Will God heal amputees? Will God influence dice rolls? Does God have an influence on the world? Does God exist at all?
Source: krautchan Questions many people thought about. Questions that people answer differently, depending on their social state, scientific and religious education, ethnicity, and whatever else. Scientifically speaking, there is no evidence proving God's existance. Logically speaking, God is not even an entity to talk about, since there is no definition of what "God" is, and all the fuss about it shows that it is much too unintuitive to be an axiomatic concept. Historically, there is evidence that if the God existet, he must be evil in some sense, or at least not really caring.
I guess we all got that. Everyone who wants to know this knows this, and everyone not knowing is probably better off not knowing. If you tell them more, maybe a few more people will change their minds, but most people will stay as they are - if people change their mind, then mostly because of personal fate. Even if you push harder, this is going to change nothing. If you have a video tape that shows Jesus being called so by known representatives at that time, being crucified and then buried without reviving, this will not change their minds. Because belief is nothing rational, and therefore, nothing that behaves logically. Either you believe or not - that is your decision, but this decision is seldom based on evidence, it is based on fate.
Now, belief can be used to manipulate you, there is absolutely no doubt about that. But not only belief in a God, also belief in an idea (socialism, social darwinism, war on terrorism, patriotism, harmfulness of thc, ...). I expressed my opinion on that before, and I can summarize it: The world will not become a better place just because we abolish theism.
I do not see any evidence for that. The big theistic corporations and the little theistic groups may have done or still be doing things that make the world worse. But if you abolish theism, you will not only lose these, but also the many theistic corporations and groups that make the world a better place by caring about the poor and sick. However, you will still have the plenty of atheistic groups, making the world a worse place in the name of some idea, which also exist.
To make it possible that one idea that turns out to be bad will not rule us forever, we have freedom of belief, conscience and speech, so we can tell people what is wrong and has to be done better. This does not always work flawless, but you cannot exchange a moral system in twenty years - it sometimes takes centuries, like it or not.
So we can discuss, troll and insult each other for their beliefs - theistic or not - and this can be fun, and it might be important to some extent. At least there seems to be some use of a discourse for the society. And in the end, it seems to me that the winner is mostly the one who becomes evil in the right moment.
Ok, too much said about that already. Now, I have got a link on this video (via). A video trying to explain people that prayers are a delusion.
Firstly of course, this video does not explain anything - it is rather naive. Science on "supernatural" phenomena is hard, since some paranormal activity is really hard to explain. Especially, paranormal activity had its own "evolution", you simply cannot puzzle modern people by as much as you could one century ago, and thus, the modern paranormal activity often has effects that take a lot of research to explain, and often the phenomenon cannot even be easily reproduced, such that some explanations are rather vague - they often reach the current practical limits of science.
The major part of our brain is not really understood yet, but we already know that even minimal amounts of chemicals and even electromagnetic waves may influence our behaviour. The placebo effect is only partially understood, as far as I know. But in the end, recently, a bioinformatics studend said to me, when talking about psychosomatic allergical reactions, which can be as bad as "real" allergical reactions, that allergies are triggered by a chemical reaction. And a thought is also a chemical reaction. So why should a psychosomatic allergical reaction be something less severe than a "real" allergical reaction.
There is so much truth in this. It gives a clearer view on everything! In the end, the same holds for the placebo effect (psychosomatic allergical reactions are a sort of placebo effect, I think) - the belief in a medication is a chemical reaction in the brain, which influences other chemical reactions. And the belief in a prayer may do the same. Just to summarize this: Prayers may help people who believe in it.
And - honestly - who is not willing to believe in them, if he is desperate enough?
So we have seen the advantages. Now, what are the disadvantages of prayers? They may make people think that they can influence things they cannot. They may make people think to have done something good, even though they just prayed for somebody else, quietly. But an usual prayer takes a few minutes - at most, mostly it just takes seconds. I do not think that this is very likely to stop people from doing something to achieve the things they pray for. It makes them feel better and gives them the belief to have done something - but would they behave better if they did not have this feel? I do not think so - if I look at all the bashing against vegans and vegetarians by people who just cannot handle with their moral inferiority, I imagine people bashing against hungry children or their parents or whoever because they cannot handle with their inaction - I do not see more people really doing something about it. Praying keeps them quiet at least. To summarize this: Prayers do not do harm.
