What if you found out that there was no God? What would you do, if you learned that everything you had been told about religion is a lie?
How would you feel if you learned that mankind is nothing more than a survival of the species, and that mankind is here by chance, and not by the grace of God?
I'd be terrified at the chaos that would be unleashed when everyone who only does the right thing because they're afraid of going to hell find out that they're not being scored.
DaffyDick wrote: What if you found out that there was no God? What would you do, if you learned that everything you had been told about religion is a lie?
How would you feel if you learned that mankind is nothing more than a survival of the species, and that mankind is here by chance, and not by the grace of God?
Pascal's Wager says don't bet against it. I don't see how anyone who can see, smell, feel, and hear could even question that there is not a God.
I don't think society would fall apart, I know many people who believe in a Deist model which doesn't reward/penalize behavior, or athiests who are very moral, or Christians who rationalize their sins even though they know better.
It might become more crude and crass. I heard an interview with a British scholar last month who does believe the growing athiesm in the UK has made people less polite, etc.
Then again this could be more because of less respect for all authority, including religion.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
The only response I can give to this age-old question is, What if there is?
I see no apparent harm in your respecting our belief and faith, and our respecting your freedom to choose not to have faith in a supreme being.
In the Army I served with men from all walks of life, some with faith, others with none. I say this only as an observation, that I have seen men facing imminent death, mortally wounded, calling out to God. You can reply in any fashion you wish, but you will not shake my belief, and I know that you feel as strongly that you think you know differently.
I will post this again, in case you haven't seen it!
Continue to do what is right and moral, living up to my standards for myself. Compassion and empathy does not come from a belief in God, it comes from within oneself.
