Aargh... other people's religions!!!!!!

[tootricky]

but the strength to do what?

Live their lives? Who knows, as I said, it's not for me. And I never said it made sense A lot of people turn to their faith in times of crisis.

[Mark Chase]

God is Santa Claus for grown ups.


I envy children the excitement and wonder of beleiveing a mythical charictor will do wonderfull things for them. I weep for the children who beleive but are let down so badly every year and no doubt feel its their own fault.

Gods the same for me. Loads of grown ups who beleive this mythical beeing is out there watching over them and no doubt feeling equaly guilty when things go wrong.

I envy their faith and the comfort it must give them when loved ones leave this world to go (in their eyes) to a better place. My own logic tells me when i die I will be in the same place I was 45 years ago and or 1000 years ago. Thats no place at all.

atb

mark

[scuba g]

I think most people would not be able to live their lives if they didnt have something to believe in, I am not concerned with the next life, but this one, or thinking that this one is a test to prove you can get into a cloud skygarden populated by angels and cerubs playing harps.
Selective miracles, or people who do survive near death experiences tend to have to rationalize it as an act of goodness by god, in logical terms, you just got lucky, explain genocide, murder and abuse, without saying "its in Gods plan" or "its sent to test us", my pet hate is parents who have lost a child and are told they where not meant for here but God took them back to heaven, to me thats pure cruelity.

[Lazlo]

We all believe stuff which isn't true, or at least cannot be proven.

Do you believe what you read or see in the media?

Do you believe everything your school-teachers taught you?

Do you believe that there is such a thing as Evil? And the corollory of course: is there such a thing as an objective definition of Good?

Do you believe that religion is always a "bad thing"?

Do you believe that atheism is always a bad thing?

...and so on.

I am definitely an atheist, or at least as close as it's possible to being an atheist. I read Dawkins' The God Delusion and pretty much agreed with all of it (except for the meme stuff which went over my head). However, I'm not sure that it tells the whole story, and while it would be nice if the world was run on a rational basis, I don't really think that's a realistic goal.

We all need our comfort blankets after all.

[hilrosepaul]

It took me a long time to distinguish between faith and doctrine. I pity those who have yet to make the distinction; and admire those who can.

When I was v young; My dad once asked two JW's where their kids were when he was playing with me on Christmas Morning.

I loved the sketch on Absolutely where a character asks the two missionary types who call if he could talk to them about the Suzuki GT350 first and proceeds to talk them through the Haynes Manual.

[weazelz]

And it didnt take long for the intolerant religious lunatics to whine about it:

BBC NEWS | UK | 'No God' campaign draws complaint

"... organisation Christian Voice has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority saying they [atheist bus] break rules on substantiation and truthfulness"

thanks, that's made my morning

[SoggyFox]

Even Dawkins says "probably no god" just like "probably no unicorns", its avery big universe and i'm sure somewhere we'll be pleasantly surprised by whats out there.

although for a god of the whole universe to care about a single human is akin to a single human caring about a bacteria somewhere in Mongolia.

[Foggy]

I remember when I started diving:-

The biggest fish was the Basking Shark
Whale Sharks were a laughable myth
The Blue Whale was extinct
The Coelacanth was an extinct prehistoric fish
Amenoites were extinct
The DoDo was extinct
Breathing 100% Oxygen led to instant irreversible death
The Ozone layer wasn't depleted
Global Warming was a myth
Beer was 50p a pint
30m was a deep dive
Shore Diving was fun
etc

So God / no God......? If it bothers you, then make your own mind up.

Go diving

-Paul

[Luckyliz]

Actually Dawkins says something like 'almost certainly isn't' - the 'probably' was introduced by the Atheist Bus Campaign (ABC is shorter!) to give them a catchy slogan (to put on their buses!!).

In life scientists would say there is nothing thing that is absolutely certain but many things that are so close to being absolutley certain that they are taken as being that way (eg until someone produces evidence to the contrary then the speed of light is taken as an absolute constant - one day there may be evidence to say that is not so!).

[SoggyFox]

I remember when I started diving:-

The biggest fish was the Basking Shark
Whale Sharks were a laughable myth
The Blue Whale was extinct
The Coelacanth was an extinct prehistoric fish
Amenoites were extinct
The DoDo was extinct
Breathing 100% Oxygen led to instant irreversible death
The Ozone layer wasn't depleted
Global Warming was a myth
Beer was 50p a pint
30m was a deep dive
Shore Diving was fun
etc

did you write you dive plan on a tablet of stone?