Science is fucking brilliant.

[Voltan]

Atheism has never been so attractive.

[General Paranoia]

Of course there is a God. And it is me.

Here are a couple of Commandments that thou shalt obey or thou be smited...

Commandment Number 1 - Thou shalt Dags send all your lead (no Knobrot please)

Commandment Number 2 - Thou shalt call Condi a cunt

More when the deity's hangover has gone

Just wait until the followers of Doc rise up and declare a jihad against the blasphemous Cult of Dags

[da_bish]

Condi, seriously, you can't have any sort of recognised religion without some sort of shared belief structure and organisation. Otherwise you are just one person with a belief.

I understand that in some religions the core beliefs are more around spirituality or a sense of self rather than belief in one or more deities.

Right, but remember the beliefs and organisation you mention in your first paragraph do need to be informed in at least some way by spirituality and/or diety belief for it to be a religion. Otherwise political parties might be classified as religions.

[General Paranoia]

Otherwise political parties might be classified as religions.

Well some are based around blind unquestioning faith and little else!

[Skipp]

Otherwise political parties might be classified as religions.

Well some are based around blind unquestioning faith and little else!

Only some?

[mcfonz]

Otherwise political parties might be classified as religions.

Well some are based around blind unquestioning faith and little else!

Only some?

Indeed - I would say most.

They rely heavily upon 'members' - who are nearly all unwavering in their support and have voted the same way for many years.

[Montgomery Burns Jr]

but whatever anyone ever says, it isn't the religion that says to kill, it is the daft people who want to kill and then look for the religious loophole to justify it.

This is exactly right. Heyyy! Thumbs up to the Fonz!

Two ways of looking at that:
Firstly, no, you are exactly wrong and so is McFonz (there's a shock). Utopian theologies and ideologies inspire people to commit atrocities, the radicalisation of the young in Muslim societies is proof of that. If your beliefs promise a perfect future for everyone then you can justify anything, because what's a 100k deaths now if it results in utopia/heaven for untold millions in the future?
Secondly, lets say you're correct (you're not, but lets go with it), even if all religion does is give murderers justification for their acts, rather than initially inspire them, how does that in anyway make it all right?

You are such a pompous dick sometimes. For No.1 you are exactly wrong - there is no teaching of Christ for instance that says murder is OK or inspires followers to commit atrocities. Please advise where in the NT there is anything of the sort? Christianity is all about forgiveness and respecting one another(despite what many have done to the contrary in its name). Most Muslims would also deny that this sort of thing is allowed in Islam either. No.2 neither me or McFonz ever meant what you have written and you fucking know it. Nutters kill people then use a convenient excuse - God, Dungeons & Dragons, Death Metal, Video Games etc. Religion never gives murder justification. If it did, murder would be a lot more common than it is.

[mcfonz]

It's probably best just to ignore him when he's like this Monty.

I did start to type a rather long and windy reply but you know what - why be bothered?

Duff, if you haven't seen it, watch the Book of Eli. I'd really love for you to then spend a day in the job I do and then spend an hour chatting to a close friend who has worked in the medical field on the boarder of Pakistan and Afghanistan trying to help the locals there.

I think it would give you a different perspective than the simplified western media view which you appear to have.

You make 'radicalisation' sound very simple and purely about religion. It really is not that straightforward.

[Skipp]

I don't mind people of faith (speaking as an atheist) - fundamentalists (of every stripe) get right on my fucking tits.

Death to all fanatics. That's what I say!

[Skipp]

Ps @ mcfonz - regarding the book of Eli... I may have missed the point of the film (thought it was balletic gunfights, a fit bird, and the bible surviving the apocalypse... But mostly balletic gunslinging in a PA setting) - anyway - elucidate a little for me.