I'm not all that sure when exactly I stopped believing in god... Probably somewhere in between the Easter Bunny and Santa and the tooth fairy. Really, I don't want to upset people so I don't talk about it, but religion serves Clergy and Clergy only. I have to laugh when the Pope drives through some third world sewer where the water isn't fit for animals to drink and all the peasants drop to their knees kissing the gold hubcaps of the Mercedes Popemobile. Its really ironic and laughable stuff. I know this is a left wing view and I usually fall out of favor with conservatives when I voice it.

Same for me, it was a process that took quite a bit of time to conclude. Well said ... “the Popemobile with golden hubcaps”, got to love this stuff, hahaha. Well, don't feel too bad because everyone seems to wig out when I bring it up. I am not sure right or left has any more bearing on this (except for the money of course) any more than Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative have much bearing on reality.

Confessions of a Former Christian: This pretty well describes my own religious trials and tribulations.

I simply don't understand why it does bother some. I've had a lot of conversations with friends and coworkers about religion because it does help me understand them more and sometimes just to figure out what some of the difference are amongst various sects of religions.  Most of the "upsetting" I've seen in religious discussion is actually just bigotry, and it seems to be mainly online with people you really don't know and most often seen in discussions that mix religion with politics.

 

It serves the politicians quite well also. It's interesting although sometimes distressing watching the political system manipulate certain religious folk.  There is also a charitable side as well as a community aspect to it.  Most people I know that go to church on a fairly regular basis don't believe in god as the creator but go for the community aspect of it. I think some of them go for the insurance policy to heaven just in case as well lol

It seems to give hope to the hopeless.  Understandable in places where education and opportunity is nonexistent.

 

I read an article today about world population fixing to hit 7 Billion. It went on about how current agriculture tech can feed up to 2.5 billion American diets (lots of meats) or 10 billion Indian diets (mainly veggies). Lets add in drinking water, the ever decreasing natural resources and conflict that comes with these issues......and I start to wonder if the Pope realizes that he may have missed a few telephone calls from God.

 

 

 

To each his/her own. It doesn't bother me one bit whether someone believes in God or not. I believe what I want to believe and you believe what you want to believe. Doesn't bother me one bit. Believe me when I say that I don't ask people about their religion before I try to make friends with them, play online games with them or even date them. I'm not picky about anything except maybe hygiene; and gender of course, I only like women.

However, I do have one thing to point out. There are still many mysteries in our world and universe that scientist are still unable to explain or even prove their exist yet they are confident they do. Once upon a time people believed the world was flat yet we know now it's round, once upon a time people believed it was impossible for humans to fly yet we have planes and such, etc. As time goes by science continues to disprove that which we believe for hundreds of years was true or not. You never know, maybe someday they might find a way to prove Gods existence, but the again, being a God means power over everything including the ability to make him/herself impossible to find. Just a crazy idea.

 

I used to think such thoughts but I kept coming back to square one. It boils down to this; if there was such an entity, then he would have made people the way they are … seems like religious practitioners (RCC in particular) spend their entire lives trying to correct their supposed God’s handiwork as if there were some errors there? Anything that would hide from its people particularly considering the supposed evil state the world has been in well ... forever. This just doesn’t work for me is all.

The universe is interesting from any perspective assuming you have a viable one. I don't understand how some can find it so easy to believe that an all-powerful God unseen, unheard and unknown by man … could have always existed and created everything in a week … but no, the ‘known’ universe itself couldn’t have always existed (from a human perspective)??? Instead of just admitting we don’t know everything now (how could we) but are learning more every day … so they created a complete fabrication (undiscoverable and improvable) and have given themselves the sole proprietorship of religious all matters.  This brings up my rant on the misuse of all-encompassing words like infinity, forever, always, The Truth, the universe, universal law, evolution and the Bible … to name a few.
 
Always, forever and infinity are often used interchangeably as if we have an understanding of these concepts. They are meaningless to humans beyond pointing to ‘a long or specific time frame’. Same for … to the end of time, the ends of ages or the end of the Earth … all meaningless on a human scale. As a matter of fact humanity barely makes a dent on any scale to the point of insignificance. But the RCC ‘religion’ holds that only their own Christians have purpose in all the cosmos? My dog would care to differ here, hahaha as well as hundreds of flavors of those ‘other’ Christians so misinformed as not to be Catholics.
 
All-knowing is sooo misused too. Besides being a human concept … the perceptions are unimaginable? This would of necessity include the complete past, the present and the complete future of every particle in the entire universe (and beyond I suppose) … and that makes any reason for our existence preordained and meaningless. There are magnitudes more stars in the ‘known universe’ than there are grains of sand on all the beaches in the world … all-knowing indeed.  With this cover concept in mind why … I could justify anything I were to do, right, wrong, good or bad as being ordained by god the all-knowing … and this is what the RCC has done to corrupt what otherwise could have been pure religious concepts for the enlightenment of all … not just the few select slaves.

The Truth is so relative as to be meaningless in many cases but especially concerning the RCCC. The RCC would have us believe they are (all of them) incapable of lying, being deceitful or have their own agendas. Their God seems helpless in cleaning his own Church out as he is seemingly only interested in cleaning up everyone else’s business. And The Church itself just cannot find the faith or wherewithal for self-cleansing (rather the opposite) … but they would tell the world how to clean theirs Houses and in no uncertain terms. Like I said … hypocrisy abounds in the RCC. Does the little catch phrase “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” mean anything to you? How can anyone even claim to be truthful when they only allow themselves to “do unto others” and the others are not allowed to play this silly game of theirs at all? The RCC was built on hypocrisy and has not faltered from this path … to date.

As to universal law … that is a modern man concept as the barbarians (by our standards) that founded Christian superstitions had no perception whatsoever of a universe beyond the flat Earth and the sparkles in the night sky.  But this is not entirely accurate … the Greeks proved the world round and the RCC knew … bur for the good of mankind (hahaha) they suppressed this little tidbit for what 2,000 years until their fraud was publically exposed. Thank the stars for the Renaissance … the time frame they consider the worst in RCC history … I wonder why (not)? There is nothing of value in the OT or the NT … that cannot be found written in stone (real stone tablets) and on cave walls that predate both Judaism and its progeny ... Christianity. I hope they enjoy their fantasy to their heart’s content … just don’t ask me to participate in this madness as I am much more comfortable with the real truth.