[zynner]

Quote by: xJesterx If atheism is the natural state of things then why does it exist at all?

That seems to me like saying, "If nudity is the natural state of things, then why does nudity exist at all?" It's because we take our clothes off! lol

I mean, if it was the natural state of humanity then there would have been no requirement to invent religion.

There have always been -- and will always be -- questions about the world around us. We are curious. The scientific method helps us answer questions. Today, we know what the Moon is like. Ten thousand years ago, they had to guess.

Gods were imagined as a way to explain the world when humans had no other way. Think about how important the scientific method is and realize that for most of human history, humans did not know how to find out information.

In the Middle Ages, a person suspected of theft would be forced to put his hand into a pot of boiling water and pull out a stone. His hand would be horribly burned. If it later became infected (no such thing as medicine in those days) then he was "guilty" of the crime!

Since there was no way to figure out things, they just made them up. Today, we have a system of justice, which includes such concepts as habeus corpus, trial by jury, cross-examination of witnesses, evidencial proceedure, etc. (BTW, these are things George Bush needs to learn, since he is a deluded mystic in the worst sense of the term -- it's why he does not uphold the principles of justice and why he's willing to abuse people as the theists of the Middle Ages did.)

Religion played a huge role in this attempt to explain the world when no other means was available. It also served the purposes of those who wanted power over other people. Control the people's minds and you can control their actions.

But all of that is made up nonsense. The reality is that we are all born without a religion. We have to be taught to believe in gods and religions. That's why most of the Christians are in one part of the world, most of the Muslims in another part, the Hindus in another part, etc. Each culture teaches their own brand of mysticism and sheep-following ideology.

(stupid question: is there a difference between a-theism and atheism (minus the dash) I've seen it a couple of times now and airhead that I am, it's confusing me)

No, just a way of emphasizing the prefix "a," which means without (as in, without theism, or lacking a belief in god).

~ zynner