First thing I'm going to say is that you dont have to reply to this but please read the whole thing.
For those of you who are religious or consulting religion to help make decisions, I am not the kind of person who will tell you that your religion is stupid. If you are trying to make a hard decision or trying to decide what is write or wrong, do not base your entire decision on religion. Religion was originally someting designed to enspire people to do things in a certain way. Most religions will tell you to live your life in a good way, but you should not turn to the bible for everything. I have big news for you GOD ISN"T REAL. God is made up to enspire people to live a decent life, if you dont believe what is said in the bible, dont follow it.

u cant say that God isnt real. u can believe it though if u want to, but also let us believe what we believe.. personally, i believe in God, even though i m not really going to church often and stuff, and i dont believe that i behave totally the way i should behave as a christian. i mean, i cant aways be good or love everyone. but... i do believe in GOD. after all, God let us decide what we want to do, this is a religion that lets ppl free, they can decide for themselves.. [free will] noone tell us what to do. we have to realize what is good for us.. and we can decide if we want to believe in Him, noone forces us. and i choose to believe even if i dont often go to church or pray every day.. when i need to, i do so..

^ Admits there is no evidence = rational conclusion

^ Doesn't admit there is no evidence = blind faith

its not blind faith, of course its not.
i believe because i want to believe, and because God was there for me everytime i prayed for something.
and its good for me to believe and pray.
this is enough evidence for me.

i didnt say everyone should believe, i said i do believe and this is not blind faith.

u dont say however, what do u believe...?

There's a lot of things I *want* to believe but I don't believe them because they're wrong. Believing them anyway is know as wishful thinking.

As for what I believe, I believe a lot of things. You'll have to be more specific.

i mean, when it comes to religion, what do u believe?

i didnt say that u have to believe anything anyway, u have to know what u believe and why u do it.
i know that i have read lot about my religion and i have learned a lot at school.
furthermore, i have read stories of people who had problems and they were solved [i mean miracles] example: a story of a woman who couldnt walk at all, and doctors were saying she wouldnt be able to walk never again, and then she prayed in one church in Siphnos [Siphnos an irland, in greece -where my mother is from] and she walked again. doctors said it was a miracle, cause clinically, she wouldnt be albe to walk. ever since she comes to Siphnos every summer to pray... and what i know makes me believe

When it comes to religion, nothing.

How much of your belief comes from taking apocryphal anecdotes at their face value and how much comes from honest study and thought?

mostly it comes from thought,
i know there are no scientifical proofs that there is God, but this doesnt mean that He doesnt exist as well. It something in our mind, in our heart.
Religion, in sth very personal. everyone can see it in a different way, u know.

secondly from what i know from my family and church [even though as i said, i dont often go],
thirdly from what i know from school.

may i ask u sth? how old are u?

I'm 16.

There are no scientific proofs for or against God, but a feeling isn't necessarily a good reason. It's like a picture... a picture of something may look very real but it isn't that thing... your feelings are real, but they have to be interpreted. You can't take a God-like or spiritual feeling at its face value and come to the conclusion that there is really a God or divine spirit... you really have to dig around to find what *in yourself* caused that feeling.

i don't think it's right for you to say that everything of religion is wrong and all science is right.

for example, science 500-600 years ago said that the earth was flat and not round, which we have now proved to be untrue.

we have no science to prove or disprove God. that's a fact.

included in that means that we CAN'T disprove a God.

i think it's much more of "the chicken, or the egg?" not everyone will agree, but that's okay. it's a person's own decision which came first. and as long as no one is harmed by the perception, the belief of religion and God, then why does it matter?

a statement which plainly states "there is no religion and no God" seems just as much of a statement from OPINION as saying "there is God".

I never said all science is right. But science is *justified* and religion is not.

Right. Science is constantly correcting itself when new evidence surfaces. Religion refuses to change even though it's 2,000-year old sentiments are getting pretty rank.

I can't disprove that there is a teapot orbiting Jupiter.

People are harmed by the perception. When women are not allowed to have abortions, gay men are not allowed to marry, schools don't teach children proper science, that is harm. An atheist knows it is better to build a hospital than a church.

We should not waste our lives and effort on the nonexistent.

Opinions can be right and wrong as much as facts can.

religion is a philosophy, isn't it? it's how someone sees life and everything in it. i just think it's wrong of you guys to say that it's wrong for other people to believe what they believe.

i someone agree with you, actually, of no religion, but i don't think you should just force your opinions on others.

i'm not sure about the rest of the world, but the US does allow abortions, some states do allow gays and lesbians to get married, and schools do teach children proper science. most religious people, no matter how religious, knows it's better to build a hospital than a church. it's not how religious a person is... it's how logical. if you want to say, "well, then why don't the churches all just make hospitals of themselves?" why don't clothing stores make themselves into hospitals? why don't every person who owns a TV or a computer sell those things and send that money to a starving family? we shouldn't waste our lives watching fictitious television programs or going on to teen forums when we could be helping people eat.

yeah, religion hasn't changed, but aspects of religion have been proven by science too for that matter.

as far as i'm concerned, i'm not exactly sure if there is a God. i most certainly don't believe in the christian beliefs. but i also think it's wrong for you to try to put down someone because of their religion, their belief. debating, yeah, i'm okay with that. but saying "religion DOES NOT EXIST. IT WILL NEVER EXIST! YOU ARE STUPID!!!" does nothing.

I think what you mean to say is, a realist knows it is better to build a hospital than a church. an atheist will reject the idea of a church simply bcuz they have no use 4 it. while you believe there is no god, that is still ur BELIEF. buttersofie believes there is a god. once again, that is her BELIEF. many people who dont believe tell the religious not to push their religion on them, but if you look at what ur doing, u will see that u are trying to pushh your belief that there is no higher power on those who believe. If you truly believed that we should not waste our lives on the nonexistent, then why are you wasting your life trying to convince others that it is truly nonexistant?