That is why I wonder: Why are these people so enthusiastic about telling other people that prayers are useless, and keep them from praying? I think I know the answer, and I am afraid I cannot tell it without at least slightly insulting them: It is because of arrogance. Where admittedly some modern atheists (like modern christians and jews) want to make the world better, and probably think that their belief is the best way to achieve this, they also know when to defer that discussion. Say, for example, when visiting a sickbed - an example given in the video.
I know I know, priests visit sick people. Priests pray with and for them. But priests do usually not visit deadly sick atheists to proselytize them. Usually. I am sure that some of them will do that, and I do not want to claim that this is any better. I mean there is a difference between telling somebody that if he starts praying now he will go to heaven (which is not quite correct, though, the actual belief was that you only slumber and will awake at the doomsday), and telling him that he is just a better machine and all of his personality will disappear with the rot of his brain, even though this is probably the sad truth. But a good minister must just have a feeling for what is the best for the person. And just because there may be theists which do these things does not give atheists any right to do the same - that wold be like saying that war crimes are a legit answer on war crimes.
So after all, this brainwashing video has no positive effekt. It takes hope away from people, especially sick people, hope that might help them, hope that cannot harm anyone. It does not give any alternatives to theism, nor does it imply any political consequences. It does not even criticize theism in any way, and not even science is really taken into full account. It is destructive, without giving any advantage. It makes the world worse.
The last sentences in the video are "It is time to point out that the superstition of prayer, like all superstitions, is silly. And it is time for us to end the fraud.".
Why? Would that make the world better? No! It is just to increase the penis sizes of the video's creators.
Just that nobody has a chance of misunderstanding me (though I am sure that some people will misunderstand me because they want - like people believe in prayers because they want). It is good to give arguments against theism, basing on what theistic leaders have done in history, even though I do not share the opinion (as pointed out above). It is good to criticize the influence of fundamentalist christians in, say, the USA, and the influence of christian corporations in Germany and Europe.
But producing a a brainwashing video, taking something away which has, even scientifically, a good influence on people who believe in it, without giving an alternative, is not good. In my opinion, it is evil.
Not evil in a theistic sense, there will probably not come any devil and burn you in hell for it. Evil in a purely atheistic sense.
Source: krautchan Questions many people thought about. Questions that people answer differently, depending on their social state, scientific and religious education, ethnicity, and whatever else. Scientifically speaking, there is no evidence proving God's existance. Logically speaking, God is not even an entity to talk about, since there is no definition of what "God" is, and all the fuss about it shows that it is much too unintuitive to be an axiomatic concept. Historically, there is evidence that if the God existet, he must be evil in some sense, or at least not really caring.
I guess we all got that. Everyone who wants to know this knows this, and everyone not knowing is probably better off not knowing. If you tell them more, maybe a few more people will change their minds, but most people will stay as they are - if people change their mind, then mostly because of personal fate. Even if you push harder, this is going to change nothing. If you have a video tape that shows Jesus being called so by known representatives at that time, being crucified and then buried without reviving, this will not change their minds. Because belief is nothing rational, and therefore, nothing that behaves logically. Either you believe or not - that is your decision, but this decision is seldom based on evidence, it is based on fate.
Now, belief can be used to manipulate you, there is absolutely no doubt about that. But not only belief in a God, also belief in an idea (socialism, social darwinism, war on terrorism, patriotism, harmfulness of thc, ...). I expressed my opinion on that before, and I can summarize it: The world will not become a better place just because we abolish theism.
I do not see any evidence for that. The big theistic corporations and the little theistic groups may have done or still be doing things that make the world worse. But if you abolish theism, you will not only lose these, but also the many theistic corporations and groups that make the world a better place by caring about the poor and sick. However, you will still have the plenty of atheistic groups, making the world a worse place in the name of some idea, which also exist.
To make it possible that one idea that turns out to be bad will not rule us forever, we have freedom of belief, conscience and speech, so we can tell people what is wrong and has to be done better. This does not always work flawless, but you cannot exchange a moral system in twenty years - it sometimes takes centuries, like it or not.
So we can discuss, troll and insult each other for their beliefs - theistic or not - and this can be fun, and it might be important to some extent. At least there seems to be some use of a discourse for the society. And in the end, it seems to me that the winner is mostly the one who becomes evil in the right moment.
