Thoughts as a source of entertainment

During the "good ol' days" religion was much more influential. I believe religion was one of the best sources of entertainment for people during the time before things like television, music, etc. It's not that people have stopped using religious ideas to entertain themselves, but there is a lot more competition (things today are just more entertaining). Back a long time ago, probably the most entertaining thing they did was attend church.

Of course even atheists keep themselves entertained in this way (thinking philosophically, thinking about science, contemplating the universe, etc). There are two important things to consider here:

1). An idea doesn't need to be logical to have an emotional effect
2). If an idea is believed, it will have a stronger effect

The importance for a believer is how the belief makes them feel. Thinking about the concept of heaven, and truly believing that one will someday be there, would certainly feel good. It's obviously not heaven being real which makes a believer feel good, but the idea of heaven. This is why Christians are so passionate (i.e. emotional) when defending their beliefs, and obviously the more people that believe an idea, the more believable it becomes. People are the same way with their drug of choice. For example, people who drink often will ignore and/or get angry at people who openly talk about the negative effects of alcohol.

People are nutty about defending their sources of entertainment. Me, I get some joy out of writing about atheism (and the other things I write about on my other blogs). And of course, I can easy get emotionally involved when defending my atheism (although I try not to). Sometimes I find it entertaining to debate hot-topics like morality or politics.

Getting back on point, many people, when they are bored, like to daydream. Even if the daydream is not based in reality at all, they still enjoy doing it. But for religion, it's (as stated before) a double-whammy because the actual thoughts (done through prayer, etc) cause good feelings and the ideas are believed to be truth (like heaven for you and a hell for your enemies...a fantasy that would make even an atheist feel entertained, and if it was believed to be real it becomes that much more powerful).

Today people aren't so reliant upon religion (and many people go to atheism because it is more fun to believe in evolution and science, and not be as morally restricted [for good or for bad]). In modern times being an atheist (for many) is just more fun, unlike the past, where being a believer was the most entertaining option. People only care about truth so long as it entertains them in some way (keep in mind that being afraid and/or angry can be entertaining).

Life must be boring if the most entertaining thing you have to do is pray to an imaginary friend, keep that in mind the next time you surf the internet or watch a movie. 

Prayer is a selfish act.

The title of this blog post pretty much says it all. But who is to say an act that is selfish is bad? The reason people pray is because it makes them feel better. A person that is worried about something can often diffuse that worry if they feel as if they can do something about it. The brain of a believer believes that by engaging in the activity of praying has an impact. Oftentimes the brain is fooled into believing things are real when they are not—even atheists have this problem from time to time (but in smaller ways).

The reality is that prayer is popular because it makes the person praying feel better. We have the false-belief that if something feels good it must be both true and healthy (thanks to our primitive brain). The problem with prayer is that it accomplishes nothing, while at the same time making the worrier feel as if something has been done (thus diffusing any motivation to act). This is believe is why I believe nations that are heavily religious and pray a lot accomplish the least (they have no motivation to solve problems because they falsely believe that prayer has done something, which demotivates them).

One of the biggest problems I see with praying is that it perpetuates a delusional worldview. The majority of the world has a heavily distorted worldview, and this is why the world has so many problems. Many people are unable to see the source of our insanity (all the wars, violence, political conflict, economic problems, etc.)—it falls back to distorted thinking—much of which comes from religion. Prayer is literally imaginary. A person that is truly rational can distinguish the difference between reality and imaginary thinking...sadly there is a blurring of the lines for the majority.