Good Old Neon

One.

Because the brain and the way it interprets the world is imperfect and can often deceive itself? What you call a divine out-of-body experience may just be the result of a few misfiring synapses. We

I

But there is zero evidence for it, so, like invisible dragons, we can say, with a strong amount of certainty, unless empirical evidence to the contrary comes to light, the bible is no more divine than a John Grisham novel. The cosmic teapot TheMaker alluded to could be out there as well, filling cosmic cups with righteous tea, but given that we have zero evidence in support of its existence, the rational, reasonable response is extreme skepticism. Provided we never meet in person, or you never see me in a photo, I could claim to be over 700 feet tall and breakfast on telephone poles, you have

If you think Christianity (and by extension, (or would it be reversion?) the Bible) is complicated, pick up Thomas Pynchon

Nothing, it

Because I

If the books are simply novels worthy of reading, where does your belief in god originate? God is born of the bible

It

True, we do have free will

I disagree entirely

I laughed.

It is a good thing, and most of my criticisms are not aimed at anyone in particular on this board. I admit, I

My point exactly, they are simple stories written at a time when people had very little to no understanding of the natural world

They can, but I thought we were having a discussion on the nature of religion and religious belief. Plus, I think you

But why

The Dragon In My Garage by Carl Sagan "A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage" Suppose (I'm following a group therapy approach by the psychologist Richard Franklin) I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you'd want to check it out, see for yourself. There have been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries, but no real evidence. What an opportunity! "Show me," you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle -- but no dragon. "Where's the dragon?" you ask. "Oh, she's right here," I reply, waving vaguely.

Given the vast volume of water that has passed beneath the bridge in my absence, plus also the fact that y

Right-fucking-on - well said

If the universe demands a creator, then it follows that the creator demands a creator and so on and so on and so on and so on

Well, everyone once in a while I take a break and contemplate Kate Winslett circa Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but yeah, I do spend quite a bit of time thinking about these sorts of things. I chose to quote Hitchens because I felt what he had to say spoke directly to the subject at hand (of course, I cannot help but notice you avoided challenging the quote itself). I could have quoted Einstein or Hawking or Russell or Sagan or Dennett or any number of philosophers and scientists whose views are predicated not on faith, but testable, quantifiable, empirical evidence. You seem to be

Yeah, whatev

Those sorts of questions are only important insofar as you are human and able to ponder them