Christians, if everyone was an Atheist, is this how the world would be?
709087
Prayer is offered to a person in two ways: first, as to be fulfilled by him, secondly, as to be obtained through him. On the first way we offer prayer to God alone, since all our prayers ought to be directed to the acquisition of grace and glory, which God alone gives, according to Psalm 83:12, "The Lord will give grace and glory." But in the second way we pray to the saints, whether angels or men, not that God may through them know our petitions, but that our prayers may be effective through their prayers and merits. Hence it is written (Apocalypse 8:4) that "the smoke of the incense," namely "the prayers of the saints ascended up before God." This is also clear from the very style employed by the Church in praying: since we beseech the Blessed Trinity "to have mercy on us," while we ask any of the saints "to pray for us."\n\nThe Holy Bible Douay-Rheims Version \n\nWith Challoner Revisions 1749-52\n1899 Edition of the John Murphy Company\n\nIMPRIMATUR: \nJames Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899.\n\nPope Damasus assembled the first list of books of the Bible at the Roman Council in 382 A.D. He commissioned St. Jerome to translate the original Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin, which became known as the Latin Vulgate Bible and was declared by the Church to be the only authentic and official version, in 1546. \n\nThe DR New Testament was first published by the English College at Rheims in 1582 A.D. The DR Old Testament was first published by the English College at Douay in 1609 A.D. The first King James Version was not published until 1611. This online DRV contains all 73 books, including the seven Deutero-Canonical books (erroneously called Apocrypha by Protestants). These seven books were included in the 1611 KJV, but not in later KJV Bibles. \n\nThe whole Douay-Rheims Bible was revised and diligently compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner in 1749-1752 A.D. The notes included in the text were written by Dr. Challoner. \n\nThe DR Bible was photographically reproduced from the 1899 edition of the John Murphy Company, Baltimore, Maryland, by Tan Books in 1971. Eventually, this edition was optically scanned to produce a large text file which this publisher used for creating this website, with the aid of text-processing software. \n\nOne important goal of this project was to preserve the original text "as is", without making any changes in the wording, because the original text had the Imprimatur of James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, dated Sept 1st 1899. \n\nThe text file was checked quite thoroughly by software written by the publisher for punctuation errors and verses out of order. The index was humanly checked for misspelled words and the corrections were made to the text. However, some spelling errors may still be present in the text. Many verses were out of order in the original file. These have been corrected. \n\nEvery effort was made to ensure that this online version is an exact match to the original printed version. No words were added or ommitted from the text, except for correcting errors caused by the scanning process. No words were rearranged. No verse numbers were changed, except in the case of Psalm 9. \n\nPsalm 9 originally contained 21 verses and there were 2 versions of Psalm 10, numbering 1-18 and 1-8. This obviously caused a conflict, so it was decided to make the first Psalm 10 as the last part of Psalm 9 and renumber the verses 22-39. This retains the same numbering as all the Douay Rheims. Note, in the Protestant Bibles the numbering of Psalms 10 through 146 differs by one. \n\nThe Holy Bible Douay-Rheims Version \n\nWith Challoner Revisions 1749-52\n1899 Edition of the John Murphy Company\n\nIMPRIMATUR: \nJames Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899.\n\nPope Damasus assembled the first list of books of the Bible at the Roman Council in 382 A.D. He commissioned St. Je
1175057
More people have been killed in the history of the world for religion than for any other reason.\n\nAtheists have been shown by testing results to be the most intelligent people in society.  They also have few children, so the resources of the Earth would be conserved substantially longer.\n\nA world of atheists would be the ultimate for intellectual thought, preservation of environment, and pragmatic realization.
487069
For the same reason you appear to be so concerned with "what if there is no god at all?" To each his own. OF course, it would be nice if each were to keep his own to himself..but it ain't gonna happen.
899881
Well, I'm not atheist, but I'm not very religious either.  I had two friends, one who was an atheist and one who was a firm-believing christian.  Around this time of year, the atheist would say Happy Holidays and the christian would say Merry Christmas, as a way of persuading him and it ticked me off.  My mentality is that everyone's beliefs are going to be different because everyone in this world is different.  And if what they believe makes them a better and happier person, then I'm not going to judge it and more so, I'm going to be happy that's what they believe, because it makes them happy.  And those who are super-devout in their beliefs to the point where they push it on other people really piss me off.  And a lot of times, I see it's because either A)  they are too stupid and/or lazy to come up with their own ideas that they need a book or someone else to make up ideas for them or B)  they can't forgive themselves for their past sins so they think if they lead this life it'll automatically make them a better person, when it doesn't.  To those atheists out there, believe whatever you want to believe.  It's nobody's business but your own.  And a truly good person and friend will accept and respect you, even if you don't agree with their beliefs!
