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Be that as it may ... as existence of religions without Gods is a tangential point, do you have anything substantial to contribute towards the key point I've ma

by sridca 11y ago

Be that as it may ... as existence of religions without Gods is a tangential point, do you have anything substantial to contribute towards the key point I've made in my (mysteriously downvoted) original comment further above?

orionblastar 11y ago
You got downvoted because you attacked religion and authority. Let me try and make a point. When Steve Jobs founded Apple he also had founded a religion that worshiped technology. Apple had a certain cult following of Apple users wanting to belong to Apple's culture and way of life. Steve Jobs wanted a different company than IBM and other corporations, he wanted Apple to be different from Microsoft. Steve Jobs was an authority on how computers should work and function. He tried to make easier to use computers with the Lisa and original Macintosh but both failed because they cost a lot and didn't have a lot of apps available for them. After being fired in 1985 or resigning whatever you want to believe, Steve Jobs founded a new company named Next that used Unix instead of starting over from scratch. Steve Jobs tried to create a new religion with a new company. Apple struggled without Steve Jobs, it seemed as if the CEO chair at Apple had an ejector seat. When Steve Jobs was brought back at Apple he turned around the company and got people interested in the new projects they worked on. Apple has this user experience factor that just attracts people to their religion. The iPhones and iPads basically sell themselves and the Macintosh sells itself because it doesn't have the flaws of a Windows PC. Even after Steve Jobs died, Apple still has a religious following to it. Sure there is a religious experience wired into our genes to worship something and obey some sort of authority. Which is why people follow politicians as authority figures even if they pass laws taking away rights and freedoms and doing domestic spying. It is why some people worship sports stars or musicians or movie makers or even the rich elite. Atheists for some reason don't seem to have this gene to worship something. Their brains are wired for skepticism and they question authority instead of blindly follow them. The more math and science one learns, the more likely one is to become an atheist. This is a problem Islam faced when they had their golden age of science and math discoveries. It is what had stopped the golden age out of fear that people would abandon Islam and worship science and math instead. The Catholic Church also faced this and it lead to the dark ages. In fact India, China, and other nations, once they stopped researching math and science, their empires declined. During the golden age in Europe, people wanted to worship science. The more science, math, and technology advances the more likely people will abandon religion because they don't need it anymore. Sure you got Dawkins criticizing religion in many areas, he used to be a Catholic but lost his faith. People see him as an authority and want to follow him as well. He has written great books on biology and is very smart. People want to follow some authority figure and be like them, they want leaders to tell them how to live their lives and what the meaning of life is to them. Be it a God, a politician, a business person, a sports figure, a musician, a singer, an atheist, whatever people want to follow someone they think has it all figured out. I think this is some part of evolution and in our genes but not everyone has this in their genes. It goes back a long way when people formed tribes for survival. Perhaps before religion was developed. Every tribe has a leader who is an authority figure. For religions that leader happened to be a God or in the case of Buddhism a human being who discovered enlightenment and the end to suffering. Even if there was no belief in a God or Gods, there still would be a religion worshiping something else. The rich elite worship money and power for example, and most have stopped practicing their religions in order to spend more time to manage their businesses. The poor who can't find a good paying job, turn to religion for hope and help. There exists a fellowship of people they can get support and advice from. I don't know if any of this makes sense to you. But religion plays a role in humanity and has played a role in evolution as well. Over time people have followed a religion because of some basic need for hope and understanding. As technology and medical science advances people leave religion because they feel they don't need it anymore as problems are solved by technology and medical science. The human race goes through a social evolution as well, changes to society that don't always agree with religious views.
- sridca 11y ago
  I am not at all sure what point you are trying to make. Moreover you contradict the key point in my original comment - that despite being an atheist, one is not free of the belief in an Authority. And there is no gene to worship something (which gene some people lack); that is your (strange) belief, as no scientist anywhere on the planet has discovered such a gene. The need to believe in, and follow, an authority is as instinctual as any other emotion.

by sridca 11y ago

orionblastar 11y ago

You got downvoted because you attacked religion and authority. Let me try and make a point. When Steve Jobs founded Apple he also had founded a religion that worshiped technology. Apple had a certain cult following of Apple users wanting to belong to Apple's culture and way of life. Steve Jobs wanted a different company than IBM and other corporations, he wanted Apple to be different from Microsoft. Steve Jobs was an authority on how computers should work and function. He tried to make easier to use computers with the Lisa and original Macintosh but both failed because they cost a lot and didn't have a lot of apps available for them. After being fired in 1985 or resigning whatever you want to believe, Steve Jobs founded a new company named Next that used Unix instead of starting over from scratch. Steve Jobs tried to create a new religion with a new company. Apple struggled without Steve Jobs, it seemed as if the CEO chair at Apple had an ejector seat. When Steve Jobs was brought back at Apple he turned around the company and got people interested in the new projects they worked on. Apple has this user experience factor that just attracts people to their religion. The iPhones and iPads basically sell themselves and the Macintosh sells itself because it doesn't have the flaws of a Windows PC. Even after Steve Jobs died, Apple still has a religious following to it. Sure there is a religious experience wired into our genes to worship something and obey some sort of authority. Which is why people follow politicians as authority figures even if they pass laws taking away rights and freedoms and doing domestic spying. It is why some people worship sports stars or musicians or movie makers or even the rich elite. Atheists for some reason don't seem to have this gene to worship something. Their brains are wired for skepticism and they question authority instead of blindly follow them. The more math and science one learns, the more likely one is to become an atheist. This is a problem Islam faced when they had their golden age of science and math discoveries. It is what had stopped the golden age out of fear that people would abandon Islam and worship science and math instead. The Catholic Church also faced this and it lead to the dark ages. In fact India, China, and other nations, once they stopped researching math and science, their empires declined. During the golden age in Europe, people wanted to worship science. The more science, math, and technology advances the more likely people will abandon religion because they don't need it anymore. Sure you got Dawkins criticizing religion in many areas, he used to be a Catholic but lost his faith. People see him as an authority and want to follow him as well. He has written great books on biology and is very smart. People want to follow some authority figure and be like them, they want leaders to tell them how to live their lives and what the meaning of life is to them. Be it a God, a politician, a business person, a sports figure, a musician, a singer, an atheist, whatever people want to follow someone they think has it all figured out. I think this is some part of evolution and in our genes but not everyone has this in their genes. It goes back a long way when people formed tribes for survival. Perhaps before religion was developed. Every tribe has a leader who is an authority figure. For religions that leader happened to be a God or in the case of Buddhism a human being who discovered enlightenment and the end to suffering. Even if there was no belief in a God or Gods, there still would be a religion worshiping something else. The rich elite worship money and power for example, and most have stopped practicing their religions in order to spend more time to manage their businesses. The poor who can't find a good paying job, turn to religion for hope and help. There exists a fellowship of people they can get support and advice from. I don't know if any of this makes sense to you. But religion plays a role in humanity and has played a role in evolution as well. Over time people have followed a religion because of some basic need for hope and understanding. As technology and medical science advances people leave religion because they feel they don't need it anymore as problems are solved by technology and medical science. The human race goes through a social evolution as well, changes to society that don't always agree with religious views.

sridca 11y ago
I am not at all sure what point you are trying to make. Moreover you contradict the key point in my original comment - that despite being an atheist, one is not free of the belief in an Authority. And there is no gene to worship something (which gene some people lack); that is your (strange) belief, as no scientist anywhere on the planet has discovered such a gene. The need to believe in, and follow, an authority is as instinctual as any other emotion.