[DDTempest]

Originally Posted by thekremlin

First of all, to most of that post, I say: TLDR.

Second of all, to the above quote, what planet do you live on? You like to talk logically, let's use some logic. How many cultures do you see that have carried on through ancient times that practice atheism? Nearly all cultures that have survived for long periods of time have heavily stressed religion. While it is not immediately clear what evolotionary advantage "religion" grants (and when I say evolutionary, I mean competition between cultures, remember that evolution works on a social scale as well), I think the evidence strongly suggests that it is heavily advantageous to have religion.

OK, look. You go to Oslo, and the museum has massive viking ships. Vikings are badass motherfuckers who live in a frozen tundra, and the sides of these ships are still COVERED in wooden statuettes of gods and traditional warriors. You go to Thailand, palaces and temples everywhere, full of gold and statues and tapestries. Egypt, pyramids. Europe, churches. Huge churches, Notre Dame, Sistine Chapel, every single oldass city in Europe has an incredible church in the middle of it.

These churches didn't build themselves. These people could have saved the effort and built libraries or funded their armies. So on the ground floor, you look at this and say "building the churches/pyramids/decoration the ships is stupid". But you believe in evolution, I think you mentioned once or twice. Darwinism suggests that if seperate societies that are still surviving today all have a common trait, then that trait has aided their survival. Not only that, but the benefit from religion makes up for the MASSIVE expenditure described above.

I understand you don't like religion, but you have to recognize that other people do. Someone who refuses to see other people's perspectives and apply their own opinions to how other people should view things are called zealots.

You're Jewish right? So you'll understand the point I'm about to make ... religion is a banner that an entire society can march behind. When a society is united under a common goal or belief system they are a much stronger force than people "minding their own business" ... see Nazi Germany, see USSR, see China, see the Roman empire, the Greeks, and on and on and on. Your "group" works together to wipe out dissenters. Of course your society will accomplish a lot when everyone is on the same team. Religion is more than just believing in a deity, its believing in a system, being a willing cog in a machine that you have no control over.