[Sliver]

Originally Posted by The Familia

Your analogy makes zero sense, has no basis, and is complete nonsense. If you don't believe in religion then why would you be upset if "my book" says you are going to hell? According to you it's a piece of fiction so it doesn't matter what it says as it's just a story. No one is threatening your family as long as you believe the story is fake. Now, if you are truly feeling threatened then you have opened up a whole other can of worms and you may need to have a deep conversation with yourself. So what is it? Is it fiction or not? If your answer is fiction (which I know it will be), than your introductory analogy is stupid.

I don't like the thought of you and the people you teach smugly assuming my children are going to burn eternally in the devil's lair for their lack of belief in your stories. Call me sensitive.

Originally Posted by The Familia

Your second statement claiming that it is fair to paint every religious person with the same brush just proves how closed minded you truly are. It's an ignorant comment to make and shows how one sided you are. You are making a broad statement that all religious people are uneducated and only rely on faith. That is so far from the truth. I teach in the Catholic school board and I can tell you the curriculum is the same as CBE. Contrary to what you believe, yes we do in fact teach science and math! I don't know of anyone who shuns facts or logic. I teach my students to think critically and question things every single day. Religion is not immune to questioning. You can question and still have faith. I would love for you to attend a Gr. 9 Religion class and partake in our discussions. Some very enlightening and open minded stuff going on.

Wow, guy, you really need to slow it down, take a breath and comprehend what I'm writing or else this is going to get old super fast. I never said all religious people are uneducated. I said if you propose your religious beliefs to an educated person who was raised areligious and free of religious indoctrination, they're very unlikely to accept the beliefs. This is obvious because it can't be a coincidence that you were raised Catholic and are now a Catholic as an adult. If you were raised in Iran, you'd be a Muslim. It's not like you were raised Catholic and decided to be a Hindu at 25 years old or something. You - and most religious people - stick with the religion into which they were indoctrinated. Areligious people can make for an interesting case as they have a more objective view on religion since their upbringing lacked a similar indoctrination.

On the curriculum...okay, was anybody saying the Catholic board doesn't have to teach Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic? No, you just barfed out a response to an issue that wasn't raised by me, or anybody else. Nobody thinks Catholic school is just one long religion class all day. It's like any other school, plus a side of religious indoctrination.

You can question your faith all you want, but if the answers are a given then the questions are of no value.

And yeah, I'm just going to leave the logic in your faith question alone. Like, virgin births, heaven and hell, Noah, Job, parting seas, holy trinity...so much logic.

Originally Posted by The Familia

As for evidence, go ahead and prove that God doesn't exist. I'll wait. Just like I can't prove there is a God you can't prove there isn't. That's where individual belief comes into play. I think you are a lunatic if you believe that everything in our universe has happened by random chance and are not open to the possibility of a higher power or force. News flash....you can believe in science and a higher power at the same time. They are more intricately linked than you give credit for.

Uh-huh. You're the one claiming to believe in a very specific god with specific attributes and has been (and continues to be) active in the world/universe. You can feel free to prove that...I can't prove something doesn't exist. Nobody can.

Originally Posted by The Familia

Science and religion can and does coexist. There are many scientists current and past who are religious or believe in a higher power. A close family friend who has a PhD in astrophysics and was a professor at UBC (he is not religious nor affiliated with any religious organization) told us once that it would be foolish of any true scientist to completely discredit the possibility of a God. There are some things science simply can't explain.

Yes, I'm aware many highly educated people were indoctrinated from birth to accept the unacceptable. That's contrary to nothing I've said. Also, I don't know a single atheist or areligious person who isn't 100% open to the possibility of a god or gods. If there is evidence, I'll believe. You'd have to be a pretty weak thinker to not be open to the possibility of being wrong and then adjusting your belief structure to get you closer to the truth when presented with new evidence.

Originally Posted by The Familia

Your final claim that religious people have been brainwashed and that "educated adults" would balk at the mere mention of a higher power once again shows how little you know. I'm an adult, have 2 university degrees, enjoy science, and teach math for a living. I'm also Catholic and believe in a God. I don't consider myself stupid or uneducated. Your sweeping generalizations don't help your cause.

Please, try to think critically for one second so you can understand what I'm saying. Not typing it out again, but it's all there and not ambiguous.

Originally Posted by The Familia

Religious organizations aren't perfect. People aren't perfect. There is lots of room for improvement that I can't deny. The pedophile priests are a disgrace and it needs to be cleaned up. I hope that they do. The new Pope is moving things in the right direction, it will still take some time. I'm just sick of the loud "atheist" group claiming they are "right" or better than everyone else. You hate the vocal believers for "pushing" their beliefs, well, looks like you are doing the same thing.

Atheists claiming they're better. lol. You're the one in the club that god has chosen as extra special so you get to chill in heaven with him while the rest of us toil away in a never ending hell. I like truth; you have faith that you're right independent of where the truth leads.