I don't reject God, I like to believe there is a higher purpose to everything :thumb:
But I do reject religion, to many nutters and fundamentalists in there (and that goes for all of them) for my tastes :nono:

Geezer and Olly.

I just cannot bring myself to go through all those points you have made. The reason is that none of it all makes any real difference to what I meant one way or the other. I am happy to let each point stand on its own merits.

I was not trying to convert anyone to any kind of belief in respect of all this, but putting my view of even having such a discussion forward. I was not trying to justify any part of the subject and am not prepared to get into such an exercise. As I said, it is pointless and you will either get a whole bunch of people who agree with each other anyway and maybe someone else who is trying to indicate his right to believe what his conscience tells him and does not see why he should be attacked for that. It is a matter of history that such discussions never yield a believable answer to all sides and are more likely to generate ill feeling. I have to admit that I do get irritated when I get denigrated for my personal beliefs with arguments which don't stand up or are just a list of ill mannered, unfair, and inaccurate accusations. I am not accusing you of that by the way.

Everyone is quite rightly entitled to their own beliefs, but they are not acting fairly to insult or otherwise castigate those who hold different views without any positive proof anyway.

I am just as interested as anyone in the scientific approach to the mysteries of the Universe etc. The forthcoming experiments with the LHC will be interesting to say the least, although I must still admit to some concern about it's safety. We have already had long enough discussions about all that and there is no place for that in this thread.

I would not deride anyone for your beliefs and I would think it fair to expect the same treatment in return.

Les

Sorry to talk on your behalf here, Les, but why not simply explain that you're a Deist with a soft spot for the teachings of Christ?

Deism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Teachings of Jesus Christ

You must find it tiring having to constantly explain your position to ill-informed atheist-fundamentalist.

I wish these people would go and fill the gaps in their knowledge. As you know, the hocus-pocus knocked-up about Christ came from Constantine, his Mum and some of his mates.

First Council of Nicaea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Attributing the word God to an unseen entity pre-Big Bang is perfectly rational. Accepting the teachings and philosophy of Christ is optional and valid.

Here's a God/Creation concept care of Isaac Asimov.

The Last Question -- Isaac Asimov

I bet the very same people that challenge Les's notion of God will not invest the energy into reading and understanding this short story. Until the LHC or equivalent unravels the mysteries of singularity, why can God as a concept not retain a place in our psyche?

[quote=JTaylor;8410331]Sorry to talk on your behalf here, Les, but why not simply explain that you're a Deist with a soft spot for the teachings of Christ?

Thanks for that-very perspicaceous of you if you don't mind me saying so. :)

I thought that offering up that bit of Deist philosophy might widen the concept of a supreme being without all the distraction of how people consider the Christian story.

Les ;)