87% of the worlds population are wrong

allisbleak

Surely the fact that if only one group of the planets religion's could be true, the other % of the worlds population are wrong.

Is this simple idea enough to convince rational persons that maybe religion is a false idea.


We live on a planet with a variety of religions

Christianity 1.9-2.1 billion (35,000 different sects, all believe differently)
Islam 1-1.3 billion
Judaism 14.5 million (the original)
Hinduism 828 million
Buddhism 364
Sikhism 23.8 million million
Jainism 6-12 million
Bahá'í Faith 7.4 million
Rastafari movement 700,000

+ thousands of others

iUseVi

On a thread making spree are you? Kind of preaching to the choir.

Daftendirekt

Yup.

Where did the 87% figure come from, by the way?

Turtwig

100% of the world's population are wrong, except you.:pac:

Antbert

A little less millitant than the other two I guess... I give it one more day before it's locked.

Hagar

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. - Abraham Lincoln

bnt

allisbleak wrote: »

Surely the fact that if only one group of the planets religion's could be true, the other % of the worlds population are wrong.

I think part of the problem here is the collision between philosophy and reality. These discussions we have are about philosophy, but not everyone gives a hoot about philosophy, for various reasons. Based on my experiences, I've concluded that most people simply don't subject their beliefs to the kind of scrutiny that we do. That doesn't make them wrong, it just is what it is: you can't answer a question incorrectly if you don't ask the question at all.

I wish more people would ask these questions, but I know that's just wishful thinking. One thing we can do is limit the damage that religion can do, through promotion of secularism. Another is to be good people, and show that you don't need religion to be good, which will hopefully open a few eyes.

allisbleak

bnt wrote: »

I think part of the problem here is the collision between philosophy and reality. These discussions we have are about philosophy, but not everyone gives a hoot about philosophy, for various reasons. Based on my experiences, I've concluded that most people simply don't subject their beliefs to the kind of scrutiny that we do. That doesn't make them wrong, it just is what it is: you can't answer a question incorrectly if you don't ask the question at all.

I wish more people would ask these questions, but I know that's just wishful thinking. One thing we can do is limit the damage that religion can do, through promotion of secularism. Another is to be good people, and show that you don't need religion to be good, which will hopefully open a few eyes.

I think we have a long way to go. The religious involvement in our primary schools should have ended a long time ago. The Ryan and Murphy reports should have been the final nails.

How do you get most people to question it then.

Should a part be written into a soap, because that would get a message out to 1/4 of the population right away. Can you imagine a character on emmerdale getting a crisis of faith and doing his own biblical investigating, finding out the truth and eventually becoming atheist.

Zillah

Three for three! *crosses fingers*

aidan24326

What point are you trying to make here?

strobe

allisbleak wrote: »

I think we have a long way to go. The religious involvement in our primary schools should have ended a long time ago. The Ryan and Murphy reports should have been the final nails.

How do you get most people to question it then.

Should a part be written into a soap, because that would get a message out to 1/4 of the population right away. Can you imagine a character on emmerdale getting a crisis of faith and doing his own biblical investigating, finding out the truth and eventually becoming atheist.

So, in summary, in your mind, most people are slack jawed yokels learning everything about the outside world from Eastenders?

old_aussie

allisbleak wrote: »

Surely the fact that if only one group of the planets religion's could be true, the other % of the worlds population are wrong.

Is this simple idea enough to convince rational persons that maybe religion is a false idea.


We live on a planet with a variety of religions

Christianity 1.9-2.1 billion (35,000 different sects, all believe differently)
Islam 1-1.3 billion
Judaism 14.5 million (the original)
Hinduism 828 million
Buddhism 364
Sikhism 23.8 million million
Jainism 6-12 million
Bahá'í Faith 7.4 million
Rastafari movement 700,000

+ thousands of others

Your facts about how many people in each religion are WWWAAAAYYYY OFF

India has a population in 2009 of 1.15 billion, mainly Hindu

http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/indiapopulation.htm

China has a population in 2009 of 1.46 billion with 4 main religions, Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/indiapopulation.htm

No need to go on as this shows how wrong your figures are.

achtungbarry

Having seen a number of the OP's post now, I can only conclude that he is to us ordinary atheists what people like Kent Hovind and Jerry Falwell are to ordinary Christians.

alex73

Hi allisbleak , if course "all is bleak" of you don't believe in anything. Work for 80% of your life fight cancer for the last years and die old and in pain, what a life! If this is it, if this world is the be all and end all of everything then all is bleak. There are hundreds of thousands of testimonies and experiences of after life, if you want to believe its your choice, after all faith is a choice.

The Mad Hatter

achtungbarry wrote: »

Having seen a number of the OP's post now, I can only conclude that he is to us ordinary atheists what people like Kent Hovind and Jerry Falwell are to ordinary Christians.

Actually, I'm vaguely curious as to whether he's a Christian masquerading as an atheist stereotype. Certainly I've never met anyone like him in the real world.

Antbert

alex73 wrote: »

Hi allisbleak , if course "all is bleak" of you don't believe in anything.

Why?

allisbleak

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Actually, I'm vaguely curious as to whether he's a Christian masquerading as an atheist stereotype. Certainly I've never met anyone like him in the real world.

Well you are not looking hard enough. There are more and more of us that want religion removed completely, and if you can tolerate the delusion, and the harm it has caused, as an atheist then you might as well be one of them.

jesusneverexisted.com

Antbert

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Actually, I'm vaguely curious as to whether he's a Christian masquerading as an atheist stereotype. Certainly I've never met anyone like him in the real world.

Maybe he's on a crusade to get us all defending religion...

