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Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I can completely understand people being sceptical about religion, however, I don't understand the atheist position of disbelieving with absolute certainty that their is no higher existence. That just strikes me as human arrogance to think that we know that much about the universe.

Show me this atheist that would say they know with absolute certainty that there is no higher existence. And anyone with a mind to science knows that our understanding changes and improves from moment to moment.

To me, it would be like stating with absolute certainty that there is no life on other planets. We have no evidence that there is, but I think most science-minded people would agree that it is entirely possible. If the atheist default position is that there is no god because there is no evidence that there is, then shouldn't they have the same default position about the existence of extra-terrestrial life? I wonder how many maintain that consistancy?

Well yeah, the default position IS there is no life on other planets, because we haven't found any yet! However your analogy is flawed since we have conclusive evidence that there is life on one planet. Ours. So it's proven that it is possible for life to develop on a planet. There's no such support for the existence of God. The things you are comparing aren't alike, so there can't be the consistency you see lacking.

For those that think science has disproven religion, I don't think you are giving science enough credit. Somethings take a lot longer to prove. We just started exploring our own solar system, so I think it's a little premature to think that science should have already solved the mystery of religion.

Who are these people that think science has disproven religion? Which religion? Anyone science minded is (or at least should be) fully willing to entertain new evidence. EDIT: I do agree that we still only scratch the surface of understanding of reality.

Some specific claims in religion DO fall inside science, specifically those that touch reality. Things like claiming the earth is 6000 years old, claiming that prayer affects the health of people, or claiming that a religious life will be a better life, these are things that can (and have) been tested scientifically, and those claims can be shown to have or not have merit.