Quote Originally Posted by Thorne View Post
From my observations (limited though they may be), I feel that the more people learn about religions, all religions, not just their own, the less they are likely to be taken in by them.
I do not see it that way. A lot of people search for something meaningful in various religions, and choose one that fulfil their needs the most.

I've read several articles by graduates of seminary schools who say it is virtually impossible for an intelligent person to get through graduate school and retain his faith.
Interesting. Do you still have a link to one?

Also, the more you learn about the real world, and science in particular, the more you realize how bizarre and unrealistic religious dogma is.
Ah, here we are again :-)
But being able to explain how things work does not nessecarily have anything to do with who or what makes it so, right? A religious scientist would simpy marvel at Gods infinite creativity!

You are back to some people saying "it works like that because it works like that" and some would say "it works like that because someone made it so."
And there you are.

One reason the Catholic Church tried to prevent the Bible form being published in the vernacular was to keep the faithful from actually reading it and learning how screwed up and contradictory it is, and how evil and nasty their God is.
It is hard to see any other reason but oppression for such a way to conduct a service. Religion was for people in the know, and the rest could just stand there and feel stupid, and or frightened/awed!

I see it differently. Based on my own experience being raised in the Catholic Church, and on what I have learned over the years, religions are more useful in keeping people down than in helping them to rise up. For thousands of years the powers-that-be have used religion to control their populations, keeping themselves in control while making rebellion a sin which will keep you from whatever redemption the religion has to offer.
Or get you killed. Yes, dogmatic religions are certainly excellent tools for control. And yet people - some people - maybe those who love their gods rather than fear them - manage to get something out of religion that is good for them.

Again, I think the whole problem is in dogmatism. As soon as a religion is forced on someone, it is no better than facism.
A private religion is a private matter, and no threat to anyone.

Again, an intelligent, educated population is a dangerous population.
YES! And not just for religious power mongers. I ask myself why education so often has nothing to do with learning to think, and why tv is so brain dead and tame. Even in our so-called democratic societies the government does not want people to think. Religion has little hold, but there are other ways to manipulate.

A discussion of democracy would be very interesting indeed!

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Teaching people they cannot improve themselves without God's help only makes them less likely to really try to improve.
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Actually, that may work the opposite way. "You can do this, God will help you."

And, especially in the Catholic Church, forbidding any form of birth control almost guarantees large families which keeps a poorer population.
Forbidding birth control is one of the biggest sins I can think of! The world is groaning under a much, much too big human population.

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It is human nature to seek some kind of explanation for things we don't understand, and lacking any real understanding of some natural event it's very easy to ascribe it to some supernatural being.
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See above. And, while natural explanations are incredibly valuable, they do not nessecarily take the place of spiritual needs.

Disease was once considered a punishment sent by God: it is now understood to be a natural occurrence, and something which can be controlled, to a greater or lesser degree, without the need of prayer or gods. Lightning, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, were all once thought to be sent by gods. We now know better. (Or at least we should. Some nuts still try to claim that natural events were sent by gods. It seems their gods have very poor aim, though.)
Well, I think what you are not taking into consideration here is that whether or not you understand the disease/earthquake/flood that kills you or your kin, your fear them as forces which in many cases are out of your control. We simply cannot control all nature, and what we cannot control we often fear. So understanding or not, we are just as dead!

That brings us to the argument of gods to help with these matters. When all else fails, even atheists sometimes pray. Because you have to do something.

As a side issue, I do not think that humans have a right to be safe.

Teaching our children how the world really works will be far more beneficial for their futures than burdening them with superstitions.
They are not nessecarily mutually exclusive. Only when we talk dogmatic religions. - and in such cases I entirely agree.