The Oldest Religion In The World.

[echidna]

Originally posted by nigel123+28 July 2003 - 04:12--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (nigel123 @ 28 July 2003 - 04:12)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

Originally posted by echidna@27 July 2003 - 19:50

Originally posted by nigel123@28 July 2003 - 01:23
<!--QuoteBegin-Rat Faced

@27 July 2003 - 17:06
Wheres the link Nigel?

The only link here is the use of the word, &#39;major&#39; by Tralalala.

can you reference those stats you quoted
[it might give tralalala a hint] & [i think some of us would like to know out of curiosity]

I should not really have replied to his/her post.

I was inquisitive how he/she would get around this&#33;

So don&#39;t go shooting me down in flames&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html [/b][/quote]
no flames m8
we&#39;re all cool like little fonzi&#39;s B)
just wanted your source
shalom

[clocker]

If those numbers are correct ( even if just proportionately), then I&#39;m quite surprised at how far down the list Judaism is.

Next time there is a census, I volunteer to count the Rastas&#33;

[billyfridge]

Do you mean to tell me people have been deluding themselves for all those
thousands of years. What worries me is how long is it going to take before we
realise religion is a load of bollocks.

[thewizeard]

Originally posted by billyfridge@28 July 2003 - 02:34
Do you mean to tell me people have been deluding themselves for all those
thousands of years. What worries me is how long is it going to take before we
realise religion is a load of bollocks.

@. billyfridge

Religion is a personal thing. Gives some people comfort. If it is, as you say, "...a load of bollocks" I would not wish to be the one, to &#39;enlighten&#39; them. Live and let live as they say.

One last thing, stop worrying&#33;

[tralalala]

first, dont forget the extra 6 million that should have been alive and bring up more jewish kids (which means the total would be nearly 30 million by today) that were killed in the holocaust by the german nazis.
plus, the fact there arent many jews does not mean it isnt major, its the oldest religion in the world and the one that "brought up" the other 2 (christianity and islam)&#33;&#33;&#33;

tralalala

[balamm]

From A conversation Nigel and I had some time ago>>

Matter does not contain within itself a sufficient reason to exist.

This can be put in many ways such as: Why is there something instead of nothing? We now have compelling scientific evidence that most of the elementary particles now in existence were also around 10 billion years ago. On the other hand there is no shred of evidence that any of these seemingly stable particles were in existence 20 billion years ago. Some time in the finite past, approximately 15 billion years ago, there was, according to data, a cataclysmic explosion in which the seemingly stable elementary particles we see around us were produced. Of course, even if we lived in an oscillating universe which now seems scientifically disfavored or in a steady state universe which is contrary to an overwhelming amount of astrophysical data, the fact would be no less clear that the universe does not explain its own existence.
Similarly the forces observed in nature do not have a sufficient reason for their existence or their form. A free field theory of non-interacting particles is just as mathematically self consistent as the Standard Model of modern physics and perhaps more so. Even if one eminently unique string theory could be discovered incorporating all physical observations , there would be no explanation why this theory were realized in nature.

In fact, the Thomistic argument has been greatly strengthened by quantum theory. It is now known (Bell&#39;s theorem) that the elementary particles do not have within themselves hidden variables that locally determine their subsequent behavior except on a statistical basis.

As an example, It seems quite likely from grand unification theory that the proton is unstable with a lifetime many orders of magnitude longer than the current age of the universe. (If current grand unification theory is wrong and the proton is absolutely stable, the same point can be made from other radioactive elements). There is nothing in the proton (or in the radioactive element) that determines whether it will exist one second from now if it exists now.* Thus, if the proton is unstable no matter how long its natural lifetime is, there is no guarantee from physical law that any one of us will still be living one second from now. The cause of our continued existence from one second to the next lies outside the laws of physics. We can, of course, take comfort in the statistical knowledge that the probability of any macroscopic object disappearing in the next instant is extremely small. The statistical nature of physics theory seems designed so that we can make sense of physical processes without appearing to restrict the freedom of the Author.

The basic choice that each individual must make is whether to believe that everything has a sufficient cause or to believe that things happen with no sufficient cause. To not believe in an infinite external designer and an uncaused-cause is to believe in meaninglessness and in the absence of ultimate explanations. Since the human brain is hard-wired to require causes, this stance leads rapidly to mental problems unless accompanied by a psychological state suspending fundamental questioning. Many well known scientists have succeeded in functioning in such a state through their entire lives.

tralalala-

Just because you keep insisting it is so,
does not make it so.

It just sounds whiny after a while

If your arguement is that Judaism is the oldest of the modern religions, then you&#39;ve misread the topic title.

If your arguement is that Judaism is the oldest religion, period, then you&#39;d better just give it up and move on.

I think it&#39;s pretty widely held now that we all descended from prehistoric Africa and Asia for the most part.

Are you suggesting that those people practised No beliefs whatsoever?
Anything you are now started with them. Our beliefs may have evolved with time, but those roots are still with us in many ways. The names and places change, but the basic stories remain the same as someone has already pointed out in this thread.

Also, just my opinion and nothing personal, hate oriented, or racist intended, but,
Hitler is dead. Germany has been rebuilt. Those responsible were punished where possible. It&#39;s been almost 60 years. Give the holocaust excuse a break for a while.
I didn&#39;t do it and I&#39;m tired of people who expect me and the rest of the world to feel guilty about it. Throwing it out in every religeous or political discussion will only cheapen the topic.

[balamm]

It&#39;s also just occurred to me that if you want to use the holocaust to skew the numbers, then shouldn&#39;t we also factor in all the Europian victims of the bubonic plague?

Now do the math&#33;

[Rat Faced]

And dont forget all the "Heathons" etc that died as a result of war and disease spread by European invaders/settlers all over the world a few centuries ago.....

[MagicNakor]

Well, we could always throw out the Russian gulags instead of the Holocaust. They killed more people than Hitler&#39;s death-camps ever did.

[denis123]

Just popping in to see what´s been happening to &#39;my&#39; topic&#33;

Glad to say all is under control.

I believe it´s Shamanism, that the jewish religion, seen in a historical context, is important; Shamanism is much older and is still practised today.