Hard to argue with that. Know what’s even better?
Image this: Neko Case of Beer
It should also be noticed that Jefferson’s prediction was wrong. He felt that once the United States granted its people religious freedom, orthodox Christianity would vanish and people would worship with a more pure form of deism, without a need for organized church bodies and clergy. Thomas Paine expressed a similar idea. But they were both wrong. Americans in their time, and in our time, were on average more likely to worship in church regularly, as compared to European countries where the church was tangled up with the government.
I’m sorry for the fact that back then I wasn’t nasty enough to meet your exacting standards of nastiness. Please accept my sincerest apologies.
Well, you have my admiration and praise. Doubtlessly all of us would be better and happier if we made more effort to see how things look from the perspective of other people and to not think of ourselves as better than others.
You are acting like if the end of times are here already, they are not for this young nation, and as I have seen evidence of the increase in secularism in the USA your point here is still premature.
I love rationality and the real universe we live in. Which is probably why I hate religion and the delusions it inflicts on others.
I’d remind you that in earlier threads you professed a reasoned transition into theism. When asked for those reasons, you gave a reading assignment. I’d say that you shouldn’t be too haughty about how your position is based on reason and learning, if you can’t relate the basics of that reasoning without pointing to a book.
Lobohan, just so you know, you’ve been on my ignore list for a while now.
I don’t think you’re supposed to say that in this forum.
In any case, I understand why.
You’re not. ITR Champion, don’t do this again.
Well said, Lobohan. 
More like, I take it those posts don’t really exist. And your second post you backed off even more. And now you’re reduced to this. Methinks you simply embellished your past to paint atheists in a bad light.
My husband printed up a whole bunch of these a while back and occasionally will leave them in rest stop bathrooms and the like. I never ran into anyone else who knew about them before.
My religion forbids proselytizing on pain of death.
And there are cookies. 
I can’t be sure about “God” per se, but many forms of religion or spirituality have a head start over science on accessing valuable states of mind, and have other benefits. Science will eventually catch up but has been ignoring a lot of these things due to associating it with religion. You could probably get some of the same benefits without religion per se, by playing with kids, doing self development, pursuing a passion, reading philosophy, meditating, and doing charity work. Every system has benefits and downsides, including science. It’s up to you which one appeals to you the most, and how you will supplement it to make up for its failings.
Personally, I take part in a lot of different things, and value them all without taking any of them too seriously. I’m a scientist, but I also meditate, do yoga, attend a friary, participate in a Wiccan circle, attend Jewish holidays with friends, do bible study, take classical Indian dance, visit the Unitarian church, study integral philosophy, am most affected personally by Zen, Taoism, and Buddhism, and believe in the lessons of fictional stories. Everything has some element of truth, and something of value. I ignore or gently persuade against any elements of fear, hatred, or dogma. I’d say the most secular and rational religions/spirituality to pursue would be Taoism/Buddhism/Unitarianism/integral philosophy. If you have trouble with a literal interpretation of God, you can just access it as a metaphor for a certain state of mind. Phenomenologically, the experience of grace or enlightenment is the same whether you believe it is something divine, magical, or neurological. However you label it, and in whatever form, and by whatever means, it is worth pursuing.
The obvious question: how can you properly identify,“Faith” and the fruit it bears if you have no personal experience with it in the first place?
Formulating a concept about, “Faith” is worlds apart from possessing the genuine article.
That depends-faith in what?
[quote=“Czarcasm, post:23, topic:667033”]
How many do you need?
edited to add: Now, what evidence do you have for your god that doesn’t point to any of these other gods?[/QUOTE
My “need” has been met. It’s your need that prompted the question.
Personal experience.
[quote=“Conservian, post:56, topic:667033”]
[quote=“Czarcasm, post:23, topic:667033”]
How many do you need?
edited to add: Now, what evidence do you have for your god that doesn’t point to any of these other gods?
[/QUOTE
My “need” has been met. It’s your need that prompted the question.
Personal experience.[/QUOTE]
You’re not posting to convince yourself-try again.
Actually, it would be, faith in who, not what.
I certainly can’t improve upon this classical definition of the kind of Faith I’m referring to:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
[quote=“Czarcasm, post:57, topic:667033”]
I’m not posting to “convince” you either. My initial quote of “Luke-16” in this thread should have pointed that out to you.
[quote=“Thudlow_Boink, post:17, topic:667033”]
That depends on what you believe. If you believe and take to heart Christian teaching about love, and forgiveness, and humility, and thankfulness, and removing the log from your own eye, and did I mention love? it ought to make you less hateful. And many of us find that believing in a loving, forgiving, generous God helps us to be more loving and forgiving and generous ourselves—or at least I hope so.
No question about it, the closer one comes to understanding the magnitude of God’s Love for His elect, the greater one’s humility becomes.