hmm, i see what you're saying, and I agree a little, but escape the prison of the moment!!! I will pick on Christianity for a moment. The religion, in terms of power in culture, ideals, and members has evolved very much in only the past 2000 years. Just think, years ago the pope was putting people to death for saying that the earth orbitted the sun. And for tring to prove why gravity existed. They were hiding books that had were filled with scientific thoughts and theories that if they had not been held back, may have changed the way the world is today hugely. The flutter of a butterfly it could be called.

So you say the world is too perfect, I say that maybe if religion hadn't held our species back, maybe we would have disproved him by now.

But what do i know. I'm just a college student who looks at evidence and doesnt just believe everything out of a big book because everyone says its true.

well we can't make or change the elements on the table, and we've tried for years. like when arabs were working on turning lead to gold

There is no competition I just wish people would realize the difference between god and the evolution of man.
But if religious people have their way that won't be happening...

Religions = ignorance. I have come to this conculsion, through the conversation on this board. Why do you think that no religions get started these days??? It is becuase they are started out of pure ignorance of how things work, and no one could start one big prank like that at this time in human history. Whoever started Christianity, just think if they had read a biology or physics book. They'd be like,"I can't write this total load of garbage." And then they would have become scientists.

I agree with you completly

I think as generations die out so will religious beliefs.
Example:
My great great grandfather was a religious man
My great grandmother was religious only cuz she grew up in a religous home
My pop is not religious cuz his mum didn't fill his and his brothers and sisters heads with that garbage
My mum isn't religous at all.
And I'm an athiest.

By the time I have kids and they have kids, god wont matter to people we'll live in a world based on science.

I think that too, I was just saying that maybe there is or was a supreme creator at one point in time. You can call it God, aliens, time travelers, ........ And for what it's worth, religion doesn't have to be a prison for your mind. Take it with a grain of salt. We have science in our lives now, the mythology serves no purpose, but the philosophical aspect is still useful. I find religion to be a more appealing philosophical outlook than say nihilism or atheism.

Well many religions do teach good moral values, and there is nothing wrong with picking up on those.

hmmm, yes, well i do hope you arent referring to all religious people.

I meditate everyday and attend Quaker meetings. I am a follower of Perennial philosophies and/or Advaita. Religion plays an important part of my life but i am also a believer in the evolution of man.

I have not yet realized the difference between God and evolution because i have not yet realized either fully. Neither can be proven objectively. Evolution is still referred to by most of its advocates as a theory...it would be unscientific to refer to it as fact, however i do believe in it. I believe that God can be proven subjectively through practice but this does not provide objective evidence that will stand up to the scrutiny of those who do not practice themselves.

I believe that science is just as much a religion to some as any other, that places its faith only in what can be observed by the physical senses.

The blame game can easily be batted from both ends of the court. Both religion and science have had their hand in suffering. At the end of the day the problem that lies at the heart of suffering is neither religion or science but lust/desire for power!

I disagree. I see that argument as just nitpicking the terminology. Atomic theory and cell theory are technically theories too, but you can look at a cell and an atom which makes them pretty real to me. Evolution, while not as concrete, can still be seen. I can look at my dog's dewclaw and look at his ancestor's extra toe and put two and two together. My point is that even though something is a theory, when there is a mountain of physical evidence to support it that is justification for legitimacy. If it looks like a duck, walks and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck you know?

people will always try to use religion for power though, thats why they're created. All science is trying to do is find the facts, and religion is always trying to hide something, if you haven't noticed. Hopefully people will eventually see this.

You mention that religion cannot be proven. Can anything be proven totally? I mean we believe in Darwin's theory, and in the "big bang" too, but they cannot be proven, they are just theories or "beliefs'. If you get right down to it can you prove that anything exists? Perhaps the entire world is just your own delusuion?

There is alot more to religion than just "following". It is a community of people that try to help others out, and to provide a better environment for their families.

Children pick up habits & values from those that they hang around with, would you rather have your teenage daughter going out with friends on a day trip with other youth from church? or to an all night rave with the guy that she met at the local bar/tattoo parlour?

Well gravity is just a theory also, but I still think its a little more concrete than Christianity. We have equations that figure how fast we need to go to stay in orbit, or how fast things will be falling from a certain distance, or the amount of padding needed on a pole vault mat. All Christianity has is a bunch of rules and parabols that you choose to follow based on just how you feel, absolutely no scientific facts.

quoting you "There is alot more to religion than just "following". It is a community of people that try to help others out, and to provide a better environment for their families." Have you heard of the crusades? How about those suicide bombers? What a community of civilized individuals!!!!! Here's what religion really is: ignorance of how things work, a tool to control the masses, and breeder of intolerance.

And haha about your example with the girl. Because obviously she could easily do both (many kids do by the way, I would like to point out). The day trip is during the day, and the rave is at night. Can you tell time? But more on topic, you just seem like another parent who would rather have someone/something else raise your child instead of yourself. You actually just attributed the choices of your daughter to what a religion is teaching her, and absolutely no input from a responsible adult. LOL good luck with your kids, cause you have the recipe to success!!! Just ship them off to church!!! Why do parents always try to blame something/someone, whether its internet, tv, or the guy at the tatoo parlor?

you forgot all the kiddy-fiddlers at the church too.

yeah, no kidding. I can't believe anyone still trusts their kids with the priests.

Printed on a recently discovered page from the front of the original manuscript of the bible:-

'The characters and events in this book are purely fictitious. Any similarities between real persons or events are purely coincidental'.

The way I see it is that there cannot be and there is no definite purpose in life. Do I believe we have a purpose? yes? What is that purpose? My answer to that is that everyone is different and cannot have the same purpose as different people have different goals, tastes, an interests. No two individuals can be alike, they always have at least one trait that separates the individual from everyone else. What I'm saying is that the purpose of life is never definite and applicable to all individuals. For one to have a purpose they must make their own purpose. Since everyone is different, different people will have different purposes. So is there a meaning of life? Yes, but each individual must make his or her own purpose and realize that only they themselves have total control over what they choose that purpose to be and how they will fulfill it. It's kind of like the famous quote: "I think, therefore, I am."

Death has always been a touchy subject when it comes to religion. People always seem to say their departed loved ones are in a better place. Are they really? Perhaps. I personally think that better place would not be a heaven of any kind. They are buried or cremated on the Earth. I believe in a secular sense that the dead are in a better place perhaps just another mass of energy or matter filling the Earth. I believe that matter simply stays with the Earth. I believe that according the law of matter; that matter must stay with the Earth as the matter in the universe is too compressed and packed together to move. Since the law says matter can neither be created nor destroyed, that matter must remain somewhere on the Earth that matter existed. Will the matter go somewhere? Perhaps, but not towards some heaven or any afterlife of any kind. Will it stay where it is? Perhaps, we never know for sure.

The whole thing about death was just my best educated guess or hypothesis of how it all works using my current knowledge of scientific laws and theories. I admit that I do not know for sure how this all works and all I can do for now is make an educated hypothesis based on my current knowledge and observations. I'm sure there are alot of people out there who know more than I do about energy, matter, ect. That's my two cents.