What is your opinion of religion?

[Fel]

Fifer, you almost made me spew potato chips all over my monitor.

No jokes in a "nanny nanny boo boo" thread, I'm not ready for it.

[Fiferguy]

My most humble apologies, friend Fel. Far be it from me to make you spew potato chips--or any other food particles--on your most sacred of keyboards. Though, it would be funny to read about "Tarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrin... damnit... I hate it when that darrrrrrrrrrrrrrrneeeeeddddd keeeey sticks.... stupid Fiferrrrrrrrrrrr."

[Sbudda]

<kid-voice>Am not! Repeat, infinite, mirror, no returns!</kid-voice>

Man, that's not fair! Everyone knows you can't beat an infinite-mirror-no return. No, wait - I <i>am</i> made of rubber...if only I could use this against you somehow...

That would make a good fight scene between Phandebrass and Tarrin. "I say, now I'm glue and you won't get away!" "Yeah, well, now I'm rubber"

My Were nature is obviously to blame for my unability to think that joke through to a punchline.

[Fiferguy]

Now we have passed beyond the boundaries of the Land of Strangeness...Beware, All Ye Who Enter Here...

[codewarrior]

Dammit I think I just stepped in something squishy. Stupid .... Land of Strangeness ....Why does it have to be in the middle of a cow pasture? I really should have paid attention to that what that sign said.

[Fiferguy]

And I'll bet you forgot your rubber boots, too? Rookie...

[codewarrior]

Dam I knew I was forgetting something when I stepped the door this morning...Shoes. Well at least this time i remembered to wear pants.

[Spec8472]

As promised before - Richard Dawkins gives a lecture/speech over on <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/rn/">ABC Radio National's</a> <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbrie ... Background Briefing program</a>.
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbrie ... m">Richard Dawkins and God</a>
You can download the program here: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/feeds/bbg_20061126.mp3 (22MB, 49mins)

[Andygal]

ah religion, I am going to try not to turn this into a flame war but I have very strong opinions about the matter.

I am an atheist who has become extremely fed up with all the people using religious reasons to ban the teaching of evolution in schools(mostly by saying it's "just a theory" without understanding what scientists mean when they say theory, which is completely different from what your average everyday person means when they say it.), spreading hate towards homosexuals, Jews, Muslims, or whatever group you can name, etc. What really pissed me off was when the Pope told all the people in Africa not to use condoms, that is just throughally and completely STUPID as condoms are a very effective way to control the spread of AIDS.

You can't go a day without hearing about some jerk exploiting religion for his or her own selfish ends, to force their own ideas down other people's throats.

so I'm sorry if I am bitter and angry, but there some days when it's very hard to remember that the jerks are in the minority and that religion can be used for good purposes as well as bad ones.

As for me, I'm just trying not to fuck the world up anymore then it's already been fucked up and maybe hoping to make it better.

[ohtochooseaname]

Ok, so, I'd like provide my prerspective on christianity: first of all, concerning the comments about choosing what you believe and what you don't because it's dated, there are many out there who believe whole-heartedly in a "literal" (based on perceived intent of the author) translation of the and yet do not sacrifice lambs and such, though Levitical law requires this. However, in the New Testament, it is specifially spelled out that a Gentile Christian does not need to follow the Jewish traditions, aside from 4 major laws: Acts 15:20 (NIV) "20Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.", and of these, the food ones are purely for health and image of the church purposes: elsewhere Christians are clearly portrayed as freed entirely from the law, but must live by loving God and loving others, which, in essence causes one to obey the more universal parts of the law like not murdering, not committing sexual sin, etc. Sin then becomes a much more broad definition: every time one performs an action that does not love God nor others. All the bigotry simply comes from people pointing out sins that are more obvious and blatantly wrong like sexual immorality to the exclusion of more subtle sins like greed and gluttony. Focusing on the sin is much easier than focusing on the problem, selfishness. Furthermore, it is my belief that focusing on the sins of unbelievers is rather pointless because there is no standard to judge their behavior by: they don't have a relationship with God, which is the problem, and behavior simply follows in line when that relationship is created. Christianity is in its very essence, non-legalistic, and solely about loving God and loving others, the rest of the Bible is just about how to go about doing that best.

[tyx2]

God (lol) what a question
When I was 6 my aunt that did not smoke drink and was really healthy died of cancer a year after she gave birth to my cousin the farther had left her the min he found out she was pregnant
When I was 7 my mother that smokes 40 a day drinks way more then can be call social and has had numerous bout with drugs that are not the good kind had cancer for the first time (she’s had cancer 6 times and she’s still kicking)
About 7 years ago my big sister went to hospital for some skin rash, she never came out
3 years ago my farther that is a smoker of 40 a day drinks like he’s a fish was rushed to the hospital they told us the would not last the night so if he wanted anything special get it for him(he is still around)
I’m telling you this not to give understanding to what I’m about to say more like a disclaimer so you can judge my words fair
I don’t really care if there is a god, ala or some other being watching over use, I read most of you post some made very good points some not so good ones
ill ask you all a simple question how many problem within our society have they caused I can think of quite a few were ppl have believed so much in there gods or there Idea of what there god wanted that they have killed maimed hurt torched brutalized and every other word in out language that means pain for the sake of it
Even if you forget the amount of genocide that religion is reasonable for, forget the Salem witch trials forget the inquisition


Man do I sound full of hate, I’m not I don’t really blame anyone for the deaths in my family I would say life’s unfair but I think we all learnt that or we will sooner or later

[Deeb]

Can you please link to this research?
Something that's repeatable, - double blind, randomised sample of people with a control, and shows a statistically significant difference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromag ... sciousness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Persinger

P.S. Make sure to check the external links

It would be nice if for every car bomb in Iraq, there were 10 mosques that came out against the act.

Ah, but there are tons of Muslim clerics that denounce all forms violence in the name of Allah, they just tend to be under reported .. go figure diplomatic conversation doesn't get as good ratings as strife and violence

Links:
http://www.muhajabah.com/otherscondemn.php
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 6307.shtml
http://www.juancole.com/2005/07/friedma ... -and.html#
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/ ... index.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/ ... 2548.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west ... 111092.stm


ohh and get a load of this guy ..

Shortly after school began in September, the teacher told his sixth-period students at Kearny High School that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah ’s ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven, according to audio recordings made by a student whose family is now considering a lawsuit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/18/nyreg ... nd&emc=rss