And then there's the other cognitive error: neglecting to realize that you also have your own foundational beliefs that you can't justify ie. that science can't test the God existing/God not existing question.

Read William James, Nietzsche, or Wittgenstein to get familiar with that one.

They'll point out that the way you behave day-to-day is much more consistent with the notion that man is made of earth with a transcendental soul breathed into him than it is with the "truth" that we are all just a self-organizing pile of chemicals.

with a transcendental soul

Wonder why so many of us slaugter dissenters then.

Spiritualism and religion is a form of social control.

The only reson people in america are chritsins is because their ancestors were cowards who valued their lives over their religion.

" ... religion gives people a sense that the world is just and that hard work will be rewarded. Such faith provides a sense of purpose and belonging, in both the personal and cosmic realms;"

I had a friend once ask me whether I would rather believe in something that gave me happiness and hope, or in something that didn't. I responded that I would rather believe whichever story was TRUE. Looking on the bright side doesn't have to mean self-delusion - it can also mean simply having a positive attitude. Looking at the world through rose-colored glasses is useless; so is looking at the world through shit-colored ones. Find the clearest lenses you can.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

My favorite quote. Another one is "No, I won't willingly die for my convictions. I might be wrong."

My philosophy dreams pretty big. I want to keep going like the Energizer bunny. I want to know what happens next. I guess that alone makes me religious, in that I believe there is a next. And if there isn't, oh well...

You just fired off a memory Pricklypear~

"Dialogue from a play, Hamlet to Horatio: "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky. There are more things in heaven and earth, and in the sky, than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between heaven, the sky, the earth, lies the Twilight Zone."

"And somewhere in between heaven, the sky, the earth, lies the Twilight Zone."

Twilight Zones pretty nice this time of year, especially at the Outer Limits.

Looking at the world through rose-colored glasses is useless; so is looking at the world through shit-colored ones. Find the clearest lenses you can.

Love this, Pirate Jo.

No evidence, huh?

The entire universe was created in a flash out of nothing. Life was created out of non-life. This is according to the scientists, not the priests.

I'd say the burden of proving the absence of a creative force that we choose to call "God" is on the atheists in the group, wouldn't you?

Or maybe they would prefer to spend their time all smug and such because they can so easily laugh at the "White-Bearded Old Man Sitting on a Cloud" imagery of a simpler time.

Who are the real simpletons?

>>I'd say the burden of proving the absence of a creative force that we choose to call "God" is on the atheists in the group, wouldn't you?

As soon as you can put a definition, description, or any other reasonable thought process around what God is, I may be inclined to agree with you.

One of my good friends is extremely religious, ultra~Christian. For years he talks about God, and the Powers of God, but so far the only description of God I can get from him is "God is Love". God throws any non-baptized, non-Christian children who happen to die to Hell, by the way. Same goes for the non-144,000 people who will be raptured someday.

What Jay R said.

Not that it is any kind of proof, but even atheists and agnostic gals have a tendency to scream out god's name during sex. Who are they talking too? It's certainly not me.

And I enjoyed Bill Maher's movie Religiousity. But he was kind of smug. I enjoyed Ben Stein in Expelled: No Intelligence also. In that movie, even the eternal athiest Dawkins finally admitted that ultimately one idea was that life was seeded here from elsewhere (aliens?). Well where did that life come from? Other aliens?

The earth is resting on a turtle. What's that turtle resting on? another turtle. and after that? It's turtles all the way down.

The earth is resting on a turtle. What's that turtle resting on? another turtle. and after that? It's turtles all the way down.

A while back there were some lefty bloggers discussing some academic who claimed there was a certain percentage chance that our lives were actually part of a simulation run by some higher intelligence.

The snide leftys (Matthew Yglesias was one of them) were saying well yeah could be I'm open-minded etc. etc.

But if you suggest there could be some infinite power in the sense understood by traditional religion, well then it's time to whip out the cuss words.

"The earth is resting on a turtle. What's that turtle resting on? another turtle. and after that?"

Well even if we could answer the question, how would we benefit? Whether life came out of interstellar lightning striking a dust particle, or whether there really is an old bearded man living in the sky, of what use would the answer be?

I suspect that the outcome of minds and technology devoted to answering the question would serve humanity much better than the answer itself. Along the way, we'd invent the next microwave oven.

Although framing this as a science question doesn't really even address the root of what plagues people. New gadgets don't address the problem of a person's moral decay.

They'll point out that the way you behave day-to-day is much more consistent with the notion that man is made of earth with a transcendental soul

I'd suggest a starting book on evolutionary behavior such as Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Sagan, very interesting book that will make you think. Then move on to the Selfish Gene by Dawkins and the Origins of Virtue by Ridley.

Then you will see there are other explanations that also make sense.