its a topic that no one can really give a yes or no answer to the existance of god.
and we have many debates about it because of what the catholic church says, what catholic schools teach, what scientology religions have to say about the topic..theres so many conflicts in the discussion and most people hide the issue because its such a powerful topic. Questioning the existance of god, one would think that no one ever would do such a thing. Because god is supposed to be such a powerful being that we've been taught about.
I think that because its one of those topics that are most common in debates, it is pin-pointed because of how strongly some peoples faiths are. They want to preach their pwn beliefs towards others.

um.. possibly because its such a broad topic that people use it as an excuse for everything that they dont really understand?

just a guess.

We all know that religion as politics are always going to be touchy topics; so why bother? I have a question I would like to ask that warrants debate. One thing that I do not and probably will never be able to comprehend is why is child sexual abuse kept "in the closet" so to speak? Why do people just let it go to the wayside when so many souls are being permanently damaged?

thats a really good queation.

one possibly answer that i can think of, is because its a situation about children, and such a terrible thing for anychild to go through, some parents have a hard time hearing about it and would rather handle the situation themselves, instead of make it a public matter that their child has to hear about over and over...

I think as long as someone is using their god to justify a desire to control my body it will always come down to this.

That's what I think too, Jinks. It's because religion is used as a base for morals and laws (for some people). These days, there are actually people who are NOT part of the mainstream religion, and our numbers are rising. Because of this, when deeply moral issues come up, one side references science, fact, and logic as their only base. The other side often has god as the very core of their ideals.

People who are not of the main religion don't want to be ruled by that god for obvious reasons. They don't believe in it, and there's no way to prove it exists, so they shouldn't be forced to follow laws based off of someone's beliefs.

I think when people hold views that they cannot explain logically, like being against gay marriage, they revert to the God excuse. There is no rational argument for being against gay marriage. It cannot possible effect anyone other than the two people getting married, so people who hate gay people must find an excuse. They don't want to come right out and say "Gay people make me sick. I hate them, and I don't want them to defile the lovely concept of marriage."

It's the same with abortion. Every pro-lifer who thinks eggs and sperm are nothing and once they join they are everything, is using God as their excuse for thinking that way. There is no rational explanation for saying that egg and sperm change so greatly the moment they touch. The DNA they both carried is exactly the same. The resulting fertilized egg is simply the next step after the formation of the sperm and egg in human reproduction. People use God as the excuse to put some deeper value/moral worth on one part of human reproduction (fertilized egg) over another (sperm and egg).

What they really feel is that sex without consequences is disgusting, and people need to pay for having sex. It's either that or for the really, really uneducated, they actually believe a real baby is being ripped limb from limb during an abortion, instead of a barely visible embryo that is a lot closer in kind to an egg and sperm than it is to a fetus.

Because people base their morals off of their spiritual beliefs, for the most part.

I mean, even I do, and I'm not particularly religious.

But you're right, the problem is when people use that justification to apply to other people as well, and not just guide their own beliefs.

Perhaps it's because christianity is the only religion that seems to think it's the only religion. (I hope that made sense) Therefore, christians seem to think they have a responsibility to witness the truth to others.

I'm not trying to say that in a bad way, I have experienced being a christian and most of them are really just trying to do what they think is right and best. Christians witness (or should) because they care about your soul. Probably more than you all do!! Lol.... (myself included)

Because people cannot think on their own and must rely on religious teachings to do it for them. If they opened their eyes and saw the world without the protective glasses of "God" they would be horrified.

I think it proves Gods existence.
Because for someone who doesnt exist, he sure does get talked about alot.

What a confused person you are.
When I came to christ and accepted him, my eyes were finally opened!!!

You can come outta the fog as well by accepting him.

Anytime you have a religious person in a debate it will come up because they believe in him and his word, then the debates start over God instead of the original debate.
For a Christian it is hard to separate things from God.

And that makes us seem judgmental and that is not what we are trying to do. I guess it just comes down to your way of life and beliefs.

I was told a long time ago there are three things people talk about the most.

Religion
Politics
And sex.

People always argue about the first two. So what do you want to talk about..

I just don't want laws which can ruin my or my daughter's life to be passed based on things I don't believe in.

Sexy religious politics? But then we're back to the gay thing...

how can u accept something u have no proof exists?
How can you worship something u cannot speak to? OR ask questions of?

I Dont want to hear the *because i have faith!! AMEN!!* bit.

give me real proof.

Imagine for a second that there is no Christian religion; it's a false idol, it's not true, there is no divinity to Jesus, the Bible is a book, nothing more.

Just go with it for a second.

What would you do to comfort yourself, to reassure yourself that life has meaning?

You would have to look inward.

That is what you cannot do now, because you have a protective comforter of Christianity wrapped around you.

You would be unable to face the world on your own. So desperate to believe there is more to live than the beauty of a flower, of a sunset, of love, you would fail to understand that that is all you need.

We are all unique gods, with so much potential to love, change, and understand the world around us.

I need no Christian god to believe in, because I believe in myself.

rainfire I will tell you how it is as I have posted before..

if you have a little fish and your raise the fish in a fish tank and then you tell the fish look you know there is a thing called ocean and inmensly big and has all this enormous animals in there.. would the fish believe you? He only has been in the fish tank and that is all he knows and what he can prove, but he has not proof of the ocean, he can only believe it exists if the fish trust your word on it. So that is how we believe. We are the fish and the fish tank is this world. We can see and proof what is here but we don't know what could be out there so we believe God for what He says it out there. And we rather believe it to find out it's not true than not believing to find out it was true.

In my personnal experience for what I have seeing..I really have no doubts..one time i saw this old nun praying silently like if it were nobody around her.. and I was watching her. Suddenly I saw like if somebody stepped on her, the way she falled backwards in the floor, real hard but the old lady didn't complained a sinch, she remained flat in the floor smiling like if she was hugging someone. I never seeing anything like it..There is many documented miracles if you want to research which shows proof of his existence rainfire..but then if you don't want to believe that not even those happened well if you have no faith then you have no faith..

God seems more like the unknown ocean in that fish tank analogy.

that analogy still doesnt provide any proof.

like i said.. i dont want to hear about that faith crap.