religion

After reading Warren's The Purpose Driven Life, I came across this bit on page 43: "One day you will stand before God, and he will do an audit of your life...before you enter eternity." Next paragraph. "First, 'What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?' God won't ask you about your religious...

In his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes introduces his controversial theory of Bicameralism, which basically says the brain of early man functioned as two distinct halves - where one side would hallucinate auditory instruction, and the other...

For some reason I decided to muse/rant on religion which is going to focus quite a lot on science, I think, just because I felt like it, and I wouldn't be surprised if this got no views. Why would the other Atheists here care? I'm not religious, so it's something they've probably heard before...

Ok. I don't start many threads here because there is just so much stuff that has already been discussed. This is particularly true of religion and threads discussing the existence or nature of God. I would be interested in seeing responses to this question from both believers and...

One of the guys who wrote Freakonomics (Dubner) has a new podcast series called Freakonomics Radio. The latest episode is called "Faking It" and it discusses people who pretend to be more religious than they really are for social reasons. Turns out that Obama is one of those people. He was not...

Why do theists and deists think that belief in god is a virtue? I have discussed this with some family members who still believe, but haven't received an adequate answer. This forum may not be the best place to ask this question. It appears that most members are atheists or agnostics. But there...

I have been debating with science minded atheists for a number of years now and I think I have a pretty good grasp on their methodology. It is more often than not assumed that the Bible can't possibly be anything other than a collection of primitive mythology, legend and superstition because it...

I wish I had thought of this. I think I might run this someday. Seriously. http://www.kens5.com/home/Smut-for-smut-Bibles-for-porn-offer-draws-protesters-at-UTSA-85857462.html I see no harm in it. (So long as the people involved are over aged, of course).

One of my favorite books during my Christian days was Mere Christianity. On a superficial level, it satisfied some of my doubts about religion and made me feel I was on the side of logic. One of the arguments I remember from the book was that God was the force between two conflicting...

I have been invited by my friend to a group on facebook called 'so apparently I'm going to hell' which has a list of reasons ,stated by Mr. Micah Armstrong originally of the Assembly of God Church in Miami, of why you can go to hell they include: Pot Smoking Cigarette Smoking Alcohol Drinking...

Note: I was very unsure as to where to put this, but I decided upon Science because it's a thread about a scientific experiment. If it devolves into a discussion on Jericho, mods should feel free to move/split the thread. OK, so having seen Richard Dawkins' book reading at Randolph-Macon...

Forgive me if there has already been 20 threads on this subject. As you can see I don't post often. And this may be a stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway as it interests me I was just watching a documentary which was claiming there a 2 billion Christians in the world. Does anyone...

Have anyone read "The Irrational Atheist" by a guy who calls himself 'Vox Day'? Is it any good? The cover of the book says, "Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens". How successful was it in that regard? Or is the book just a collection of ad hominem attacks against the...

Inflammatory title, no? That was not my intention. Rather, I wish to open up the discussion of the specifics of the Old Testament and why they may have come about. I'm talking about dining practices, hygienics and any/all of the other great stuff in the OT/Torah. Not if they are useful...

I have no problem people teaching religion to their children if it's something like the following: "This is what we believe, it's part of your cultural heritage, and we'd really be happy if you believe it too, but ultimately you are your own person and are free to decide for yourself." But I...

I have often heard this "argument" that science is something that we just chose to believe; and it's just as much of a faith as religion. I'm sure you've heard it too. How do you deal with it? I get so annoyed at that "argument" that I usually get rude and sarcastic. But I wanted to know how I...

http://www.doublex.com/section/life/why-do-more-women-men-still-believe-god I find this a little interesting and I like that there is at least some real research to back it up. It certainly, to me, suggests that men use religion as a tool to control the world around them and assert their...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/8288613.stm Ive seen people queue for some rubbish but a box carrying some remains nearly a hundred years old! Scrolling down I think it's the Lourdes effect: Ooh here she is in her glory...

P.Z. Myers, and I, thought this was interesting: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/09/an_evangelical_subculture_has.php If you have not seen this video of Frank Schaeffer on the Rachel Maddow show, you need to. It is very troubling, but accurate in my view...

This little tidbit really made my day, it kind of reminds me of how i felt on those occasions when i was forced to go to church as a kid. Even if it's a very stupid stunt to pull i have to say i like what the kid did, in my eye's he's a hero of sorts ;) 1h_krGmcAVk

Someone recently told me that being Christian isn't about religion, but about relationship with Jesus. I happened to have heard the Atheist Experience episode a few days ago where they mention this, but when I went back to check their argument, it basically said, "no other relationship depends...

EA Games is making an action games based on Dante's Inferno so: http://kotaku.com/5289471/eas-fake-protest-riles-some-religious So some Catholics are now taking offense...

Creationists say that evolution is wrong, that the earth couldn't have been formed except through God's will, and that humans didn't evolve. In fact, they deny that evolution works at all. But the major flaw that I've noticed in their arguments is that all they can do is tear evolution down (and...

David Brooks has an interesting column today that may actually unite atheists and the religious in their condemnation. This is bound to be perceived as an attack on the "morality" police of the Right, and Robert Stacy McCain rises to the bait: But the decadent intelligentsia found something...

So i am kind of in a pickle. For some strange reason i am taking 2 sciences this semester. Organic Chemistry and Biology. As of now i am projecting that i will end up with a c in chemistry. But Biology I got 2 58's on both tests. Right now i am projecting a D with a curve. WHat should I...

The following is a response to a letter from someone who asked Bishop John Shelby Spong who he prayed to.: I suppose that it is almost universal for human beings, who have the ability to embrace the vastness of the universe and to ask questions about life's meaning, to yearn for a protective...

As you may have seen in my sig these last few weeks, I am a co-host and religion correspondent for an upcoming skeptical podcast called The Nonsense Podcast. My particular segment will be called God's Word. In this segment I will be exploring the wide variety of religious beliefs that people...

Link: [10 Questions from Liberty University Exams ] Excerpt:

In another thread it was claimed that which to me is obvious nonsense: I have seen the very rapid growth of religion in Cuba with the Special Period in the 1990s, which very abruptly impoverished the Cubans. It made them poor. It did not suddenly make them uneducated. When school children were...

Interesting and very counter-intuitive. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/health/research/18faith.html?_r=1&ref=us