historically fear has been the greatest tool available to control groups of people.
What better way to get people to follow an imaginary, fictitious being or beings...........
Without fear and faith, religions would be a very small influence on humanity

mom333, you are a very intelligent, thoughtful and thought provoking person. Your children are very fortunate to have you in their lives.
I agree with everything you wrote, few have your level of compassion and acceptance....a very good thing.

I consider myself an atheist/agnostic......
An agnostic because I admit I do not know all of the answers.
An atheist because I lack belief in the existence of god or gods.

An astrophysicist friend of mine from Rice University said it well.
He said "I'm OK with being a scientist searching for answers my entire life, instead of plugging in mythology and imaginary gods as my definitive answers to the unknown".

I hope you keep enjoying life's quest.......
You are way ahead of most people already !!
Always remember:
The Journey is the Destination

ed :)

it's hard to argue with the truth...

"Gods don't kill people,
People with Gods kill people"

Science flies people to the moon,
Religion flies people into buildings"

I named my ski boat
"Current Affair"

Well said JohnDavidDavid:

"There is also NO DOCUMENTED evidence of any of the proposed "gods" (from any century) rising from the dead or performing any of the supernatural feats in tales. There are TALES and testimonials about such things happening, but nothing that can be verified as truthful and accurate. That some of the tales were written about decades, generations or centuries after they supposedly occurred is NOT documentation that they are anything more than folk tales, legends, fables, fiction or other forms of human imagination."

The only "Proof" of Jesus divinity is ... is Christian writings... the bible, etc. Written years after his death, if he even lived at all ???

As most of you know, Pascal's Wager (or Pascal's Gambit) is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal that, even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose.

Some assert that since there have been many religions throughout history, and therefore many potential gods (man has worshipped 2800 gods), all of them need to be factored into the wager, in an argument known as the argument from inconsistent revelations. Believing in one god would lead to a high probability of believing in the wrong god, which destroys the mathematical advantage Pascal claimed with his Wager.

Richard Dawkins argues for an "anti-Pascal wager" in his book, The God Delusion. "it could be said that you will lead a better, fuller life if you bet on his not existing, than if you bet on his existing and therefore squander your precious time on worshiping him, sacrificing to him, fighting and dying for him, etc."

(An interesting side note.....Blaise Pascal also wrote)
"Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions."

So the question is what to do ???
1) live with faith (or fake it, act like you believe (which was OK to Pascal)) in one god, like Jesus
2) try to cover all bases and act like you believe in all 2800 known gods
3) do like Dawkins and spend your time doing other things besides worshiping god or gods
4) take the time to write this post instead of being outside enjoying this beautiful evening LOL

The basic laws of logic, evidence, science, nature and economics reveal religion as a delusion.......Imaginary,...alive only in the minds of "believers". The dogmatic mysticism of religious people does not make sense and actually heavily contradicts itself.
According to William 8 "The Bible is the only honest book, that does not paint an airy fairy idea about God or man." We must be reading different bibles LOL
Religion was created by hut-dwellers thousands of years ago in order to gain power over their fellow human beings. New religions continue to crop up constantly. We know of 2800 "gods" mankind has worshipped over time. William 8 and many others dismiss 2799 gods,except for their one "true" god. According to William 8,"All other beliefs are airy fairy and artsy fartsy."

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than William 8. When he understands why he dismisses all of the other possible gods, he will understand why I dismiss his.

William 8, I am not trying to be mean or single you out, your statements are exemplary of many Christians and are easy to discuss.

The basis of religion and believing in Jesus is fear.... fear of going to hell (another man made myth--hell)
fear of what happens to us when we die. fear of God punishing us... (many examples especially in the old testament)

all of the stories, myths, fairytales about Jesus, including Jesus is God, were written hundreds of years after his death by primitive hut dwellers....

look at the big picture, Jesus is just another God in a long line of 2800 man-made Gods... during Jesus time, mankind was moving from polytheism to monotheism.... there were many "messiahs" ( 7 or 8 major ones) during Jesus life... Constantine helped Christianity become the big religion by making it the official religion of Rome.

Religion as a mental illness :

People who believe in imaginary beings are delusional
People who talk to imaginary beings are delusional
People who believe in imaginary superstitions like prayer are delusional
Delusion–a fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact.

Religion by definition is a Psychosis….

an entire imaginary, delusional belief system

We can call it Religious Belief Syndrome… an acronym could be…

Religious B S

very well said :)

if you don't want to do christianity......
there are 2799 other gods to choose from
or just go godless lol

but there is loss on both sides....
you don't have fear and guilt
and the church doesn't have your money !!

after food, shelter and safety...

what do you think the most basic human drive is
I think it will be the same for men and women....

some say "seeking pleasure and avoiding pain"

others say "protecting or validating our fragile ego"

I believe religious or god answers are superficial to this question

I am asking because...
I don't have the answer..

I understand hatred or dislike of a man or a boy,
kinda like you can dislike a black or a short person etc...

but to dislike all people who share a trait they didn't choose,
such as race or height....

seems sad and less than compassionate .....

just a point to ponder :)

as for female supremacy..
please read "the myth of male power" written by the only man elected to the board of NOW (National Organization of Women) and he was elected twice...

funny how the default when one cannot dispute my point is... to attack the messenger ...me.. and throw the ignorant card at me.."you ought to do more research before claiming to know about it. You demonstrate a very shallow understanding."

I spent 12 years at St John's School and one of my degrees is from Baylor University(owned by the Southern Baptists)... it is because of my exposure and knowledge of religions that I realize they are all imaginary, delusional belief systems....

Is God Real ???

Religion and our concept of god (or gods, mankind has invented 2800 of them so far) is purely imaginary... it is all in our minds, made up superstitions and myths.....

People who believe in imaginary beings are delusional
People who talk to imaginary beings are delusional
People who believe in imaginary superstitions like prayer are delusional
Delusion--a fixed false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact.

Religion should be classified as a Psychosis....
an entire imaginary, delusional belief system

We can call it Religious Belief Syndrome… an acronym could be… Religious B S

I like #8
We have 2800 gods to choose from that mankind has worshiped since recorded history began.
So why not choose a god that demands we "fear nothing but god", ohh I forgot, this is the loving god ??????

very well put Ploduwa :)

Along the same line of thought...
We can be unlucky, but we make our own luck.....

"science won't eliminate our gods, science will just eliminate the need for our gods". I like this quote....

As science progresses, people can keep letting go of the 2800 gods mankind has created.

Jesus, Zeus, etc... are simply attempts to answer questions that science is answering more and more of.

If you have a chance,
The book, 'A Universe from Nothing' by Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss is a good read.