Is Religion Like The Common Cold...?

[DangerUXD]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-radio-and-tv-21947207
By that I assume he means incurable!
Does it hamper rational thought and damage our species?

[pdq1]

That assumes that the immune system of evolutionists is far superior to believers. Free will is common amongst all of us and those persuaded only by Darwin have very closed minds.

[emmie]

can't get rid of it you mean, no i can't...

[chrisgel]

I'm not sure that it's incurable but I'm certain that it does indeed hamper rational thought and does nothing to further the well-being of our species.
Just one example would be the holding back of stem cell research in the USA by the religious right.
This research holds real promise of cures in the future for diseases that are at present incurable.

[chrisgel]

pdq1 - Were you watching the same clip I was because I can't see for the life of me where or how you came to that statement.

[RATTER15]

No, A common cold is relatively harmless and is usually gone in a few days, religion is far worse, it gives people psychopathic tendencies it is endemic and is often incurable, it passes through families like nothing . the only cure is "common sense" but few will take this medication.

Its more like the black death when you think of how many people have died in its wake!!

[Kromovaracun]

It depends what kind of religion you mean. A believer who identifies god merely as a kind of 'prime mover' for the universe who doesn't intervene/answer prayers/talk to prophets and politicians is, to all intents and purposes, virtually indistinguishable from an atheist - especially from the perspective of rationality or the advancement of the human species.

Any believer, however, who identifies their god/s as an interventionist, all-powerful and innately moral director of the cosmos, will be in for more problems. Why? Because this is god that it is virtually impossible to reconcile with anything we observe about the world or the universe in a way that is rational. Hence why in recent times, better-read believers have begun turning to various traditions of mysticism to explain their deity - which is almost by definition anti-rational.

[jim360]

Well there's nothing like a nice balanced statement that is guaranteed to not cause any offence at all to warm people to your way of thinking...

[society]

"Is Religion Like The Common Cold...?"

You think you and others could catch it? lol

[modeller]

I think anyone with a weak rational immune system can catch it. They need the crutches that an invisible , imaginary , entity appears to offer.
The trouble is that contagion has resulted and is still resulting in millions of deaths.