What China lacks to become a super power?

[Mamluk]

Not true. Atheism only requires a concept of God, which can be defined abstractly without reference to any particular religion. It certainly doesn’t require the existence of any religious believers.

No stupid.

There is no universal definition of God written in a timeless object. A definition of God requires (1) form, and (2) powers.

I could define my God as the Sun (form) which then I can claim has created humans and determines their destiny (powers). Only then you can be a Mamluk's-Sun-God-denying-atheist and prove me wrong.

There is an implicit understanding that most atheists are Abrahamic-God-denying-atheist.

LOL most people on earth have better things to do than to waste time thinking about religion. That's why some countries are developed while others are in stone age.

I am irreligious so that's a rather failed attempt to offend me. Anyways I do not believe athesim can bring any change to countries that are backwater $hit. Are you suggesting Congo or Uganda could be next Singapore or Switzerland if they adopted atheism?

Development has more to do with IQ than anything.

LOL you just insulted (to the core) a vital ally! And you'd be surprised about how many people find religion somewhat to very important in their lives..

Except extremists, I have found religious people to be more trustworthy and reliable than you atheists. So I don't think it's a bad thing that so many find it important to their lives. I would trust a religious Christian or Muslim over you any day.

 

[OppositeDay]

No stupid.

There is no universal definition of God written in a timeless object. A definition of God requires (1) form, and (2) powers.

I could define my God as the Sun (form) which then I can claim has created humans and determines their destiny (powers). Only then you can be a Mamluk's-Sun-God-denying-atheist and prove me wrong.

There is an implicit understanding that most atheists are Abrahamic-God-denying-atheist.

Nah, a definition of God certainly doesn't need to define the 'form' of God. Indeed the most common definition of God, the one taught in almost all introductory metaphysics classes (omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect) doesn't refer to form at all. One can be convinced by the argument from evil that no such being exist and thereby become an atheist without knowing anything about the doctrines of any real-world religion or even know that there are religions in the real world.

Pieces of mathematics were often discovered in the processes of solving problems in the sciences but one cannot thereby conclude that mathematics is not an independent field of inquiry in its own right, because mathematical objects can be defined without referencing the scientific phenomena that they are model of.

 

[Uguduwa]

I am irreligious so that's a rather failed attempt to offend me. Anyways I do not believe athesim can bring any change to countries that are backwater $hit. Are you suggesting Congo or Uganda could be next Singapore or Switzerland if they adopted atheism?

That's my point anyway. I didn't say not being religious can do magic. It's just a side effect of cultural background. A culture that values productivity has no time for religion.

I think I can talk about this topic since I grew up in 2 cultures and have been exposed to many more. In South Asia being "atheist" is more like a catchphrase used to show how rebellious or intellectual a person is which I think is no different than a belief in religion. So this is very different from real irreligiosity.

But if you look at other cultures like Chinese for example, they haven't been brought up with a traditional religion. So they are irreligious by default, religion has no influence on their day-to-day life but I noticed that they do have some superstitions which are more related to tradition. Same goes to western Europe but they have some influence from Christianity even though most of them haven't taken religion seriously.

For me personally, I've been brought up with Buddhism to a certain extent but I moved to the UK as a kid. Life in the UK for me was too busy and eventually the religious influence in me went away. So irreligiosity in me is also instilled by default. If I raise a kid, the religion topic will never come up so the kid will also end up being irreligious just like your average Chinese kid. Hope I explained this well.