5 best proofs of evolution

[alextemplet]

What i never understood about creationists and atheists is why can't both camps be true? Its very simple: God created the "rules" by which evolution follows. So, Darwin could be correct and there is still a god.

well, doesnt Darwin make the statement that God does not exist?

No, Darwin said nothing of the like in any of his books. But in my opinion the issue is pointless. It's not even about science anymore, just religious fanaticism, which I think is totally uncool. And I'm not just talking about the creationists; certain atheists are just as guilty of religious fanaticism and intolerance as anyone else.

[a1cchrissmith]

I believe that all religions on this earth is a form of brain washing the human beings. To prevent mass killings, mass suicides, to keep all humans from feeling alone on this earth, "like before", to prevent mass suicides from people feeling there is no pourpose on this earth. Governments or underground societies have developed whats now called Economies, Trade, Money, and other brainwashing techniques to keep the human mind wanting to learn more and grow more for egotistic reasons. Thats my Belief.

[mcar]

a1cchrissmith wrote: Governments or underground societies have developed whats now called Economies, Trade, Money, and other brainwashing techniques to keep the human mind wanting to learn more and grow more for egotistic reasons. Thats my Belief.

We just have to admit that as humans, we always have limitations.

[alextemplet]

Wow, and I thought I was cynical.

[David George]

I believe that all religions on this earth is a form of brain washing the human beings. To prevent mass killings, mass suicides, to keep all humans from feeling alone on this earth, "like before", to prevent mass suicides from people feeling there is no pourpose on this earth. Governments or underground societies have developed whats now called Economies, Trade, Money, and other brainwashing techniques to keep the human mind wanting to learn more and grow more for egotistic reasons. Thats my Belief.

I used to have a similar idea before.
But if you are right then it has taken a long and very different path.

[SamTheFreeThinker]

I believe that religion was (and still is) used to Control a large a large group of people.
To make a simple list:

keep people in order (Churches in the Bible Belt)
1.
Order
a. Could be given in a nice package "hope", "love", "paradise" "eternal life".
b. Some more criminal type could rob people for the Religion

2.
a.
To create a military strikes, trade, and conquere more land (Islamist-Christian)

b. Wealth for small group of people (The Clergy)

c. Charity (a supposedy good part, but it has some not so clear motifes, and is very complicated)

3.
a. To meditate (peaceful), does not have to be a accept or burn in hell like in the "Buybull belt"

That was a very simple model, but it "hopefully" gave an idea about the scenario.
Cheers.

[alextemplet]

I'm not sure what you mean by charities having unclear motifs. I admit I am only really familiar with Catholic charities in my area, but as far as I know, aid is given to anyone in need without regard to the recipient's religious affiliation, and no recipient is expected to convert or attend church because of having received aid. I believe most other religious charities operate with the same principles.

Reminds me of a story of Mother Theresa, after she cared for a Hindu man. He asked her, "So now I guess you want me to become a Christian?" She answered, "No, I want you to be the best Hindu you can be."

[wbla3335]

Nature, the journal, has put together a top-15 list of "proofs" of evolution. You can download a PDF file at http://www.nature.com/evolutiongems.

[biohazard]

Alextemplet, I can think of many questionable forms of charity. Local/domestic charities usually work the way you described, but many christian charities who work e.g. in the Thirld World countries often require that they be allowed to preach their views to the people, build churches in their village and expect local kids to attend christian schools (often a school that was built with the mony from the charity). Of course, in many cases these aims are cleverly disguised or prsented as "optional", but often it is clear that it's not about chairty, but trade (if not extortion, after all, they take advantage of the local people's poverty). "We give you bread crumbs and, in return, we ask you to convert."

[David George]

Alextemplet, I can think of many questionable forms of charity. Local/domestic charities usually work the way you described, but many christian charities who work e.g. in the Thirld World countries often require that they be allowed to preach their views to the people, build churches in their village and expect local kids to attend christian schools (often a school that was built with the mony from the charity). Of course, in many cases these aims are cleverly disguised or prsented as "optional", but often it is clear that it's not about chairty, but trade (if not extortion, after all, they take advantage of the local people's poverty). "We give you bread crumbs and, in return, we ask you to convert."

Who cares about religion as long as your tummy gets filled.I don't think they ask to convert,but may have an expectation to do so.But i don't think there is anything wrong in this....

[biohazard]

Well, I don't know about the wrongness of that, it pretty much depends on how you view it. You can either see it so that the given religion uses other people's distress in order to spread itself among that people, or that the given religion has the right to expect or hope that the people convert, and the aid itself has nothing to do with that. I'm just a bit wary when people so eagerly talk about charity, because it is not charity any longer if there's an underlying cause that is being promoted - be it the Western countries interest to force-feed democracy to other nations, or be it churches trying to abolish other people's religions and replace it with their own.

This probably applies to all major religions, but at least Christianity has destroyed dozens of indigenous religions during its often very aggressive desire to consume and nullify all other faiths. If you look at the big picture, it's usually far from chairty.

[alextemplet]

There are plenty of charities that do not fit the molds described above. Christian Children's Fund, for example, makes it a very strong policy not to interfere with the normal religious practices of the people it is helping. Also there are purely secular charities, which are not affiliated with any religion, and do their work solely for the motivation of helping people. I am sure there are charities with less than noble motives, but in my opinion they're in the minority.