview which doesn't provide a meaningful sense of purpose. Isnt that why many atheists are attracted to spirituality?
I guess I made the same mistake you did and didn't support my statements.
I'll try and find what I was talking about and link it up.
So a 100% genocide isn't bad if the First Nations tribe wasn't that big anyways? As far as numbers Germany had a smaller population, NAZI were in power for a shorter time and the ways the number if people killed by each. Hitler was many things besides a social Darwinism but the majority of Germans were Christians and it was very easy for Hitler to have his country men turn against the Jews. Over 1000 years of Christians against Jews in Europe was also responsible for what was able to occur.
But your point in good, if the country or leaders are atheists blame atheism, if they are Christians look for another reason to blame them. Or should we blame conservatism or capitalism for the halocaust?
My neighbor is from berlin, she tells me the general population were not the same as the hardcore nazis.
The actual percentage of nazis in germany was extremely low but they had all the power and murdered any opposition. They even forced their own war hero rommel to kill himself to save his children.
Youre missing the scale of what happens in the absence of God.
Stalin had religious leaders taken out and shot or sent to the gulag to be worked to death. Once free of any moral oversight he proceeded to murder tens of millions.
OK I missed this quote. So it's really your point that morality is derived from religious instruction?
These are a few of the links I got the intelligence info from. It's an average so I realize their are brilliant believers and not so brilliant non believers.
A brief bit about me. I am in my early twenties, was raised without religion, family is not keen on religion. I've recently been exposed to Christianity and have been stricken with fear of hell, and now I am hedging my bets TRYING to believe.
I have been reading more and more about Christianity, and what I've deduced is that all you need to do to get into heaven is accept and believe that Jesus is the son of God and died for our sins.
It seems that once we have accepted Him, he gives us the power to overcome sin (not fully, but to an extent).
When I ask how I can see and believe in Jesus, I am frequently told to seek him and read the bible. Jesus reveals himself in the bible. What that REALLY sounds like to me is that the more you read the bible, the more BRAINWASHED you become, and then you "see" or "experience" him.
What I have always fundamentally believed is that there is some sort of higher power. I believe in the natural laws of the universe, karma, etc. because I have seen them work out myself.
It really seems to me that Christianity (and other religions) are merely extreme guilt trips and fear mongers.
What do you guys think?
You're on the right track.
I was as you are, but then in my 20's, I was introduced to the true teachings of Jesus... some of which are in the bible and some of which aren't. These teachings refute the bible claim that Jesus died for our sins... as let's think about this idea logically and realistically. The mere fact of believing this doesn't make it so. Sorry to say for the millions of Christians who do.
The reality is that to be "saved," we must possess something within us that changes who we are. "Within us" refers to our souls. Christians claim that we are made in God's image and this is true. However, we do not possess His substance. This substance is the real savior because it brings about a holiness within us that God has and it has the spiritual cleansing power to remove our sins.
There is a way to obtain this substance and that is by prayer to God. He is ready, willing and able to give it to anyone who asks. It's that simple. This substance is called Divine Love. It isn't the natural love that we are all born with. We can't nurture it in our souls by our own efforts. It doesn't come from within. It comes from without meaning it comes from our Creator aka Heavenly Father aka God and is delivered to our soul by the Holy Spirit, which is God's highest energy that is ever present to answer our call for God's greatest gift.
As to burning in hell for eternity, that is another figment of the Christian imagination. Hell is a place of probation and it's not eternal. Our soul's condition at the time of our passing determines whether we will have to step one foot in that den of darkness. This is why it's good to "work" on our soul's condition (purify it) while we're still here on earth in order to bypass the hellish prison...when it's our turn to discover the next world which awaits.
A brief bit about me. I am in my early twenties, was raised without religion, family is not keen on religion. I've recently been exposed to Christianity and have been stricken with fear of hell, and now I am hedging my bets TRYING to believe.
I have been reading more and more about Christianity, and what I've deduced is that all you need to do to get into heaven is accept and believe that Jesus is the son of God and died for our sins.
It seems that once we have accepted Him, he gives us the power to overcome sin (not fully, but to an extent).
When I ask how I can see and believe in Jesus, I am frequently told to seek him and read the bible. Jesus reveals himself in the bible. What that REALLY sounds like to me is that the more you read the bible, the more BRAINWASHED you become, and then you "see" or "experience" him.
What I have always fundamentally believed is that there is some sort of higher power. I believe in the natural laws of the universe, karma, etc. because I have seen them work out myself.
It really seems to me that Christianity (and other religions) are merely extreme guilt trips and fear mongers.
What do you guys think?
Don't base your connection with God on what religious groups tell you. My approach to that is to read from different ethical, moral, philosophical sources regarding behavior that is good to you and others. That is the bottom line.
You may be able to find groups that do not subscribe to a specific religious source like the Bible. They pick the good from different moral sources and they go from there.
There are two books that I think can help you on your spiritual journey. The titles may be misleading in some ways but their topic can help guide people that do believe in God.
The first one is "Grace Without God" by Katherine Ozment. The other is "good without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People do Believe" by Greg M. Epstein.
There is a misconception that atheist are not spiritual. Well, that is incorrect. You do not have to believe in God to live a spiritual life. If you do believe in God, you can have a spiritual life that is rewarding. There countless people in the same situation that you are.
There are groups that do help people in your inquisitive state of morality and faith.
"Stalin called for an "atheist five year plan" from 1932–1937, led by the LMG, in order to completely eliminate all religious expression in the USSR. It was declared that the concept of God would disappear from the Soviet Union."
Youre missing the scale of what happens in the absence of God.
Stalin had religious leaders taken out and shot or sent to the gulag to be worked to death. Once free of any moral oversight he proceeded to murder tens of millions.
You are missing those countries WITH religious leaders.
You are also missing the scale of the military purge, which involved 50,000 military personal being sent to the gulags in 1938.
Which is why it took factory workers and school children to stop the Germans at the gates of Leningrad. where over one million civilians died because of the desire of one dictator. A dictator who believed in the god of the Bible, and in Jesus.
What have the numbers to do with anything? It is the cause that is important. The numbers just tell us it was easier to kill large parts of the population last century than in previous ones.
Yes, an opinion piece of only one man, not Scientific American itself, that calls a logically necessity psuedo science.
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