I’ve plowed through most of this thread and I thought I’d take a minute to thank most of the participants. It reads like one long advertisement for atheism.
Well done!
I think the bigger point here is that, YES by DEFINITION we ARE RELIGIOUS!
I concede! You all win! I am ignorant Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…
NOW, my point, is that the term religion carries a different meaning in the biblical context. When I talk about sheding my religion (which I did in the last year or so) I am refering to the idea of rituals, rules or specific acts which would be necessary for my “closeness to God”. I used to live that way, now I make my purpose relational. That is, if Christ was risen from the dead, then he is a living person with whom I can relate and follow his example and live my life out of Love.
Another example would be Christ vs. Law in his time. Christ made special effort to reject the commonly accepted ideals of religion, to go against them. His message was that we need not further bind ourselves with religious acts.
“It is ALWAYS ok to die for your faith. It is NEVER ok to kill for it”
Çyrin
I do not invoke the Divine Weasel, don’t believe the Creation story in the Bible either.
The evolution of man is theory, and will remain theory until the evolution of man can be observed and experienced.
No, of course not, because they might be Buddhist, Jewish, Zoroastrian, whatever. If they do know Christ as Savior, then they are a member of the Christian religion.
Count me among those who have absolutely no frickin’ idea what you are talking about, and where you are getting this idea that Christianity is not a religion, or is somehow above or beyond “religion”. Could you point to a verse in the Bible that explains it?
Now, I do understand how a person could be very “religious” but not very good. A Pharisee would be the prime example. But saying explicitly that Christianity is other than a religion - that’s doing violence to the language as we know it.
If you have Biblical justification (or otherwise) from excluding Christianity from “religion”, please share it with the class. 
Allright, I will concede that Christianity could be called a religion. But I consider it to be the true religion. I prefer being called a Christian rather than religious for reasons I’ve already posted.
MeBuckner- You have quite a few good points:
Orwell-I’ve never gotten around to reading 1984 myself. However, in Animal Farm, Napoleon(Joseph Stalin) makes Communism into something greatly resembling a state religion. The skull of Old Major(Lenin) is made into a holy relic. The laws written on the barn (despite near total illiteracy[Rather like the RC Church during the Dark Ages] on behalf of the animals) are the 10 commandments as well as Das Kapital.
Superstition- I wouldn’t phrase it that way, but I agree with your point here. I believe in God. I have no evidence whatsoever. I’ve felt and experienced things. These have been enough proof for me. IMO anybody who points to anything physical and claims that it proves God’s existence, is a moron.
Evolution-Darwin’s Finch! Paging Darwin’s Finch! Please pick up the white courtesy phone. For starters, theory has a specific meaning when used regarding science. An explanation of data that has not been verified is hypothesis. An explanation which has been verified repeatedly is a theory.
Even then, it will remain a theory.
That the earth travels around the sun is still a theory. That you and I are made out of atoms is still a theory.
That we are related to earlier proto human creatures is nearly without question.
That a pattern exists in the fossil record where simpler forms precede more complex forms in deposits of different ages is (pretty much) completely without question.
Any idea that does not take this information into account is without merit.
The incredible detail with which we have studied this data is staggering. You should look at it for yourself.
Everyone believes that their religion is the one true religion, otherwise they wouldn’t believe in it. I highly doubt that your level of belief is substancially greater than anyone else’s. I think that I will continue to consider you to be religious, and not separate your particular sect of Christianity as being above all others and thus not religious.
Lekatt, i don’t think you understand what the term 'theory" means in science. It does not mean “hypothesis,” it does not mean “unproven.” It simply a frame of reference, a paradigm for coordinating certain observed phenomena within a given field of study. No amount of verification can turn a theory into a law. Gravity is a “theory,” Lekatt, do you have any doubt that it exists? Do you believe in electricity? The atom? can airplanes really fly? They depend on “theories” of aerodynamics. Evolution has absolutely been substantiated as much as any of these things.