[vhawk01]

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But I think almost everybody would agree that they are happier with their religion and its restrictions than they would be without either.

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I think many people that say this are lying to themselves. Do you really think those same people with the same families would be depressed if they were raised atheist instead?

I think only a very small percent of theists receive a large amount of hope/inspiration/whatever from it.

I think as our society progresses, the downside of religion is getting exponentially greater. If there were never any atheists, imagine how far set back our scientific knowledge would be.

Then there's the obvious argument that most wars are caused by religion, coupled with all the intolerance, hate, and bigotry, etc.

Are you really thinking on a global level?

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I agree with this.

I'm ALMOST positive that I've never said anything either way about this, meaning I've never said "Well, some people are just happier with their delusions" OR "Man, everybody would be way happier if they could just shed these delusions." Mostly because I have absolutely no idea which of those is true (and suspect both are false). However, I do notice many atheists (more than half) say things like "Well some people just are happier believing in fables" and it always sounds to me like "stupid mouthbreathers need to suck their thumbs or they will cry all night and throw a fit." It seems incredibly condescending to me. There are probably people who arent interested in truth or critcial evaluation of their beliefs and are only interested in superficial comfort. But surely there are plenty of people who are capable of handling shocks to their system and maybe have never even THOUGHT of deeply questioning their religious beliefs, or heard any persuasive arguments, or something like that. It just seems elitist to decree that most people who are religious are that way because they are trembling cowards who couldnt handle a Godless world.