Not religious myself. I find religious texts interesting though. But to me they are just stories. They shouldn't be taken to mean anything more than that. If you want to live your life based on a moral code within them, so be it, just please leave it at that. Any further just seems silly. That step further is also what has hindered humanity for so long. Imagine if we lived in a world where someone wouldn't have been put under house arrest for saying the earth revolves around the sun? 2002 could've actually looked like the Jetsons.

I've seen a few post about how things work too perfectly for there not to be a God. The thing is that evolution is a slow process, it's not immediate. The reason for things working as well as they do is through thousands of years of species dying off and others living on. The groups where genetic mutations prospered lived on and branched into more species and eventually you get to where we are today. The idea of intelligent design is also pretty flawed when you know of the errors in our design. The recurrent laryngeal nerve is a good example of this. If it were a case of intelligent design, why would the creators choose to make this excessively long nerve that actually passes it's destination early on only to come back when they could've just made it go from point a to point b? Through evolution though, you can see that it use to simply run to the gills, over years and years ran down, and eventually came back up. Over the slow course of evolution, the resources put into expanding the nerve were never taxing, but at this point now it seems a major waste. The vas deferens have the same problem.

Taking the example of a watch, this is true intelligent design. If a watchmaker were to throw in an extra gear, it would most likely seize up. So it has to be perfect, and thanks to intelligent design, human craftsmanship, it can be. Humans and every other animal are flawed. We still work, but there are many imperfections in our design.

Another nice thing to look at is the fastest animals. Number 1 is usually the prey of number 2, 3 the prey of four, and so on. If two was faster than 1, 1 would be extinct. How this shows evolution is that the slower ones from 1 get eaten, so the the 1's with the faster genes live to spread their genes into the next generations. The slower ones of 2 can't catch 1 so they starve, and the faster of 2 spreads their genes. This isn't very intelligent. Why is there such an arms race?

God isn't hard to disprove, it just the people that have to listen have fingers in their ears. Personally, I practice meditation. I'm not a buddhist, but they can teach some great things. Religions can be great tools, if you don't get caught up in the supernatural aspects.

I am religious. Why? It simply works for me. However, I don't blindly follow my religion. I accept ideas which applies and makes common sense. In our society these days, tolerance and respect seems almost non-existent which, I admit is a little sad. So let me tell you guys that it is alright to be different. It is alright not to follow trends. It is alright not to believe in certain ideas no matter how credible it maybe. It is alright if you don't agree that there is only one god or multiple gods. It is alright if you believe that god does not exist. It is all okay! No matter what religion or lack of religion you have, I could careless. Do what is best that makes you feel good and functional in our society. All of us in this world are just trying to live one day at a time so you will never see me go out of my way to make your lives miserable no matter what you believe in, where you are from, or the color of your skin. So long as mutual respect is given, I will openly and continually give you respect and treat you as a friend. :-)

But going to church and praying instead of taking action has no function in society...

I'll highlight that and leave this topic as is, just proves what i was thinking that's all. Carry on. :)

I actually haven't been to church for a while. Ha ha ha! :-D

However, I consider myself religious because I do believe in a higher power and there are many common basic and ethical codes that I believe would apply in modern society. In short, there are valid points in the bible that we can surely learn from and some that I feel like other people in history have thrown in as a level of control. Let me tell you, sorting through all of that text is not simple. :-)

To reply to your comment though, sure the act of going to church and praying by itself has no function to society. However, since many Christians believe that attending weekly mass makes them feel close to god, it gives them a sense of well being, and it allows them to work more honestly and diligently outside of the church. So, it's the effect of the church that serves as a function to society not the actual attending and praying. ^__^

Like I said previously, this is just one way. There are many ways to achieve that level effect not just in a christian way. So, whatever works for you, buddy. :-)

I'm atheist but I understand the reasoning of religion. I have no problem with God's Fan club. It's his SUPER Fan club that causes problems. Or me. It's really a readers opinion.

No.

Religion is a pillar of society, It will always be, as has always been... since the dawn of human kind.... Atheism is actually just another religion, you believe in not believing
Religion was created to fill a void, to answer questions men could not answer on they're own (and fails to do so).
Science has tried to answer this same questions, Science failed as well, all that science is able to do is observe, and describe HOW phenomena often happens, but it has never explain WHY it happens, and every attempt of explaining it results in a "Theory" which according to science itself, since it has not been proved, every single theory that has been proven is known as "Law" "Theories" can't be proved, therefore they are useless...
Well, according to The String "Theory" (blargh) and many other "theories", those "many dimensions" might as well be meatball sauce (itadakimasu) ;)
How is atheism able to prove the inexistence of any force which can be known as "god"?, if there is no proof god doesn't exist, i haven't said god exists either, that's because i have no proof it exists, I'm only saying it's stupid to believe in stuff that can't be proved, doesn't matter if it's called god or theories...
Atheism is often confused with science, well it isn't Science.... Therefore you can't say that Atheism is great because it expands our knowledge, it expands jerks to think they are way better than others, and that they are qualified to say god doesn't exists, well... you can't prove that god isn't real, and according to Atheism you can't deny nor affirm such existence because you lack proof...
Science= Laws, Laws=Nature, Science=Nature... Atheism=???
"It's really stupid to believe that once upon a time, a wholeshitmillion years ago, there was a big badass FotherMucker explosion which created life, and structure... What, or who created the explosion?, How was it created? (it is said that al the answer to this questions is the remaining materials from the previous explosion cycles, this ones were the result of previous explosions, it goes on and on and on...
What da fauq created the explosions in the first place???" here i quote one of my best friends, Jew and Physics professor ( i did change it a little bit though )
I hate how atheists think they're qualified to deny the existence of everything they don't believe in (stuff even Scientists don't dare to Denny, because real scientists do require proof), but suddenly they do believe in "Theories", which haven't been proved....
LOL's my world.... sadly.

nearly everything you said was wrong. especially this. it's clear you don't understand what a scientific theory is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory

also atheism is not a religion. it's a single position on a single issue; one doesn't believe in a god or gods. there is also no set of beliefs that all atheists follow.

Lol, ok.

Yep. Same here. It's just a ridiculously nonsensical question.

How does science feel about leprechauns that speak of the tooth fairy?

wiccan here

have a nice 21th of december all of you atheist, christians and agnostic, may your god do save your souls from the power of my gods.

"Theories are improved as more evidence is gathered, so that accuracy in prediction improves over time. " This is exactly what i meant, i beg your pardon if i failed to properly explain myself...
Until they are fully proven.... They aren't true, and you can go and investigate all you want to prove a theory, but you need to prove it, or else it is worthless....
I think you'll agree with me on this: Theories are created to explain different phenomena, but theories still need to be proven in order to become Law, and therefore, being considered a Scientific truth.
I am not saying Theories are useless, because i do understand, theories are the result of a desire for knowledge, and they encourage Scientific Thinking.... But believing in them while they're not truth, that's useless, at least for me...

You are still expressing a false understanding of these concepts.

Ugh....

Both scientific laws and scientific theories could be shown to be wrong at some time if there's data to suggest so.

Scientific Theory is the grandest synthesis of a large and important body of information about some related group of natural phenomena. It doesn't need an upgrade to law... This isn't pimp-my-science.

Not really, though I was brought up in a Catholic family. The thought of religion and such rarely strikes my mind. Things might've been different, had I come from an underprivileged background.