~U~;420292 wrote:I believe facts over faith. There could be a God and I will never say 100% there is not God, but until it's proven I am not going to believe in fairy-tales. I believe religion was a way to control the masses by using fear. Then look at how much death and destruction all religion has brought upon mankind?
I think it's fine for anyone to hold whatever views they want. But I do think it's equally important to hold views that are reasonable, rational, defensible, and internally consistent. Though this has been debated numerous times on the OC/Huddle, it's worth pointing out again: simply noting that human interpretations of the divine haven't worked out well does not, from a logical standpoint, cut against religion, particularly against those religions that emphasize human fallibility. Undoubtedly religion has resulted in plenty of death and destruction. This doesn't cut against theism, as a rule.
It's also extraordinarily unlikely that, as you suggest, someone invented religion as a way to control the masses through fear. Virtually all cultures in all areas of the globe for all of humanity have practiced some sort of religion, and it's unlikely to the point of impossibility that this arose independently in each as a way for someone to manipulate and control the others. It's far more likely that people have a natural tendency to be drawn to the supernatural, either via Berger's "Sacred Canopy", on the one hand, or Pascal's "God shaped hole", on the other.