785025
all this is of no use. there is only one true answer. half must be right. \n\nand you cant classify this situation on christians only. i mean everyday people disagree on topics. why cant there be a single response as well? does that mean our whole world is a contridiction?
1081787
How about this?\n\nWhy doesn't god just give everyone the same dream / vision at the same time? Doesn't have to be long, just a simple little message. That would seem like a simple thing to do and imagine the consequences!!\n\nIt would change the world overnight, I would be a believer. \n\nSo I wait..... and I wait..... and I wait.....\n\nP.S. Christians love to use the F word, don't they ?
653854
A very good and valid point, Nikki. Shame that will never happen though...humans are only human, so you will always have childish bickering and the need for some people to feel superior to someone else, using their 'belief' as an excuse.\nIf we all thought like you, the world would indeed be a much nicer place. I hope you don't lose that innocence as you make your way through this world.\n\nI'm not religious, BTW.
218666
yes, for sure.  in fact, if the opponent was religious, and they were equally qualified, i would be more inclined to vote for the atheist.  I would have confidence that he/she would not be a tool of the religious right and would likely not seek to invade people's privacy in the name of morality.
900938
I am very happy being an atheist.  I just follow the golden rule of doing unto others as I'd have done to me, and everything works out great.\n\nThanks for asking.
124869
If we were all devout Christians as Christians SHOULD be..and not as they are now(for the most part)...It would be a pretty cool place to live..\n\nUnfortunately...many Christians wear WWJD bracelets..but rarely act like Jesus....
295047
people tend to criticize things that they dont understand, so understandably christianity and god will fall under this.  Everybody's going to have their own view and own ideas about whether or not god does exist, whether it be for or against.  While other's just like to cause trouble.
858420
I'd say atheists could be slightly happier on average because they are allowed to accept themselves as good beings without being in conflict with their religion.  Most religions such as Christianity take the stance that humans are inherently sinful and bad.  An atheist can start with the idea that they can be however they act - it they act with kindness and love they can feel good about themselves and feel that they are good.  Religious folks are not allowed to feel that they are good beings without being in conflict with the teachings of their religions which state that they are not good beings and that their actions cannot make them good beings.  I feel sad that people are raised believing they are not able to be good no matter how good they behave or how kind they are.  \n\nThere's also no evil God hanging over our heads waiting to have us tested like Job or tortured like half the poor people in the Bible.  When something bad happens to us we don't have to think, "what did I do wrong?  why am I being punished?"  We can think, "oh, well, sh*t happens" without assigning blame to ourselves and get back to living without feeling guilty that something bad happened to us.  \n\nI have yet to see a Christian who could follow all the rules of his religion.  The rules are too many in number, conflicting, and complex.  They seem to be constantly "sinning" in their own opinion.  The guilt must be awful.  Religions are mostly based on the principle that humans are inherently base and evil beings.  Atheists don't have an obligation to feel like crap just because they were born human.\n\nTo sum up - \nAthiest = allowed to feel good about good actions\nAtheist = doesn't feel guilty when bad things happen to them\nAtheist = doesn't have to fear torments from a God\nAtheist = can have a clear conscience so long as they feel they've done nothing wrong\nAtheist = can believe that people are fundamentally good
108008
The world would be a far better place to live in.  God is one.  We have several ways to feel Him.  Unfortunately, we are not objective enough to see this truth.  We blindly fight with one another trying to prove superiority of our ways to find Him.\n\nIf one goes through the religious scriptures of different religions, one would find that God has been described in the same way everywhere.  Some pray to God in English, some in Hebrew, some in Arabic and some in Sanskrit.  But the prayers are the same.\n\nTrue teachers of all religions realized God in themselves and tried to inspire their followers to do the same.  Unfortunately, power-crazy people of all times and of all religions have tried to divide and rule the mankind by impregnating in their minds hatred for others ways to find God.\n\nHowever, I believe that the days of these demagogues are numbered and in the very near future, mankind will realize the oneness of God and His love for all of us.  The whole world will follow only one religion - that of love and compassion.
610094
I agree with you. Think of how many millions would live full lives without religious problems placed on them. Think of how many people will suddenly have a high quality of life since they are no longer sending their hard earned money to mega-church bank-accounts. The issue is so clear to me. Right my brother right on. The world could live in such perfect harmony. Right and wrong could be the new laws to follow, withouth the intervention of mythical persons watching over you waiting to punish you for not accepting them as the truth.
819219
It wouldn't change it at all. I don't assume there is a god. I try to be a good person "for Goodness' Sake," not to receive some heavenly reward from a bearded man in the sky.
769273
Makes sense to me.\n\nActually...under that definition, I might be the only person here who ISN'T an atheist.\n\nWow. That's a strange thought...
802310
Yes. If we live all with the same beliefs.