You know, it's sad that I find I have more in common with you than with my husband of 15 years. I can relate to you on almost everything. Happy New Year, Todd ! And thanks for Lottery Post.

It's my personal opinion that the reason most critics give religion a bad name is not because of the good things that come out of it. The church helps the needy, and that is commendable. More than I can acheive. I think the critics look at the whole picture, and the many different religions, even fighting amongst themselves with factions and such, that they feel the whole world of religion is not setting a good example to follow. The whole middle east is under constant turmoil because of the differences of a belief system.

I among others who are agnostic, (An athiest crossing his fingers hoping he's he's wrong, and will be forgiven), feel that it's not right to torment a child by telling them fairy tales. And then tell them that the other stories held by other groups are null and void.

Again...personally, I can't imagine a God punishing 660 billion of his children because of what a man and a woman did in the garden.

I can't imagine Thor smiting his people with a real big hammer at one point in history with no follow up. I guess Thor has a divine plan too, which involves leaving your children clueless.

I can't imagine Budda sending bad boys and girls back to earth after they pass away, then coming back as spiders and ants...a lower form of life in reincarnation.

I can't imagine Horus..the sun God of Egypt, nagging anyone...lol

ETC........
They rake in billions and aren't taxed. God is ominipotent, yet lacks somehow in the money dept.

After many years of contemplation, I realized that religion helps the soul for some people and that's a good thing, despite the atrocities.
If someone wants to see what I see in my brain, do it this way. I'm an alien from outer space. I see that you people have many different beliefs. Which one do I choose, and why?

It's been nice...lol...I'm going back to Alpha Centuri...lol

@Pac: The whole point of religion is that if you don't believe, you might as well not be agnostic. There is no half-way point -- you either step in the door or out.

Telling children fairy tales is "torment"? Were you never told fairy tales as a child? Poor thing.

On the other hand, referring to religion as "fairy tales" is something else entirely, and if there is indeed a deity, I'd have a hard time believing he/she would offer a pass on that one. You might want to re-think that if you're still holding open a chance.

What's happening in the Middle East is not based on religion. It is a terrorist group hijacking a religion in order to achieve absolute power over millions of people. If you're one of the people who feel it is a holy war, then you should re-think that one too. People can hijack a plane, but that doesn't make them a pilot. They can also hijack a religion, but that doesn't make them religious.

The same types of power struggles have been waged in the past, but they are not the basis of any religion I'm aware of. They are people trying to use religion to further their power. There have also been corrupt officials of churches (of every type), but that doesn't make the religions themselves bad. You can also have bad teachers that sexually molest children, but that doesn't make the whole school bad, right?

Don't fall into the trap set by liberal atheists. They try to use the "holy war" argument to slader and libel all organized region. (Then those same people show up at church insisting to get communion.)

@spy153: Sorry to hear that, but in a way quite flattering! ;-)

Todd, nice debate.....
You say what's happening in the middle east has nothing to do with organized religion. Only gathering info by what you've written. Is this true?

Happy new year folks of the LP family....LOL

My opinion is no less valid than yours. You don't believe in God. I do. You believe the middle east conflicts are holy wars. I don't.

I think my position was pretty clear in my last post, but I'll reiterate: any religious aspect to middle east conflicts is being caused by people who have hijacked religion for the purposes of increasing their own power.   None of the major religions preaches that its followers should strap on explosive suicide belts. None of them advocate wiping Israel off the map. None of them preaches that its ministers should rape children. All of those things are done by people who have distorted religion to fit their evil goals. The religion itself has no blame and is not the cause. Religion is peaceful, perhaps to a fault.

I only believe in what i see with my 2 own eyes, BTW aren't exactly not working right anyway...lol

OK...the world is being Hijacked! Then you're saying everythinh I'm saying...lol