To Jayb.

The non religious wars don't point to atheism, but do point out that religion is not the cause of wars as much as it's claimed. Even the wars fought in the name of religion are likely not actually following the teachings of that religion when they go out to war.

NNS sorry you swim in deep mud, or at least try using things that are only meaningful to you
Your defense of faiths needs to bypass true honest look at who you defend
Some, in every faith are divisive, in this thread you in fact are divisive

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Dear Not_Now.Soon,

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What had the young Jesus of Nazareth done to merit being tortured to death on the cross despite being declared innocent by the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate ? Who wanted him eliminated – were they atheists ?

Wasn’t Saul of Tarsus (Saint Paul) a religious zealot (of Judaism) – not an atheist – when he persecuted the Christians and participated in the stoning to death of (Saint) Etienne ?

Why did Nero, a polytheist – not an atheist – have Simon-son-of-Jonas (Saint Peter) crucified upside down following the great fire of Rome ?

And why did the same Nero have Saul of Tarsus (Saint Paul) beheaded ?

Why was Giordano Bruno, a Dominican friar, mathematician, astronomer and poet, burned at the stake by the Catholic Church ?

Why was Joan of Arc, who acted on religious visions, also burned at the stake by the Catholic Church ?
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None of these atrocities and terrible injustices were committed by atheists. They were committed by religious people against other religious people. They are acts of religious intolerance.

I may be wrong but I think there is more divisiveness bred by religious intolerance than by atheism – even among people of the same religion.

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Banjo Paterson,

<<What had the young Jesus of Nazareth done to merit being tortured to death on the cross despite being declared innocent by the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate ? Who wanted him eliminated – were they atheists ?>>

Banjo,

Jesus told us why:

"But Jesus called the disciples together and said:You know that foreign rulers like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over everyone they rule. But don’t act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people" (Matthew 20:25-28).

All sinners (including you and me) are rebels against God. To be reconciled with God and enter eternal life, the apostle Paul taught, "Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son’s life" (Romans 5:10).

Jesus predicted his own death to rescue people and no declaration of 'innocence' by Pontius Pilate could stop his sacrificial shedding of blood to cover sins for those who believe in Jesus: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3%3A16&version=ERV

<<I may be wrong but I think there is more divisiveness bred by religious intolerance than by atheism – even among people of the same religion.>>

I've observed quite a bit of divisiveness and religious intolerance by you towards Christians on this forum. How would you document that statistically around the world?

What is your definition of intolerance?

Hi Josephus,

On your observation: " .... you are more than what the worms consume. You are living now and making an impact in this Universe. Your impact remains in your family and friends and beyond. They will know what that is and be influenced by it. It is your life story as lived in that mortal body. That impact is written in the history of the Universe...."

Certainly, I've always thought that everybody could make a difference, and I'm confidence that I may have done so, so I can eventually pass away (not yet, Lord !) more or less content. But also knowing that that's the end. Fair enough: one can be fortunate to live so many decades and then say goodbye, forever. Yes, i hope that I'll be remembered by some, especially my loved ones, at least until their turn comes.

But it's not what takes up much of my time wondering. We live, we do what we can to improve the world, then we die, and that's it. Would I like to live forever ? Sure, although all that praying and singing and floating around as a soul in a well-lit and timeless heaven (maybe I'm presuming that that's where I could be going ?) would surely pall after a while. Can we argue with each other up there ? Resolve anything ? Would it make any difference ? Sounds all a bit futile.

Joe

Paul1405,

<<A recent survey revealed that many Australians harbour incredibly negative attitudes towards all religion. 46% said; "Religion is a major part of the problems in our world." 42% said; "It's not religion which is the problem, but "religious people' who are the problem." >>

I wish you would document your source.

The YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project (statistics) found that

"51% of Australians had unfavourable sentiments towards Islam, and only 10% looked upon the religion positively, making Australia more negative than 17 of the other 22 countries surveyed.

"In fact, 37% of people said they were “very unfavourable”– the most negative response available. This was far higher than the milder option of “fairly unfavourable” (14%), and made it the single most common response to the religion. 23% of people were neutral.

"In comparison, 45% of Australians were positive towards Christianity, and 21% were negative", http://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/04/australians-accepting-of-migrants-but-negative-towards-islam-poll-finds