5 Atheist Arguments Which Aren't Helping Anyone

[Cocoa Beware]

"There's No Scientific Proof"

Who from our side is presenting that as an argument?

From my experience Theists are the ones who relentlessly challenge scientific claims. I think the author has this one backwards.

I dont get his take on faith either, because it doesn't explain why Theists invent "science" in order to challenge scientific claims in the first place.

According to the author there is no reason for them to do this. Their faith should be enough.

In truth, with no real way to distinguish the fantastic from the practical, Theists invariably encroach upon the realm of science. Like everything else, they think it belongs to them.

Science and religion work fine together as long as they stick to their own roles.

No, they have nothing to do with each other. In past centuries when great minds like Newton and Kepler sought to reconcile the two it turned out to be a massive waste of time.

Before blaming wars on religion, find a religious campaign mounted to invade a resource-poor region without any major population centers or concentrations of wealth

That still means religion is almost entirely to blame here.

In such campaigns the participants themselves believed they were fighting for God, and only the orchestrators had selfish motives.

Religions don't start wars; they're just excellent excuses for them.

He makes no distinction whatsoever here, but I don't think it matters.

The role of religion in war is what matters, and with that in mind it's quite reasonable to assume the world would be a far more peaceful place without religion.

[Unbeliever]

[widdershins]

Religions don't start wars; they're just excellent excuses for them.

He makes no distinction whatsoever here, but I don't think it matters.

The role of religion in war is what matters, and with that in mind it's quite reasonable to assume the world would be a far more peaceful place without religion.

But religion actually does start wars.  Sunni vs Shiite is just one example.  9/11 is another.  You can't get some jackass to fly a plane into a building with an "excuse".  Without the religion 9/11 never would have happened.  It is extremely unlikely that they could have convinced all those people to kill themselves without the promise of magical reward made believable by a lifetime of religious indoctrination.  Then there's the quasi-religious "war on drugs".  Not a war in the traditional sense, but every bit started by and because of religious beliefs nearly exclusively.

In fact, this article is trying to make the very point that religion is not the cause of wars but repeatedly has to admit a small percentage of exceptions.  So the statement, "religions do not start wars" as an absolute is an absolute falsehood.  It may not be the major factor in a majority of wars, but religion does cause at least some wars.