Meh even things that have proof miles long and it would take years to mine through people disbelieve. Unless God takes people's ability of free will towards religion away and decides to make people believe there's going to be conspiracy theories. The idea of aliens pretending to be a god is a pretty common cliche in sci-fi now and days. It's not out of the question that people would believe that instead. Difference is only the idiots or the extremely stubborn would not believe in God shortly after that.darth_ender said:
Religion and nonbelief can coexist. In fact they must learn to, for neither will replace the other, unless I'm right and the Second Coming of Christ finally occurs of course ;)
That said on the subject of morality realistically it would disappear should religion disappear. It might take a few generations but it would be inevitable. A thing often bantered on about by those that seem to be atheists is that "humans are just biochemical machines." Well if everyone subscribed to that way of thinking just how long would it take for people to disregard their rights and others? Frankly that way of thinking can only lead to not only a more stagnant but more barbaric society. Actual machines are stagnant. Some are great at what they do but they're stagnant nonetheless. People came up with the ideas of light bulbs, tv, the internet, this very site itself, video games, and many other inventions. As great as machines are at doing what they do now they don't innovate. There in lies the reason behind the stagnant society. After all if people choose or are brought up to believe that we are "only machines" a lot of reasons to dream and make things better die with that line of thought.
The barbarism that would follow is obvious. If you're brought up in a society that believes we're are "only machines" the desire to fight for your rights would die. People would commit suicide when they couldn't pay their bills. People would be less desirous of helping others since everyone else is just "a machine" too. People would eventually just start eating each other because "they're just machines of a chemical nature".
Granted this may take several generations but I wouldn't be surprised if that point was reached well within 20 generations. The idea that peace and harmony would thrive without religion is a fantasy. Yeah sure it might be possible but time and again what's used to justify evil acts on another person is dehumanization. A completely atheist world where everyone thinks of other humans as "machines of a chemical nature" is the epitome of dehumanization. If such a world has any peace as we would define it it would be short lived.
I'll mention this before finishing this post. While I recognize that it's not impossible for atheists to just have a non-belief in a deity. I also realize that a person can be an atheist with some form of a religion. I think one can follow Buddhism without believing in a deity. I also realize a person can be an all right person who does no ill will to another while not believing in either religion or deities of any sort. But to assume that the complete elimination of religion in it's entirety would yield a more peaceful world. I'm sorry but I just don't see it, not long term anyway.
