I've heard it argued by the religious that authors like Richard Dawkins are speaking from ignorance; that only a theologian could make the informed decision to deny religious propositions (of course the same could be said of most believers of any one religion). If it were a field other than religion, I would agree -- to call theology a field is being charitable. To chastise an atheist for not knowing enough about religion to refute it implies that there is something to know. That there is, in the details, an evidence more potent than the trifling semantics relied upon by the most prominent advocates of religion. Something better than a deity that hides in the ambiguities of words, in the gaps of our knowledge, in drooling awe, in ignorance, or in a specious "necessity." 

Im curious to know how religious beliefs or atheism plays into you guys lives at work. We spend so much time at work, at least 40 hours every week, so eventually our notions on religion play some sort of role in our interactions at work. This thread is not designed to be a debate thread (we have enough of those), more of just a survey on social activity. I'll start below.

I work as an emergency medical technician for a company that covers an area ranging from suburbs to a run down former industrial center. Naturally, death is an everyday subject at work, as myself and my co-workers encounter it on a fairly regualr basis. I find there are many different beliefs at work, my thursday partner is a buddhist, my wednesday partner a wiccan, my saturday an atheist, and the rest are mostly non church going Christians. All these different beliefs lead to people dealing with tragedy and "bad calls" in different ways. From my non scientific observations I have found that the religious folk seem to cope with the "bad calls" more quickly and have more solace in knowing that they did all they could. (im not talking about on scene performance here, im talking about the after effcts of a highly disturbing call). A ways back I did a multiple fatal. Nobody got away from that one clean, but as I said before, the more religious the emt, the more at peace they seemed to be. I asked on of my coworkers how they dealt with it, he answered "I know he was just an innocent little boy and his soul is with God now". My agnostic coworker seemed to be more shaken by the prospect of death in such a visceral manner, he said that he was bothered that these young kids lives were crushed in their infancy, he noted that it would be nice if there was an afterlife, if only just for these kids. Granted there are a lot of factors at work behind the scenes in any person's mind, these are just my observations, I have an immense amount of respect for the people I worked with on this particular scene, however I can't give any specifics as to what when or where the call was. 

Just some thoughts here:

If the Christian god didn't want sin to exist-- if it is such an infinite offense against him, you would think he would have simply designed humans that do not sin. The argument then arises that we cannot have free will without the option to sin against this god. However, this is a poor argument because having the option to do a thing does not make it necessary to do it; I have the option to jump off of a tall building or into the path of on an oncoming train, but my ability to reason makes it clear that doing so is not in the interest of my well being.

Therefore, we must conclude that God could have created humans with free will, the choice to sin, and the ability to reason well enough to never choose to sin. In the case of Adam and Eve, for example, God tells them not to eat the apple, but they still eat it. Who is at fault here? God is. Either God did not create Adam and Eve with the proper observation and reasoning faculties to properly utilize the information provided by God (don't eat the apple) or God provided inadequate information.

The chaplain of the famous St Martins in the Square Chapel in Central London when asked why he had become a chaplain.

His answer was when he was 16 he used to visit the folk music club in the chapel. There the priests would serve beer without asking for ID (its 18 in London).

Thats a pretty compelling argument in the favour of the Church of England, through I suspect this man could be closet pastafarian with an attitude to grog like that

I think the Socratic Method is a method not a doctrine.  As a Christian I claim it for the Christians.  So, atheists, first question: God either exists or doesn't exist, right?

I find that one of my favorite questions to ask Christians is whether they would obey their god if their god commanded them to murder a loved one (child, wife, etc, Abraham style). However, most of the time, the Christians I talk to respond with a non-answer, or an answer to a different question: "I don't think my god would ask me to do that." In recent e-mail correspondence with a Christian, I illustrated the problem with such an answer as follows:

Original question: "If God commanded you to murder your wife or suffer in hell eternally as punishment for disobedience, would you do it?"

Just heard about it and I was wondering what you all think. His article can be found at:

http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ap85/papers/Samkara.html

Mod: I fixed the link for you because I'm nice like that!

I am an atheist and I seem to find myself in a lot of debates with God fearers who say I am taking the Bible out of context. So I am going to do what they have never done... read the damn bible. I have a bible from CCD when I was a kid, but it has been softened for children. I want the anti-woman genocidal hardcore real bible translation. What is the best version? Is it the King James Bible or something else? What do you all, theists and atheists alike, think I should get? Thanks.

Why do people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell hate feminists so much?

Is there something in the Bible that goes against feminists?

If the USA became a Christian society, what would happen to the feminists and their agenda?

No, I am not a woman, just curious about this. 

Dear Christians.

I'm getting a bit bored of this whole thing. I've been expecting a little more out of you guys, however, you've all come up short. Very short. Gay Coleman short. When a discussion of science comes up, you often refer to the Bible and quote vague scripture to support your claim. So, why don't we take some very unvague pieces and apply it to yourself, especially since you openly say that the word of Jesus is correct.

Matthew 6:5-8

  5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.