Just wondering...

[Rhyfelwyr]

I do not see atheism as brainwashing, on the contrary. If you let someone grow up without religion, odds are he will be atheist.

A quick look at religion at large strengthens my point, why else would so many italians be catholic, so many indians hindu, so many arabs islamic?

Or so many Swedes atheist?

I do not see atheism as brainwashing, on the contrary. If you let someone grow up without religion, odds are he will be atheist.

A quick look at religion at large strengthens my point, why else would so many italians be catholic, so many indians hindu, so many arabs islamic? You think they all individually "saw the light"? Hardly, I would say. So some form of brainwashing must take place. No?

Atheism on the other hand is wide spread across any national border.

You are a clever guy, I am sure you see the difference.

Well, I'm going to go along with what Richard Dawkins said on the matter, and say the roots of religion are twofold. First of all, he argues that through natural selection a belief in a higher power is perhaps something that has become innate to mankind. I would agree that people do by nature seem inclined to believe in a higher power, though obviously I would disagree with Dawkins on how this came about.

And secondly, he points out the more structural side of things, ie how religion grew as a political force, how it became tied with society etc. And that is what is responsible for the big diversity of religious practices in the world today that seem to be defined along national or geographic borders. In this sense differing religious practices are not much different from differing cultural practices - that certain population groups follow their own customs does not mean they have been brainwashed.

So, you could say... why then Rhyfelwyr do you think that your particularly crazy version of Protestantism is the right one (my sig is a bit of a joke, btw)? Well, the answer is that I accept the first point above - that belief in God is something that is self-evident and innate to humanity. But I think the second point - the institutional aspects of religion - is all corrupt and idolatrous, and in denying all the ritualistic elements of religion my own beliefs are obviously unique from all the other ones. A Catholic has more in common with a Hindu or a Muslim than he does with me, despite me being a Christian.