Ok, too much said about that already. Now, I have got a link on this video (via). A video trying to explain people that prayers are a delusion.
Firstly of course, this video does not explain anything - it is rather naive. Science on "supernatural" phenomena is hard, since some paranormal activity is really hard to explain. Especially, paranormal activity had its own "evolution", you simply cannot puzzle modern people by as much as you could one century ago, and thus, the modern paranormal activity often has effects that take a lot of research to explain, and often the phenomenon cannot even be easily reproduced, such that some explanations are rather vague - they often reach the current practical limits of science.
The major part of our brain is not really understood yet, but we already know that even minimal amounts of chemicals and even electromagnetic waves may influence our behaviour. The placebo effect is only partially understood, as far as I know. But in the end, recently, a bioinformatics studend said to me, when talking about psychosomatic allergical reactions, which can be as bad as "real" allergical reactions, that allergies are triggered by a chemical reaction. And a thought is also a chemical reaction. So why should a psychosomatic allergical reaction be something less severe than a "real" allergical reaction.
There is so much truth in this. It gives a clearer view on everything! In the end, the same holds for the placebo effect (psychosomatic allergical reactions are a sort of placebo effect, I think) - the belief in a medication is a chemical reaction in the brain, which influences other chemical reactions. And the belief in a prayer may do the same. Just to summarize this: Prayers may help people who believe in it.
And - honestly - who is not willing to believe in them, if he is desperate enough?
So we have seen the advantages. Now, what are the disadvantages of prayers? They may make people think that they can influence things they cannot. They may make people think to have done something good, even though they just prayed for somebody else, quietly. But an usual prayer takes a few minutes - at most, mostly it just takes seconds. I do not think that this is very likely to stop people from doing something to achieve the things they pray for. It makes them feel better and gives them the belief to have done something - but would they behave better if they did not have this feel? I do not think so - if I look at all the bashing against vegans and vegetarians by people who just cannot handle with their moral inferiority, I imagine people bashing against hungry children or their parents or whoever because they cannot handle with their inaction - I do not see more people really doing something about it. Praying keeps them quiet at least. To summarize this: Prayers do not do harm.
That is why I wonder: Why are these people so enthusiastic about telling other people that prayers are useless, and keep them from praying? I think I know the answer, and I am afraid I cannot tell it without at least slightly insulting them: It is because of arrogance. Where admittedly some modern atheists (like modern christians and jews) want to make the world better, and probably think that their belief is the best way to achieve this, they also know when to defer that discussion. Say, for example, when visiting a sickbed - an example given in the video.
I know I know, priests visit sick people. Priests pray with and for them. But priests do usually not visit deadly sick atheists to proselytize them. Usually. I am sure that some of them will do that, and I do not want to claim that this is any better. I mean there is a difference between telling somebody that if he starts praying now he will go to heaven (which is not quite correct, though, the actual belief was that you only slumber and will awake at the doomsday), and telling him that he is just a better machine and all of his personality will disappear with the rot of his brain, even though this is probably the sad truth. But a good minister must just have a feeling for what is the best for the person. And just because there may be theists which do these things does not give atheists any right to do the same - that wold be like saying that war crimes are a legit answer on war crimes.
So after all, this brainwashing video has no positive effekt. It takes hope away from people, especially sick people, hope that might help them, hope that cannot harm anyone. It does not give any alternatives to theism, nor does it imply any political consequences. It does not even criticize theism in any way, and not even science is really taken into full account. It is destructive, without giving any advantage. It makes the world worse.
The last sentences in the video are "It is time to point out that the superstition of prayer, like all superstitions, is silly. And it is time for us to end the fraud.".
Why? Would that make the world better? No! It is just to increase the penis sizes of the video's creators.
Just that nobody has a chance of misunderstanding me (though I am sure that some people will misunderstand me because they want - like people believe in prayers because they want). It is good to give arguments against theism, basing on what theistic leaders have done in history, even though I do not share the opinion (as pointed out above). It is good to criticize the influence of fundamentalist christians in, say, the USA, and the influence of christian corporations in Germany and Europe.
But producing a a brainwashing video, taking something away which has, even scientifically, a good influence on people who believe in it, without giving an alternative, is not good. In my opinion, it is evil.
Not evil in a theistic sense, there will probably not come any devil and burn you in hell for it. Evil in a purely atheistic sense.
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