janus : There are some questions that answer themselves. "Why do things exist at all?" actually answers itself within the question. By definition, a thing is something that exists. The opposite of "thing" is "nothing". So things exist because that's what they are.

Equally, "who created God?" answers itself. God is the unmoved mover. He doesn't need a cause. God is, and he is a logical necessity, as I've already explained in another thread. Logically, we need a beginner. Otherwise, we need to abandon logic's objectivity.

Not really. I honestly couldn't care less about religion, or anything. It's just kind of weird to think about all of that instead of productive things in my opinion. There's nothing wrong if you do, however. Just different opinions.

So uh, no. I don't believe in a god. I don't believe there isn't a god either, however. I do not know, so I can not say. We can not prove or disprove anything.

But yeah. Personally I don't believe in either sides of the spectrum, and religion (as long as most things related to it) usually aren't on my mind. I just sorta...don't care about it. Like, at all.

Damn,here is a first,Maguc and I agree on something. I do not believe there is a God. One,if there was a God,I think he did a pretty $hi++y job of managing the planet. I think God was invented for one reason and one reason only,to control the masses.

Oldschool777 :

You're basing your judgment on planetary management on what standard? Why can't God just be a deist and tell you to solve your own problems?

On the standard that we have turned Earth into a pretty shi++y place. And I think you have seen how we solve our own problems. Hint: guns and hatred which carry on to the next generation.

Wait wait wait, "God did a pretty $hi++y job of managing the planet" because "we turned earth into a pretty shi++y place"????? God is $hi++y because we failed? That doesn't make any kind of sense. Your anger isn't properly directed at God, but at men.

Right now, I'm leaning towards a lack of belief in God.
I'm what you'd call a Muslim, but since a few years ago I have been doubting my faith. My parents never forced religion onto me, and I gravitated more towards scientific explanations for the wonders of the Universe.
We are just one of the trillions of planets in our vast universe, and to argue that we have a God who created us in his image seems silly to me. There must be other forms of life somewhere out there, to say that we have some sort of inherent privilege over them is crazy. Why our image? Why not some other intelligent species' image? Why should a higher power care for us? We are just a tiny spec of dust-- even smaller than that-- in the unknown vastness of the universe.

However, I'm not anti-religion. I understand why others believe in a God/Gods. I'm also open to the idea. It's just that, right now... It doesn't seem logical to think so.

drago : You realize science has no answer for "why is there a universe". You need philosophy. The only answers are "Some sort of deity" or "the universe doesn't make sense".

TX: If there was a somewhat capable deity running things in the background,would they allow the stupidity that is going on? Would they not quell or smite people immediately to cease the offending behavior? God needs to be fired and we need a new deity in charge,now.

Oldschool777 : Ah, now we're to the problem of evil. I'm writing a paper on this currently. There's a bunch of literature that covers this. There's a cool syllogism from a guy named William Rowe that supports your argument:

"1. Probably, there are pointless evils. (e.g., the suffering of a fawn in a forest fire, miscarriage, earthquakes, etc).
2. If God exists, there are no pointless evils, therefore,
3. Probably, God does not exist."

If your line of thought is like Rowe's, I challenge the second premise. If God exists, there very well may be pointless evils. Deism, for example, doesn't care that God is inactive. If Christianity incorporated any tiny bit of deism, it wouldn't be subject to this syllogism. There's a fantastic Russian book called "Brothers Karamazov" that is even more similar to your argument. If I were your teacher, I'd assign the chapter "rebellion" to you. It doesn't really question God's existence, it asks whether we should worship him or not. There are two brothers, Ivan and Alyosha, one a scientist and one a Russian Orthodox monk, that discuss senseless evil over breakfast one day. Both are equally horrified by the evil of the world. Ivan churns in agony over God's lack of movement in the world. Ivan assumes God just enjoys our pain, the omniscient sadist in the clouds. Alyosha, however, doesn't assume God has responsibility for the evil of the world. Instead, Alyosha hugs and kisses his brother, and goes out to continue feeding the poor and tending to the ill. Alyosha sees God's absence in the affairs of human beings, but he is instead resolved take the responsibility on himself. Alyosha doesn't blame God, he thinks God has given the responsibility to us.

Your response is very well thought out. I admire that. But to answer is there a God,the answer is no. Every people has their own interpretation of God,which was created to control the masses. Think of it,people back them were easy to manipulate,due to low education,and were easy to scare with tales of a "deity" that will punish you if you wrong.

But the thing is,we know there is no God,people behind the scenes re-write things to suit them and to make "God" say what they want.

I must agree with Alyosha,we all control our own fates.

I believe that, no matter if there is a god or not, there is no proof as of now and there likely never will be. Aside from that, I don't believe humans can truly comprehend such a powerful being. One who knows all? One who has infinite power, enough to create an entire universe? One who is everywhere in the universe, but yet can still focus on every human at the same time?

I think of myself as agnostic, not atheist. I am open to the idea of a deity. But each religion has "proof" that they're the true religion. Each "proof" is just as valid as the next. Buddhism could be true. Christianity could be true. Islam could be true. But it's hard to choose which one is the right one. I don't want to devote my life to Christianity if it turns out the Hindus were right all along. There are so many religions out there that it would be near impossible to pick the right one.

As for "proof" as in the Bible, Quran, Tripitaka, etc., I think it is rather silly to take any of them as a confirmed truth. Who wrote the Bible? Oh, a bunch of people that wrote their beliefs as truth? It's circular reasoning and there is no solid proof.

That being said, I respect people of all religions. I listen to their beliefs if they wish to teach me. I think that religion gives people something to look forward to after death. It also keeps many people from committing so-called "sins." Many Christians do not smoke or drink because it is against their beliefs, and I think that's a great motivator to bring out the good in people and keep in the bad.

So, in all, I do not think there is a god. If there is one, it would be impossible to tell which god is real until you are dead. For all we know, the real God might not even have a religion. Perhaps they are very quiet and do not wish to teach humans of their existence.

Ultrajeff : For a lot of people religion is something they look up to because they can't imagine a world were they don't exist,not in a egotisticle way...but close your eyes,imagine your dead,you can't,wanna know why? You can't imagine not existing theres no black,no fire,no heaven,just death,while that may seem scary,and it is,if you get old one day live out your life one day you'll just accept it,and thats fine,leave your mark on the world one way or another,I'm a man of science I dont believe god exists,but I do believe in a type of rebirth,say your buried without a cascet or even cremated your body is still matter,your dna is still there and as you decompose into the dirt you are now part of a flower or a tree,perhaps a bush,then you grow berries based off your own fertalizer,a deer mates with another one after eating said berries theres a slim chance you might get mixed in and be reborn as a deer you may not remember anything but youd be given the gift of life,this theory may be crazy but I believe it.

This is a question that I have spent most of my life (at least what little of my life that I was capable of these thoughts) questioning. For a long long time, I was an atheist. I believed that since we could not scientifically prove a god, there is no reason to believe. However, my views have quite drastically changed over the past year (I'm a Catholic). Listening to many different opinions of many different people, I've come to the conclusion that whether god can be proven scientifically is irrelevant.

It is important to make a distinction between scientific truth and religious truth. Science teaches us what we can observe around us to be objectively true. Religion teaches us how we should conduct ourselves. God exists within each of us. God is how we express our spirituality as human beings. God is much deeper ingrained in humans and much harder to grasp than I originally thought.  As to whether or not there is a man in the sky pulling all the strings (the common atheist stereotype of faith), I cannot say. It is impossible for me to know.

I apologize if this does not make  much sense. It is a difficult thing for me to describe, partly because I still don't have it all figured out.