Antbert

allisbleak wrote: »

Well you are not looking hard enough. There are more and more of us that want religion removed completely, and if you can tolerate the delusion, and the harm it has caused, as an atheist then you might as well be one of them.

?!

Not every atheist has to be some kind of revolutionary. Same as not every Christian is a radical fundamentalist. All atheism is is not believing in something. It's ridiculous to say "if you're not trying to rid the world of religion you may as well be religious."

iUseVi

Antbert wrote: »

?!

Not every atheist has to be some kind of revolutionary. Same as not every Christian is a radical fundamentalist. All atheism is is not believing in something. It's ridiculous to say "if you're not trying to rid the world of religion you may as well be religious."

He doesn't seem to understand the difference between atheism and full blown anti-theism.

komodosp

Well members of each religion simply say "We are the 13% who are right"

The Mad Hatter

allisbleak wrote: »

Well you are not looking hard enough. There are more and more of us that want religion removed completely, and if you can tolerate the delusion, and the harm it has caused, as an atheist then you might as well be one of them.

jesusneverexisted.com

Well, much of what you're promoting is little more than fascism.

I think that religion is dying a death - hopefully it will do so before we run out of oil (because I believe the resultant reversion in world revenue will lead to a regrowth of religion). Historically, though, any time anyone anyone has tried to deliberately suppress a religion the way that you're suggesting (the English in Ireland, for instance, or Mao in China and Tibet), it has led to an extremely powerful underground movement in that religion. That's not what you want, I assume?

Frankly, I've been a part of the atheist community for some time, and I stand by my statement - I've never met anyone (including, for what it's worth, the more vocal members of atheist forums I post on, and even including those outspoken critics of religion such as Dawkins and Hitchens) with views even remotely like yours.

P. S. Fugly website.

iUseVi

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

t you want, I assume?

Frankly, I've been a part of the atheist community for some time, and I stand by my statement - I've never met anyone (including, for what it's worth, the more vocal members of atheist forums I post on, and even including those outspoken critics of religion such as Dawkins and Hitchens) with views even remotely like yours.

P. S. Fugly website.

Even Hitchens doesn't want to rid the world of religion entirely (see end of the "Collision" movie) and he doesn't go around spouting that all religious people are idiots because that is clearly untrue. Religion is a part of some human's nature and I think we need to learn to live with it to some extent.

doctoremma

alex73 wrote: »

what a life! If this is it, if this world is the be all and end all of everything then all is bleak.

Of all the bazillions* of sperms and eggs that could have got together, they made you. They made a person, a whole personality, a whole new set of thoughts, a whole new world view. This is a life where you can see rainbows, crystal-clear turquoise water and shooting stars. A life where you can feel exhilaration and joy between the tough bits. This a life where you can see pain, hardship and dignity etched on someone's face and reach out to them. This is a life where you are the first person to see your child smiling, and they are smiling at you**. And if you don't have children (nor are looking forward to them) take a good look into your mother's eyes the next time she smiles at you. This is a life where the smell of your partner's hair can make you sleep peacefully and the smell of good coffee can make you want to embrace the day ahead.

What a life indeed.

*non-scientific unit of measurement
**not to be confused with wind

Antbert

doctoremma wrote: »

Of all the bazillions* of sperms and eggs that could have got together, they made you. They made a person, a whole personality, a whole new set of thoughts, a whole new world view. This is a life where you can see rainbows, crystal-clear turquoise water and shooting stars. A life where you can feel exhilaration and joy between the tough bits. This a life where you can see pain, hardship and dignity etched on someone's face and reach out to them. This is a life where you are the first person to see your child smiling, and they are smiling at you**. And if you don't have children (nor are looking forward to them) take a good look into your mother's eyes the next time she smiles at you. This is a life where the smell of your partner's hair can make you sleep peacefully and the smell of good coffee can make you want to embrace the day ahead.

What a life indeed.

*non-scientific unit of measurement
**not to be confused with wind

Better than my response.

cavedave

What else is bout around 90% of the world wrong about?I would guess over 90% of the world is sexist and homophobic Anything else? Politically pretty much everyone disagrees with everyone else. So we must nearly all be wrong?

Rev Hellfire

cavedave wrote: »

I would guess over 90% of the world is sexist and homophobic Anything else?

Bizarrely those things are only considered wrong because the majority here believe to be so. Which makes your statement a little off.

hiorta

Well, 100% were wrong in thinking the globe was flat, having the indisputable evidence of their own eyes.

Rev Hellfire

hiorta wrote: »

Well, 100% were wrong in thinking the globe was flat, having the indisputable evidence of their own eyes.

100% where presented with evidence proving the contrary and rejected it ?
Don't recall ever learning that.

cavedave

The flat earth thing seems to be over estimated. Even the ancient greeks seemed to dispute it

Rev Hellfire

Bizarrely those things are only considered wrong because the majority here believe to be so. Which makes your statement a little off.

Fair point. These are things I believe but could I prove them say to the same probability that the world is not 6000 years old as some believe? Probably not.

What social issues could you prove though? 90% of humanity seems to have been fine with slavery (at least the ones who were not slaves) but I assume pretty much everyone now agrees they were wrong.

Rb

alex73 wrote: »

Hi allisbleak , if course "all is bleak" of you don't believe in anything. Work for 80% of your life fight cancer for the last years and die old and in pain, what a life! If this is it, if this world is the be all and end all of everything then all is bleak. There are hundreds of thousands of testimonies and experiences of after life, if you want to believe its your choice, after all faith is a choice.

It's not "after life" if they come back and testify about it, nor is the delusional ramblings of people such as those quoted in my signature verifyable evidence worth considering for more than the moment it takes to glance over.