A Must Read!

[Thorne]

Then why is it that it allways seems like your attacking both one and the same?

I suppose because it's hard to separate faith and religion, especially among believers. There is a difference, though.

And I am sorry hon, trust, faith, belief, it all means the same thing, they are synonyms for a reason.

Something else we must agree to disagree on, darlin'.

The Atheists have no more evidence to support their beliefs than anyone else and becuase they act like any other group who follows any given belief system I see no difference between their faith and that of others.

You don't need support for something you don't have. And I, for one, have seen no atheist churches, no atheist temples, no atheist synagogues, not even an atheist coven.

You did so well trying not to be derogatory too Thorne,,,right up until the end, when you labeled whole cross sections of people as spewing hatred and lies.

I labeled no one! I said I would attack those who do those things, I did not say anyone specifically did. We all know there are those who do, however.

Religions (organized belief systems) have been with us most likely from the very very early beginings of human kind, and becuase they are quite natural for us as a species to maintain since they are a part of us in ways we are only begining to fully understand, its my guess they will remain with us through out in one way or another.

I will agree that faith has been with mankind from the beginning. It's a part of our makeup. The foundations of religion, perhaps began early on, with the rise of shamans and healers. People who studied the world around them and learned to use what they found. Organized religions, however, I would venture to say didn't arise until the very beginnings of civilization, when leaders began to require some way of controlling people who were not directly under their control. That's the purpose of religion, after all. To unify people under a common belief system. Which has the advantage of helping to control them. After all, how better to control people than to control what they fear? People, especially those with little or no education, would sacrifice almost anything if you tell them it will keep them in the gods' favor. Because that's what you've told them to believe. That's why parents would allow their leaders to sacrifice their children to their gods. They believed.

Some still believe.