Didn’t we all know this was coming ………..

@minim wrote:

The Angel Gabriel cannot write.. he has to get other people to write stuff down! Don’t you know your religious texts?

Uriel writes them for him.. everyone knows that

Bible’s just as much b/s as the Koran.

As a hardline atheist I’d agree with that. Although there are Christian fundamentalists and people have used the bible to justify doing terrible things, in the modern world there is a much bigger problem with people using the koran to do justify doing bad things than is the case with the bible. But we have to remember that a few centuries ago, people were being executed for going against the rules of Christianity.

Religion isn’t necessarily evil, Christianity and islam have done a lot of good over history too, since they both replaced more barbaric earlier religions. But for me as an atheist, I can’t get past the fact that religions are based on pure myths that cannot be verified and in some cases go against science and common sense.

I think it’s time we introduced tighter controls on the claims made by religions, a bit like advertising standards. For instance, it’s illegal for quack medics to claim a product is a cure for cancer, and yet it’s perfectly legal to claim that going to church and praying might increase your chance of a happy after-life.

As for Sharia Law. It should have no legal status in this country. What should be allowed is ‘Sharia Rules’, whereby individuals can choose to lead their own lives according to Sharia as long as that doesn’t harm anyone else, and people can elect to settle disputes under Sharia rules if all parties are willing to do so and the result is not in conflict with our national laws.

I also think that the heaviest penalty any religion should be allowed to impose should be expulsion from the religion.

How do you put controls on faith, it isn’t possible and wheres the harm in the belief in an after life… prove it isn’t so, because if you’re wrong you’re in big trouble.

There’s nothing wrong in believing in an after-life, although there’s absolutely no evidence there is one. But there is a lot of harm if that belief in an after life adversely affects the way you behave in this life and the way you treat others. The prime example of this is the 9/11 hijackers, the leader of whom believed that he was taking himself and his accomplices on a short cut to Paradise.

It’s true science doesn’t have all the answers. But just because we don’t know the exact nature of gravity (only its observed effects), that doesn’t mean that it’s caused by angelic baby hippos beating their wings!

@pete wrote:

Religion isnt remotely evil neither does it start conflict, people do that using religion as an excuse. Getting rid of religion wouldn’t stop anything.
How do you put controls on faith, it isn’t possible and wheres the harm in the belief in an after life… prove it isn’t so, because if you’re wrong you’re in big trouble. And btw it has nothing to do with church or praying, but with faith and trying to live your life “properly”. If everyone followed the bible or the koran without twisting it the world would be a much better place.
Am i religious ? Am I hellers like but science doesn’t have all the answers

What do you actually mean when you say “because if you’re wrong you’re in big trouble”?