OnReligion
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Quora Answer : Why do people want to enforce their religion on others?
Often religion is used as a cover / justification for advancing a political agenda. It's used to stop women having abortions. To confuse the teaching of biology (and likely in the near future climate science). To motivate people to go to war and fly planes into buildings.
"New Atheism" of the Dawkins or Hitchens varieties only appeared as a reaction to the increasingly visible political effects of strong religious beliefs.
If religion was just about who you prayed to and the clothes you wore, it wouldn't be an issue and few people would care about persuading anyone of anything. But because the patterns of belief shape the patterns of power in the world (remember when Christianity took over the Roman Empire?), people try to martial faith as they would any other weapon.
(Contrast NewAtheistRight)
Quora Answer : If asked for specific examples of what evidence for God's existence might look like, how does the empiricist respond?
God invented photons, right? He knows how they bounce off things and interact with the retina of the eye?
It wouldn't be all that hard for him to have a permanent and unambiguous visible and physical presence on Earth, one that you could see with your eyes, take photographs of, touch, speak to and get answers from, that could be interviewed on television etc. etc. A big talking column of fire in the desert would be cool. He seems to have done that in earlier times.
If Jesus is alive today, why do we have to learn about him by interpreting a 2000 year old book? Why can't I friend him on Facebook and follow his tweets? That's how everyone else who wants a "personal relationship" with me does things.
Now, sure, I'm not making DEMANDS. He doesn't HAVE to do this. But if He insists on not having any kind of unambiguous physical presence and only leaving evidence which looks awfully like the myths of all the other, non-existent gods, then I think I'm perfectly justified in conjecturing that there might not be such a thing at all. Because what would it look like to me if there wasn't a God, just a myth? Pretty much the same.
Quora Answer : Does atheism tend to flourish in prosperous societies wherein the individuals feel secure?
I think that's a pretty good "first cut" approximation, looking around the world.
Countries with more security, wealth and freedom tend to be less religious.
You might need to do some more detailed analysis to be sure. But as a basic hypothesis, it's plausible.
You should consider, especially the Abrahamic religions are all the products of oppressed or dispossessed peoples, suffering great hardships.
Judaism comes from the Jews' experience of being enslaved in Egypt. Christianity evolved out of Judaism when they were under occupation by the Roman Empire. Early Christians were persecuted in Rome. Islam came from desert nomads living incredibly harsh conditions.
These religions were evolved by, and speak to, people who are suffering in this world and look forward to rebalancing in the next.