Quote from: qwerty555 on February 25, 2015, 11:34:39 AM

Quote from: Buffer Overflow on February 25, 2015, 08:47:24 AM

Quote from: darkota on February 25, 2015, 08:12:59 AM

Hundreds of years from now there will be explanations, as we have explanations now for what was deemed miraculous in the past.

For sure, but the religious folk will just simply move the goal posts.

Religious folks themselves have 4 main and diverse interpretations of God as per the Baylor Study

1 authoritarian

2 bevenolent

3 Critical or

4 Distant

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/graphics/religious_bel/flash.htm

click "four Gods" then "turn all religions on" bottom left and you will see that in the USA belief in each of the 4 interpretations is split almost equally if averaged out. ie. one persons God may not be the same as anothers.

each to their own if it gives them benefit...

Ultimately belief in God or even which type of God is a matter of FAITH

I have no faith , nor need for a God since a very young age after travelling extensively but I do not need to attack or erode others beliefs provided they are not using that to improperly promote or gain advantage by their belief over those that do not believe. The belief itself does not make them better humans but may have contributed to their overall sense of good values and behavior. Coversely in many cases it can be argued ( and I have seen this ) that it actually makes them worse, intolerant of others beliefs , arrogant and superior outlooks and a host of other unsavoury characteristics.

At a stretch I could be persuaded to consider the possibility of a distant God like a being or group of entities that may or may not still exist but even if I did what relevance to my short life based on the DISTANT definition would that make provided I have already gained a very reasonable set of values and behaviour for the environment and cirumstances that I live in? .. effectively none.

So
- There will be no unquestionable solid scientific proof of the existance or continued existance of a single God

- Belief is purely a matter of faith

- non belief is no better or worse for humanity provided a set of moral, fair, compassionate and reasonable values are taught and practised by both sides.

- using any belief system to promote conflict, war, agression, inequality is wrong and unacceptable in these times.

If I had to pidgeon hole my beliefs it would probably be close to secular humanism although I am not a follower of any group( but mention it so others may consider it) nor have any need for the safety net that belonging to a group, religous or otherwise, ... social, spiritual and financial that comes with that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism

and if God is essential to you there is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_humanism

and the history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism

Be happy!!!!!

Actually, no two people have quite the exact same belief. This means that there are as many diverse religions as there are people. The only difference is the true Christian faith. All Christians who believe in Jesus salvation, have the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Since there is one Holy Spirit, He maintains them all in the same religion, even though they do not understand how He does it, or know that He is doing it, or have outer differing thoughts about aspects of their religion.

Nobody is without religion. Why not? Because nobody knows for a fact what will happen even one instant into the future. Everyone bases his life on hope, hope that the next instant will be at least as good as the last. This is a religion of fate in those who don't have any formal religion. A religion of fate is definitely a religion of faith. The faith is in the experiences of the past, that the future will be at least as good as the past, because nobody knows anything about any of his future. This religion of fate may be automatic in a person who doesn't accept any formal religion.

In everything that people do, they operate by faith, because nobody knows what the future is going to bring, even a nano second into the future.