1. Do you admit that your belief in God is based, at least in part, on faith?
2. What percentage of your belief in God would you put down to evidence, and how much to faith? Is there anything else I've overlooked that leads to your knowledge of God's existence?
3. Apart from your belief in God, is there any other area of your life where you rely on faith to make decisions or choices, or to believe in something? Please give an example or two if your answer is "yes". And keep in mind my definition of faith - belief even in the absence of evidence.
1. My faith, if I have any at all, is in science. If science cannot eventually prove that G-d exists, or if he has somehow rigged it so that this is not possible, then it's not my fault that I do not have faith in him, is it? Superstition is what requires faith, or in the case of religion, in the absence of any actual knowledge, faith is equivalent to fear (of G-d), actually. I have faith that evolution will deal harshly with those who fear knowledge, or the quest to know the unknown. Same kind of faith, isn't it, really?
2. The evidence (that something like G-d exists) is all around us, 24/7, if you are not too jaded to recognize it. Every living thing on this planet is based on the same basic structural component of DNA. The particular path that evolution has taken for our species to dominate this planet is also evidence in favor of the idea that there might be a greater purpose, but it is equally likely that there is not, particularly if we are ultimately unable to use science to get the hell off this rock before G-d incinerates it. Where would be the purpose in that? If you believe that praying will somehow prevent it, you are mistaken. Science just might. Re-read my answer to #1.
3. No. I don't need the reward of an afterlife to behave and live in a moral manner or make the right choices, and only ever needed about one page of religious instruction to supplement the idea. Like everyone else on this rock, I pay attention to what matters most in terms of my own survival, and the survival of those I choose to love. Because G-d made us that way. If it's a mistake, it isn't mine, either
I also don't worship idols (including religion, religious leaders, religious artifacts, religious scipture, or the equivalent relics of science) nor do I have any pre-conceived notions about where G-d sits upon his throne. The Earth does not have to the the center of the universe. It does not have to be flat. It does not have to be carried around on the backs of giant tortoises. I don't believe in any current ideas about cosmology that would include G-d being responsible for inflation, the Big, Bang the centerpiece of time, or anything else for which there is not direct observational evidence. And I don't believe in quantum creationism or the idea that G-d needs to be the ultimate observer, any more than I believe in the same idea for Santa Clause. I don't believe in heresy. It is not even possible in my adopted religious tradition for anyone to be a heretic, or for that matter, a blasphemer, because the closest translation we have for G-d in our tradition is: "Our Lord".
I believe in the theory of evolution and the fossil record, and that the Earth is much older than other religious traditions who have adopted scripture from my own faith including the book of Genesis and turned it into an idol, or worse, 'science', like quantum creationism, for example. Oh, and I don't like frauds, which would include quantum creationists posing as scientists, or as moderators on science threads.
And finally, I believe my job here is finished.
Crystal?
