rivegauche wrote:If I can enter this "debate" without offending ...
It is unscientific to say God does not exist. You cannot prove that. All you can say is that there is no evidence that God exists. I call myself a non-believer, not an atheist. As a scientist, I have never felt the need to insult those who believe, or insult their beliefs. I may criticise when it comes to their attempts to restrict how others behave, however.
There are many people who call themselves Christians but attempt to impose rules on others that they have extracted from the OLD Testament. They have done so selectively. If you have problems with men wearing women's garments then you must also have problems with people wearing mixed fibres. Never a word about that.
If we want people to stop criticising us for what we wear perhaps we should live by the same principle and refrain from criticising others for their religious beliefs. The belief itself does no one any harm and can be a great source of comfort to the believer. It is only when that belief is imposed on someone else that it becomes a problem. Same applies to atheism. Live and let live.
End of sermon.
Erm, just read this tonight, probably a bit late but I am going to chip in now: I do not believe in a supreme being, call it God, call it fairies, call it any other figurehead you care to. However, I fall short of believing there isn't one, although I don't believe in ghosts my Nan was convinced that she had had an encounter with her husband, years after he died, in a good way. For some reason I actually find it easier to believe in the Supernatural than in some supreme being who created the world in 7 days etc. and who is letting mankind destroy the only planet it has to live on. I don't believe there isn't one, simply, I don't know, when I die, if I see the pearly gates of heaven and the thought of an afterlife, my thoughts will be "Oh bugger! not another one! (life)"
To be honest, I am not a believer, either for or against, I don't think of myself as an agnostic, more as an apathetic, I don't really care, I will find out in the not too distant future! I have a sister who does the God thing, running a large group of Methodist churches, good for her! we just don't talk about religion. I also don't go to visit in a skirt in case that causes friction. Unfortunately I don't tend to visit them much anymore, they are getting on for 200 miles away and live in a manse, I cannot stand wall to wall carols etc. being thrust down my throat and just stay home where I can feed my cats and stick whatever skirts I like on.