can you measure hope? Is there science for it? Do you place all of your hope and desire and dreams and everything else in science because its proof of life? We are so up there in tech and science..yet we still cant explain the spark of life.
Whered it come from? How does it transfer from body to body…
what makes us…us?
I will be stopping here. I am a firm believer in science…but theres no science that will tell me about the moment of my death and how I must prepare for that moment.
I worry about that. Its a concern..and not something I shoose to ignore. No..I dont believe that once we are dead..that is it.
Our souls/spirits/essences are too resilient. Of course..since you are a man of science..you dont believe in a soul..theres no proof of it whatsoever. *shrug*

Religious faith is based on believing in the face of evidence to the contrary. It’s time the world opens its eyes to the fact that religion has potential to fulfill an emotional craving, but is not in any shape, form, or interpretation, proof of a personal God. We need to fill our spirits without believing in mythology that is dangerous when imposed into reality.

Let’s leave our egos at the door step of 14th century thinking. We’re as special as the koala bear, the platypus, or the aardvark, plus the self awareness. Do not seek spirituality in the myths of the past, or in the blue skies above. Seek it within you, for that is the only place it has the potential to exist in the realm of reality of our universe.

Im not arguing with you…but not having faith or a hope in a higher order leaves me personally void inside..because then all the shitty things I have endured in my life were random events and there is no control…and thats crappy.

That is why folks choose to believe. Its hard and tricky and there is alot of ‘science’ against it, as well as some science for it..
it’s all where you stand I suppose , as well as what you need in order to function properly every day.

When using the word ‘religion’, I’m referring to organised religion, not the belief of one man. The majority of organised religion has a central God or Gods, but not all belief in a God requires subscription to organised religion. I for one do not know any individuals whom openly believe in a deity, and do not consider themselves religious. This – I hope – will help clear up any misconceptions about what I’m referring to and why, when I use the term ‘religion’.

Religion is a bit like communism: okay in theory, and maybe even successful in very small, and select pockets walled off from the reality of the world. On a large scale, religion is the root of much, much evil. I urge all to consider the difference between ‘it makes me feel good’ and ‘it’s good for the world’. These two statements are a world apart, and for me they bring to mind the Prisoner’s Dilemma: two factions making the best individual choice are left with an equilibrium where both sides are worse off. Unlike the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the choices of those directly involved affect everyone and by nature always will.

1. Think about what god could be: Supreme power, supreme control, All powerful, always watching, ect.

2. Now think about how religion feeds into this: Must repent sins to god, God’s will determines a persons afterlife, The pope is a hand of god, Jesus Christ was the son of god.

The idea of god is imaginery. You and you alone can decide if god exists and if his powers are real. However the idea of religion takes the idea of god a step further. What would god want you to do? Tried to setup boundaries on a imaginery idea like god is easy to do but it’s when people try to follow those rules and interpret those ideas is when you run into problems.

Only the original writers knew the intent of their writings and if it’s a strong religion the original writers aren’t around to ask their meanings.

This to me is why I believe the idea of religion is a good idea to some people especially if it is properly executed. You can use serve a message as long as it the right message.

Wishful thinking in an environment where others maintain their own wishful delusions is likely to undo the human race as we know it. Every ‘good book’ encourages the killing of infidels, and faith in the word of scripture is considered a virtue, not a vice. A handful of individuals willing to follow the Koran or Bible down to the last verse are increasingly becoming a threat to nations, and not just their immediate neighbours. It’s hard to imagine that in 50 years anyone wishing to get their hands on nuclear weapons will be unable to do so. The technology will be nearly common knowledge.

Am I lumping in the moderate religious followers with extremists? No. The simple fact is that moderate religious communities are fertile ground for extremists. Moderate religion teaches that faith is a virtue, and with that misinformation in hand the only stretch towards religious extremism is that of believing the holy texts in their entirety.

Until we all can agree that religious faith is a vice, the continued advancements of our species beyond the 21st century is statistically improbable.