> We are the only species on the entire planet, in our entire solar system,
> in our entire galaxy, in the whole universe with such great potential.
Really?
YA RLY Sorry, I should have said that "We are the only KNOWN species on the entire planet, in our entire solar system, in our entire galaxy, in the whole universe with such great potential. " But I didn't think it was neccesary since I had already emphasized that fact several time in my post.
Our children are a product of a few generations being told they were NOT created and intricately designed by a loving God who cares about them, knows every hair on their head, gave them a special personality of their own, breathed life into them and called it GOOD!
Exactly, and look how much we have progressed! Thousands of years ago, according to the bible, and history: People waged wars for god, chopped off their enemies heads and foreskins, burned 'witches' at stakes, placed 'heathens' in arenas to be eaten by animals for the whole stadium to watch, sacrificed their children to gods, enslaved people simply because they were black so people thought they were cursed by god, they imprisoned/killed homosexuals simply because they existed, they regularly killed their healthiest animals as a sacrifice... and they were stupid: They thought they could cure disease by letting out large amounts of blood to remove evil spirits, they thought burning virgins would stop natural disasters, they thought the earth was flat. And during all that, despite gods 'influence', some people still got drunk, they still commited mass murders, they still commited suicide, and they still got depressed.
But now, we are beyond that crap. We have animal rights activists that prevent the uneaded killing of animals, we have gay rights activists that prevent the uneaded killing of homosexuals, we have laws that prevent discrimination and slavery. We know that we can't stop a tornado by killing someone, but we do know that we can predict the tornado with science. It is completely illegal to kill people for entertainment, in an arena, or for spiritual rituals. Sure the world ain't perfect, but we are DEFINATELY better off now than we were when everyone thought that god was the only solution to all problems.
I am a youth worker and it is amazing to see adults scratch their heads and wonder why there is more depression, more suicide, more cutting, more anorexia, more substance abuse, more more more.....
So you think that the problems that still exist could be fixed by falling back into all that??? I don't! I'm glad I live in a country where superstition is a dying problem. (Now if only the rest of the world would just get passed it, we would be even better off still.) And as a youth who is an atheist, and yet has never used drugs, alchohol, cigarettes, killed anyone, stole anything (after age 13 or so anyways) raped anyone, sacrificed any animals, taken prozac, or stuff like that: I can testify to the fact that atheism does not generate depressed psycopaths.
LtCmd.Lore - Of the 'Proud To Be Human' class.
