Good Old Neon

That was not intended to be taken literally, as if we are all lining up to have a go. I was speaking in larger, more general terms.

My goodness, not at all. By edifice, I mean the existence of an all knowing, all seeing (and please forgive my usage here I know that offends some people, but that is essentially what the god of the bible is, if we strip it right down to its core.) sky god that is concerned with the lives and matters of man. That if you follow the bible or the Koran, you will spend an eternity in heaven, or conversely, if you do not, you will spend an eternity in hell. Or the idea that man is not a product of evolution, or that the earth is only two or six or whatever thousands of years old. I don

Fair enough, and my point is that it is both a cause and a symptom, but not only a symptom. And my other point, I guess, is that once you start asking these sorts of questions, poking around, the entire edifice starts to crumble.

Now it sounds as though we are arguing over semantics

But again, both the Bible and the Koran condone acts of violence

Well, we were created in gods image after all. So, if we are selfish and violent, what does that say about god?

I wasn

And what of the conflict and animosity between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland

Marginal cases? You may want to revisit your history books, as our entire history is awash in religious based conflicts

That may be the intent, but in practice, it is not always the outcome. Take the Middle East for example, the centuries old conflicts between the different groups, tribes, whatever, have at that their core a common denominator

We have a system in place, laws

The bible

If you think there is anything groundbreakingly original in the bible, you would be kidding yourself. Of course, there are other passages in the bible/koran that completely contradict that plee.

I am well aware of that, but no small percentage of folks actually believe those stories to be true. Given that I am an atheist, I am fully aware that many of the stories in the bible are parables, and view them in no other terms

That part, that predates the bible, and is based on real scientific research and evolutionary psychology , a result of reciprocal altruism. Animals show compassion for each other as well, and in some cases, maybe even more - Bononbo chimps for example

If you are asking whether or not your reply triggered some sort of angry emotional response, the answer is no - I

Well, when pretty much everything in the bible has been debunked, at what point does what is within become obsolete? I wouldn

That was a mistake - sorry about that. I went back and corrected it.

Is that your evidence for god, that at this point in time we cannot fully explain the origins of the universe? And the answer is what, an all knowing all seeing omnipotent being who is heavily invested in the outcome of the Super Bowl? If god is the answer, and the universe can only be explained through the existence of a god like-being, well then, who is god

Sir

Sure, they can co-exist, if religious dogma continues to lower the bar every time science demonstrates one of its core tenants is incorrect. Evolution for example, for the longest time, the church was completely unwilling to accept that man evolved from an early ape-like ancestor

Sure, but those sorts of experiences do not justify banning same sex marriages, flying planes into buildings, limiting a child

Please, don

I pounced on it because you have a habit of singling me out for these sorts of infractions while totally ignoring your own, or those made by others who you tend to agree with