I don't need religion to be a good person.

It would be interesting to know from you how you got your initial brainwashing in whatever it is you believe?

In other words, your query starts out with no historical background given.

As such it is simply a rhetorical question.

 

Most religions are not "one's choice".

Most of them are brainwashing from parents.

Just thought I would point that out as a big fallacy in your statement.

 

This is about philosophy and perception -- has nothing to do with religion.

 

Freedom is a brief state in which one has met all their own needs.

This does not happen very often.

Maybe for a short period late in life.

 

Not a fallacy at all. While children are raised with certain beliefs by their parents, and most often that is based on ones belief system, that does not constitute "brainwashing" anymore then your lack of belief in religion in spite of your obvious anger. Most children do grow up, and then can make up their own minds.

 

I think the OP is living under the delusion that all theists believe that you have to have religion in order to be moral. This isn't really true. I'll admit that there are many who believe that religion and morality are mutually exclusive and one can't have one without the other, but most do not believe that.

 

The OP says "I don't need religion to be a good person".
Christianity says the opposite.

This shouldn't be entirely an abstract matter of belief, because a wise person should be able to observe the truth of this claim through empirical observation.

You don't become "a good person" just because you are religious, the real issue is whether the religion leads to you being a better person.

Now you could be good 99% of the time, but what about that one terrible slip up that could happen sometime in your life? So it's not as simple as just taking a quick look at your life. Maybe it wouldn't take much to push you to commit murder, but by shear good luck and coincidence those conditions never materialize during your life. Does that mean you are still a good person?

 

IMO, all major religions are for the weak and/or the ignorant and/or the desperate.

It boggles my mind how someone in 2017 can actually believe in all that religious nonsense (ALL major religions) that has ZERO factual proof to back it up.

It's ALL leap-of-faith stuff.

 

'religion' IS about philosophy & perception.

'Good' is a religious value.. a concept rooted in beliefs about universal morality.

if you do not have a basis for defining, 'good', then it is a meaningless platitude, philosophically speaking.

'Religion' is not just some organized, denominational thing... or just some christian sect. Religion is very broad, & is the basis for moral views. Even an atheist has religious beliefs, if they claim morality &/or beliefs about origins, the supernatural,& other mysteries of the universe that man does not know.

 

By virtue of its use in conjunction with other words to articulate an idea that makes sense - which you obviously don't have when you use words like "abused" and "distorted" in conjuction with the claim that good is subjective.

 

What a load of crap. If the police investigate an alleged murder and discover you've been killing people more or less at random every day for the past month, no one needs religion to tell them you're evidently a bad person. Destroying things and hurting others willy nilly is bad, regardless of mental conditional. Nobody's ever needed to "believe in" anything supernatural to figure this out. You're just kidding yourself and that's generally not good either.

 

"That's like your opinion man" (Big Lebowski)

 

We religious people..... (and I include myself in that group0.........
tend to fall into certain types of problems that are beyond awful.........
we may be striving for some idea of "perfection" but we often allow that pursuit to make us angry, paranoid.......... xenophobic........
been there.... done that ..... got the T-shirt...... but in 1989 or 1990.... I quoted Isaiah 45:1 and literally stuck my right hand up in the air and asked YHWH to take me by the right hand as he had done for Gentile King Cyrus of the Medo Persian Empire.......

My life soon began to change radically after my doing that..... This would actually be a good test for any Atheists or Skeptics or Agnostics who are interested in testing some sort of higher intelligence / Creator if you have an even slightly open mind to their possible existence......

Agnostics and Atheists often have really great near death experience accounts..... Mellen Benedict sure die.... and he was an Atheist at the time of his brush with death......

Isa 45:1

¶
Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;"


Mellen Benedict........ gave that point of light the benefit of the doubt.... figured that glowing ball of light way off in the distance....... must be kind of like one his favourite teachers and professors.... so he started asking the being of light questions......... and all that he asked was answered............. brilliantly.......


http://www.near-death.com/reincarnation/experiences/mellen-thomas-benedict.html

 

To quote René Descartes 1596 - 1650 "I think, therefore I am", doesn't prove or disprove God, it just proves we exist fore, thinking we exist is existence enough to warrant that we do in fact exist.
To quote The Truman Show ( 1998 ) "We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented..."
We get taught.
We adapt to our surroundings.

I have tests I wish to conduct to determine somethings for my own science to see what's up with Ouija boards.
Others already have tests to determine out of body experiences which involve hiding distinct objects that can only be viewed from above, and then asking them if they've seen anything like it.
So far, I don't know/not sure if anyone's ever passed this test to determine out of body experience, but me, I don't know what'll happen in my Ouija board test.
I'd like to do the test and then document my findings before I disclose it.

 

Note how poster usfan attempts to claim authority over the definition of "religion", while conveniently (and continually) failing to define it.

Note how poster usfan attempts to claim ownership of the word "good" on behalf of his religion and further claims to know the etymology of that word. Also note he provides no evidence whatsoever for his claims, one of his common tactics. He also quite effortlessly injects yet another undefined term and bald assertion - "universal morality". No doubt, poster usfan demands others provide evidence for their assertions. Apparently, poster usfan does not need to do that because he is special (at least according to poster usfan).

Words without definition are meaningless. How profound. Of course, poster usfan claims to have the basis for the True Definition™ of the word "good". Isn't he special?

Note poster usfan's additional mere assertion that "religion" (which I'm sure he has his own special definition to suit his needs) is the basis for moral views. No evidence or even one thought about convergent sources...just a unsupported claim that religion, and only religion (no doubt usfan's religion), is the basis for moral views (whatever "moral views" means). Of course, his post would not be complete without dropping the false equivalency 'atheists have religion too neener neener neener' canard into his post.

I conclude poster usfan's post is myopic, self-centered, shallow and quite pathetic.

 

Actually it doesn't require any "figuring out". You either see it or you don't; and absent the supernatural, you won't.

Be that as it may, it's also objectively true.

As you know perfectly well.

 

No ****. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling snake oil instead of wisdom.

 

More mere and unsupported assertions from another religionist. How boring.

 

It seems "absent the supernatural, you won't" begin making sense.

 

Isn't it sort of a chicken and the egg scenario?

Society as we know it is formed from the religious philosophy of the past. However, these are general, understood concepts of the modern culture.

 

This depends on separating religious text and philosophical text differently. For me they are the same, and ancient wisdom exists in both.

 

Again, that saying that withoiut religion, those same morals could never exist. Which is complete BS.

 

I generally agree. Religion is misunderstood philosophy for me. I personally believe we carry many of these morals simply to survive as a species.

 

Pretty sure this ^ doesn't heat up anybody's rails.

Well yeah, nothing makes sense without the supernatural, because that's where the capacity for making sense out of anything comes from.

 

so you won't define your terms, or follow any reasoning, but only deflect with ad hominem? Addressing a poster, rather than the subject, is all that is.