I need counter arguments and arguments for some things

Adam3546
Posts: 2
Joined: 2011-01-02
User is offlineOffline
I need counter arguments and arguments for some things

I need counter arguments for the following arguments against anti theism

 

That religion is a tool and like any tool it can be used for good or evil. You wouldn't outlaw guns so why outlaw cars?

That just because religion has been used for the justification of extremely bad things, that doesn't mean it needs to be stopped and that if that's our argument then why not outlaw books that inspire people to kill. (i.e. catcher in the rye)

That people would find a way to hate other people because they were different without religion.

I would also like your opinions on why religion is a problem, and why it needs to be eliminated.

Also do you think that religions will lead to the end of the world? Why?

 

And I'm asking this because lately I haven't been ready for certain counter arguments against anti theism and I want to be ready to defend my beliefs.

 

 


butterbattle
ModeratorSuperfan
butterbattle's picture
Posts: 3945
Joined: 2008-09-12
User is offlineOffline
Adam3546 wrote:That religion

Adam3546 wrote:
That religion is a tool and like any tool it can be used for good or evil. You wouldn't outlaw guns so why outlaw cars?

The use of the term "tool" is ambiguous and misleading.

The average citizen in most countries IS prohibited from owning many types of weapons and vehicles, so this doesn't work as an analogy from the beginning. On the contrary, since sufficiently dangerous tools are outlawed, I could probably make a more decent argument for outlawing religion than the original argument against outlawing it. But, actually, I don't think that's a very strong argument either. I do hope that our species can someday outgrow religion (although I doubt we ever will), but I don't support outlawing religion for some of the reasons implied in your post, so that's a strawman anyways.

If a religion is a set of beliefs and practices that the adherents follow via faith, that, by itself, is something I do not like, regardless of how it is used. To have faith in something is to believe it independent of evidence or even because of opposing evidence.

See here: http://www.rationalresponders.com/why_religion_bad_comprehensive_argument

Adam3546 wrote:
That people would find a way to hate other people because they were different without religion.

Yes, but religion makes it worse, almost by definition.

A religion is a way for people to organize themselves around their similarities and differences. A religion is an in-group. Other religions or the non-religious are out-groups automatically.

Adam3546 wrote:
Also do you think that religions will lead to the end of the world? Why?

Do I think? I'm not justified in making that kind of prediction. I suppose it's possible.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare