The Selfishness of Religion

[Katalyzt]

Well said Matt.

Katalyzt

[MrEmeraldfusion]

Everyone is selfish to a degree.. We try to benefit ourselves and people around us. What was the purpose of this video?

[Andraste77]

So, an athlete can thank god for helping him win a football game, or some asshole on YouTube says there's a god because he got a free lawnmower...while an 11 year old child dies of leukemia four blocks away...and this ISN'T selfish? Seriously.

[underoath4794]

These guys don't understand ANYTHING about Christianity. We don't pray to God simply because we want things. We pray because we have a relationship with Him. We talk to him in the same way we would talk to our own earthly father. And when we do asks for things, we ask not out of selfishness, but ultimately out of love for God and for others. Atleast we are supposed to be doing that. Christianity is about being selfless. After all, you have to loose yourself to find God in the first place.

[TheGeneralCritic]

@underoath4794 You have a relationship with yourself. Nothing more.

[underoath4794]

@TheGeneralCritic 3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.-2 Corinthians 3-4

I wouldn't expect you to understand.

[TheGeneralCritic]

@underoath4794 "And the God-Emperor of Mankind made them steel and flesh, his Angels of Death. And he christened them his Space Marines, the Adeptus Astartes. 'They shall be my Space Marines, my Angels of Death, and they shall know no fear'" Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook pg. 97

See? I can quote books, too. Heretic.

[hempartist420]

@underoath4794 your relationship with you and god is the same relationship between your hand and your genitals, it's mental masturbation...

[BrightLight57]

In Christ..."SELF" is dead...Simple:)

[caseybv74]

@BrightLight57 I don't understand that. Could you explain?

[BrightLight57]

@caseybv74 Self is dead... It is no longer I whom lives, but Christ who lives in me...

[caseybv74]

@BrightLight57 I still don't follow. Are you saying you're Jesus?

[jahbabylon]

@BrightLight57 You mean '...who lives...'

[PossessDismiss]

Ed seemed alright to me. 

[Forlo12345]

@PossessDismiss I guess...if you don't mind someone taking things out of context and jumping to conclusions. yeah, sure, he's alright.

[PossessDismiss]

@Forlo12345 We all do that with certain things, no one is perfect. It's okay to acknowledge that someone is a decent human being and still disagree with them, in fact us atheists tend to come off as total douchebags because we don't do this enough.

[Forlo12345]

@PossessDismiss You have a good point; I sometimes jump to conclusions too...but I try to watch what I say and make sure as best I can that doesn't happen. Ed wasn't being rational to begin with, not really. idk, it's not his beliefs I have a problem with (I used to be a christian so I can understand where he's coming from), it's his rashness I can't stand. imho, Ed isn't sensible, no matter how honest or decent he is.

[FallofDarkness55]

"I can hang up on your ass just like that. oops did"<-LOL! matt is awesome.

[Cougar139tweak]

Matt, bro ya gotta let people paint themselves into a corner, you want to steal the brush, tie them up and paint them there yourself. The one sided-ness of some of these conversations are very "Religious" don't become what you despise. Let the trainwreck happen on its own and stop pulling out spikes.

[NoBitchASSnes1]

@Cougar139tweak Agreed.

[P0weredByPie]

Ed was also objecting to being "interrupted" when one of the hosts was saying "Sure!" in agreement with him. Ed's hostile response really didn't deserve more airtime in a discussion, IMHO.

[julzabro]

Honest religion....LOL.....that's an oxymoron!!!!! That's like hateful love....;)

[Jacklgf]

Intelligence. There is only one problem with being intelligent; being human at the same time.

[omnissient]

There is maybe 50 to 100 christians shows for each 1 atheist show. Do i walk into a church and demand equal time for atheists? Why then is the caller demanding equal time for christians on an atheist show.

You christian are all over the place. In churches, on raido, on tv, on the street preaching.

This is OUR SHOW. Its an ATHEIST show.

"Do i get time to talk without being interrupted?". If you re snarky about it you can p1ss off. He was just preaching bs anyway, had nothing to say.

[laflugantabastardo]

I think one of the issues here as well is that "selfishness" generally has a negative ring to it. Sometimes, and I think this case is one of them, it isn't. You don't snack to give someone else pleasure - you do it out of selfishness. You satisfy your own desire for pleasure. But that's not a bad thing. By the same token religion satisfies your own desire to get a leg up on your insecurities.

[ant1establishment]

@laflugantabastardo I do agree with your example about a snack, although I don't think this can really be applied to religion. When religion is destructive to both the religious and non. It deludes peoples thinking and reality of that person. It also, among numerous other very detrimental effects slows the advancement of our global society by hindering science and keeping our ideas and beliefs in the dark ages.

[laflugantabastardo]

@ant1establishment

It's true; we have a lot of examples where people are being kept stupid. Between the time I posted the comment you responded to and now, I have learned some very interesting things. I have a Young Earth Creationist colleague on the lab where I work (even though he's quite intelligent), and my mom (who is still religious) can't leave the religion she's in due to social issues even if she wanted to.

It makes me sad and pissed off, honestly. So much waste.

[4me2cclearly]

I wonder how many of the children that have been sexually abused by priest prayed for help.

Seems god is getting hard of hearing in his old age, then again he never was much of a listener.

Hmmmm. OO God let it rain!! Give me a break.

[TSM8088]

Religion is a means to control the masses, to fool people into believing that this life is only a tolerable step towards something greater which awaits. It's turned into big business, ie. The Catholic Church is really a multinational corporation selling false hope.

[4me2cclearly]

@TSM8088

Yes, so true.

God is a joke that the oppressors, tell to the simpletons, to keep them ignorant sheep. Why do you think they are called a flock?

It is a old joke that is really not funny anymore.

[gir908922]

@4me2cclearly Possibly one of the best descriptions of how religion works, that I've ever read.

[wachnathan]

i thought it was selfless which is anti-human nature to put competeing man before you to give others your reward for your survival thats just bullshit but i do agree that some christians are selfish but i think thats not important next to being selfless thats just be littling to people the church teachs man to be less then himself.

[BrothaDesmond1]

"Every Religion is selfish"

Amen.

[thegoddelusional203]

What about the selfishness of atheist? Pushing there beliefs on others. Trying to get "In God we Trust" removed from our currency. How is that even oppressing your rights? We teach your origin philosophies in the text books but it's not enough is it? Matt stating how selfish and arrogant religious are? Then interrupting his caller and hanging up on him? Get real! Oh and Matt I believe your going to Hell. Got a problem with it? Join the communist regime.

[fatmon]

Pushing beliefs on others? No, just trying to defend what they think. "In God we Trust" was put onto the currency by religion, it was not there in the first place but religion had to force itself onto it. Also, "In God we Trust" is showing favoritism of the government toward religions which is not constitutional. We teach those "origin philosophies", (though I wouldn't classify them as that), in textbooks because they are the only ones with EVIDENCE.

[hbgoddard]

Atheists don't push their "beliefs" on others. "In God we Trust" was added by Christians trying to force THEIR beliefs on others. Abiogenesis is not a philosophy. Matt hangs up on people when they start to lose their temper/throw insults/etc., although I think he went too far on this one. No, he doesn't have a problem with people threatening him with hell, because he knows that when Christians don't have a leg to stand on they resort to threats that only they believe to be true.

[NerdsUnited47]

"Trying to get "In God we Trust" removed from our currency."

It shouldn't be on there in the first place. There should be no hint of religion/god support in government related things. The government should be neutral in this manner, so "In god we trust" either should be removed or should include:

In godS we trust

In godesses we trust

In no god we trust

And so on.

"Join the communist regime. "

You are an idiot.

[KatharinaLoos]

hahahaha wtf? your fucking retared i feel sorry for you. you should open ur eyes.

[xmadaznx]

@thegoddelusional203 lol, and you sir, I believe are going to be run over by exactly 397 unicorns upon death :P so suck on that

[MasterofDisaster17]

wow, just wow

[d00df00d]

"In God We Trust" pushes YOUR beliefs on atheists, polytheists, and many pantheists and deists. You can do that all you want on street corners and pulpits. Why do you need it on the currency?

It also violates the separation of church and state, which is absolutely crucial to our society -- not just for the state, but for the churches.

"Origin philosophies?" Which ones? Atheism in and of itself says nothing about our origins.

I do agree with you about how Matt handled the caller, though. ;)

[Wordlaw12]

Your lucky I was trying to give you a thumbs down but it only goes to 10. Obviously no one here agrees with your statement. Delusional indeed.

[AmericanPoliceState]

Ok, so basically what your saying, is everyone is selfish. Ok, yes..is that bad? Is it bad for wanting something good to happen to you? Is it bad for praying for something that you need or want? As for arrogance, is it arrogance or just someone seeking comfort from the thought that a high deity listens to them and cares about them? It is arrogant for an atheist to bash people for believing in god because they think they "know" something that the dumb religious people cant see. That is arrogance.

[SuperAlexrios]

the greatness of judaism is to overcome the egotistical even the good deeds may become part of the darkness when our intention is selfish ,how to be aware that our intention is right? thats the hardest part in this equation .one thing i khow is that when you feel happy helping others is the ego overtaking therefore what was an act of light becomes an act of darkness ;conclusion dont feel happy helping others , just do it

[TheAlexBS]

Fuck all christian think it's an unselfish religion. You are only doing all that shit BECAUSE you WANT to go to heaven. So there is a cause, you are ONLY DOING good things because you DON'T want to go to HELL. So, where the fuck is unselfish at?

[Xoroaster]

These guys seem very patient with their callers.

[sketchydc]

The problem with Ed being booted is that these guys host a show, and while Ed hadnt done anything worth being booted off the air YET, they knew he was about to.

They knew this because they have hundreds if not thousands of calls, and have learned to recognize when a guy is about to throw a fit on air

[Martano666]

Well, I don't exactly think they aren't too harsh. THey clearly treat the caller differently depending on the callers attitude. This guy was beginning to be sarcastic and aggressive, yet he doesn't seem to realize that he is NOT the host of the show. He is a GUEST CALLER. You want to go on DR.PHIL and then try and talk over him on his own show??? I rest my case.

[Sav3TheWorld]

Christain: We are selfless, we give to the poor, ect.

Observer:...yeah, but you only do that because 1: If you don't, go to hell

2: If you do, get the GRAND PRIZE...HEAVEN!!!!!

[lees20022]

The bald guy contradicts himself and nullifies his own arguement..

On one hand he affirms that religion is selfish and on another he states that everyone, regardless of religion, is selfish.

Since, he insists that all humans are selfish by nature than religion can not be the root nor cause of of that selfishness unless humans by their very nature are aslo religious. If that is true than the state of being an athetist would be unnatural.

Totally poinltess episode.

[JackyVSO]

Your counterargument looks very nice, but sorry it doesn't make sense :-) Dillahunty does not claim that religion is the root or the cause of selfishness. It is a vessel for selfishness, just like so many other things, but perhaps not all things. He confronts the view that religion is less selfish than other things, and that religious people should therefore be less selfish. "Religion is selfish , everyone is selfish => everyone is religious" is a very bad conclusion. I hope you can see...

[garyweber07]

keep up the good work and all atheist, antitheists should be bombarding every religious video on youtube, we need to rid the world of this filth..

[soon49]

honest religion, check out benny hinn he heals everything by waving his hand and pushing them Its embarising to watch.

[deadacc64852]

This is why the defense of faith is called "apologetics." People really ought to say they're sorry whenever they bring it up.

[qwertyuiop726]

I disagree that Matt was rude to hang up. Ed was throwing a temper tantrum.

[EpTweeter12]

Ed was was being a dick, you don't tweak on someone that says "I agree" and try to get away with it.

[Sav3TheWorld]

well, yeah, ed was rude, he tried to talk and got shouted down by Matt. It really seems like these hosts are a bit too hard on the callers. I mean, there's enough hate spam on the web, and it doesn't do any good. They should just try and be nicer, that way, the callers will be more receptive and could be de-converted. idk, It depends on their objective wether or not they want to convert people, have a debate or just put on interesting television.

[qwertyuiop726]

"he tried to talk and got shouted down by Matt."

