Hey Fred

I disagree. Ethics is a garnish. The meat of any religion is the source of the ethics. And that is where they vary wildly. The assertion that on basic levels most of them agree on ethical standards doesn't make them all the same thing.

 

It's Trace's fault!

 

We simply have an honest disagreement. I see religion's main role in society as showing us how to live our lives with each other. A basic handbook to prevent us from harming one another. To me, without that aspect, religion has little value.

 

:xyzthumbs

 

Can you explain your scientific process? Not throwing stones, yet. Just curious.

 

Not scientific process, scientific thought process. Like looking at laws of physics and thermodynamics and having them actually lend more credence to an intelligent design than not.

 

faith and truth aren't the same, Vito. No one knows the truth, we can only believe.

I do understand, to a small point, what Carrey's saying. The Jewish God, the Christian God, Islamic God are all belief structures from One God. Just as interspersed doctrines have basic differences within each other. As far as Hindu or Buddhist backgrounds, I couldn't tell you as I'm not versed at all in any of them, nor do I consider myself a religious scholar. But as far as I'm concerned, each are following God, not "a God".

And in that, it's not truth, it's faith. Believing.

 

Hey, move it/merge it/whatever. I'm all for anything that pushes R&S into a conscious thought process for people in R&R.

 

Here on Earth, yes. That's obviously not what religion is about - Earth. If you don't believe there's anything past this, then no, there's not a big point to it.

 

Ok, so your assumption is that these things, the scientific laws and properties, cannot be a coincidence of natural occurrence? It's like something had to put it all together, right? Well, I get that. And I struggled against all that in my thoughts. But then, I felt the way Nut put it the other day. If a superbeing (call it what you will) put all this together, who, what, or how was it created? I mean, it can't have just always been. There was a beginning at some point. And the bible to me overlooks that essential part. Where did god come from? You mean to tell me that you can't believe the analogy that a tornado in a junk yard puts together a 747, but you can believe that God has just always been? It's a strange mix of believing what you want to believe and what you're instructed to believe.