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Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate
Meh. This whole "Religion is just a tool used by evil people to control the masses" sounds too much like "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."
First I don't agree with the notion that something else would just take its place. People say you take guns away people will just use knives and baseball bats and tire irons. Meh. If people were to REJECT guns and forsake them altogether, it would make it more difficult to kill others.
But secondly, what if what replaced religion was science/fact-based reasoning? I would think critical thinking based on reason would make it MORE difficult to control people.
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I don't think it's a valid comparison. Humans, like it or not, have a spiritual side and a need to seek meaning. It's intrinsic to who we are. Guns are not. It's not something that many people can simply reject.
Science answers the "how", but not the "why". And maybe there is no real answer to the "why" other than random chance. But that won't stop people from seeking meaning.
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Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate
Here something that I have struggled with. Is an atheist being a good person because it's the right thing to do better than a religious fellow, say the Ned Flanders type, who tries to be a good person because he is thinking of his own self-interest in wanting to go to heaven in the afterlife?
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Isn't there an episode of Friends where they try to find a good deed that is not done for any kind of self-interest?
I think many/most people try to do the right thing AND do things out of self-interest, regardless of whether or not they are religious or an atheist. I don't think one is any better than the other.