The way I saw it, Ed was about to launch into a list of irrelevant anecdotes, and Matt interrupted to tell him that he was missing the point. After that, when Ed was given a chance to talk and make his case, he threw a hissy fit and that got him booted off the air.

I completely understand how one could look at that scene and conclude that Matt was in the wrong; I just don't happen to see it that way, myself.

[bnbalenda]

Religion is about power and control

[allkillano]

true

[COBCH17]

it is a form of terrorism..it scares people with the concept of hell to think the same

[bnbalenda]

Religion makes things up and denies the real world. It uses power to run our lives and mind our businesses. Religion makes us feel tasteless

[PhysicsDude55]

Matt - I'm one of your biggest fans, I think you're one of the most eloquent and intelligent atheists in the public forum.

But, I must say I think you were unfair to Ed.

[namnack]

I'm sure she'd like that.

[daddyleon]

lol, insult status: neutralized.

Job: well done.

xD

[ytmdot12tdb]

I just coin this a moment ago. Intellect = religion = power = Modern Nation = USA, Cda, Europe, etc. Religion is d greatest instrument created by human(s) 2 brainwash n hold together the masses = fear = salvation. It's good 2b a religiously balance agnostic atheist = intellectually religious. Whatever. I hope that there's a hope. If I accept 2 believe that there's a word hope then I must have faith as long as I am intellectually blindly religious therefore I think that I am. LOL!!

[negroobserver]

I completely agree with Martin Wagner. Great point, Martin!

[errskin]

not only can you have faith without certainty, faith demands uncertainty, its essential for faith to be existent. without uncertainty, it would either not be beleived in or it would be knowledge. since god cannot be knowldge he demands faith and he cannot be anything more than faith, only less.

[bdf2718]

So what you're saying is that Gawd has to be completely unbelievable shite, or it wouldn't be Gawd. Because it MUST be unbelievable to be Gawd,

[errskin]

im saying that in order to beleive in god you must suspend knowledge, must accept that you dont know what you are beleiving in, must beleive what you know to be untrue, must not be certain about the truth of your beleifs, and must have blind and ignorant faith to the point that you see your faith as certain uncertainty. god demands ignorance. faith is the most ignorant thing out there and god needs plenty of it for him to stay alive in the minds of the beleivers.

[bdf2718]

I think we probably agree in general, we're differing on semantics.

My take is that faith MUST be stuff you wouldn't have using logic or else it wouldn't be faith. The sun rises in the east. It's bright when the sun is up. These things don't need faith.

There's an invisible sky daddy who talks to me. That needs faith.

[daddyleon]

I agree... except with the sky Daddy...

I think it will need a different name. xD

[emuholic]

matty was feeling a little uneasy about hanging up afterwards.. i could tell he wished he didnt do that... thats what moments of rage can do to someone, make you act in a split second and regret it seconds after

[saxm]

Being gay, I am no longer a practicing Catholic. But Christianity is not supposed to be selfish. Jesus, the model of the faith, was selfless to the point of giving up his life. And he preached to give up all posessions. The core message has been corrupted many times. You could say medicine is selfish.. because we go to it to be healed. You're confusing accomplishing beneficial acts with selfishness. There's no negative selfishness in choosing to do something that nourishes you in a positive way.

[Lpoolboy]

Jesus was selfless when he gave up his life?

He got to become GOD! Oh, how selfless of him.

[saxm]

No.. according to the Christian belief, he already is/was God. God in human form.

[cannibalgourmet]

Of course! lol that makes so much more sense.

[saxm]

I agree. I didn't say it made sense. But for the sake of intelligent discussion, it's best to get the facts straight.

[cannibalgourmet]

I see you are unfamiliar with sarcasm, allow me to introduce you.

sarcasm, saxm

saxm, sarcasm

[Stipoon]

".. freedom to interpet for yourself..".

How convenient!

[932016]

that was little extreme mat... im not sure why he hung up on him...

[emuholic]

he gets irritated cuz after a while one imbecile more becomes one imbecile too many to deal with

[932016]

i see your point but that was still a little rude. it must be irritating doing this show sometimes. glad he does it tho

[A11ex]

That wasn't very nice Matt...

[chosetec]

All people are arguably self-serving when they choose such a religion when they are rewarded by eternal life in paradise.