And it isn't in Mesopotamia. It's in Cornwall, England.

http://www.edenproject.com/

This place is absolutely amazing! I went a few years ago. It was also used in the last of Pierce Brosman's Bond films as part of the whole Ice Palace complex. It isn't religious or anything, its basically trying to show the beauty of the planet and encourage carbon neutral living and environmentally friendly alternatives.

It's a beautiful place. Not just in the big biodomes but outside in the gardens. They also have big music festivals there. Part of Live 8 was done there.

To me theism and atheism are not very different at all.

- I talk to myself in quiet hours too and I get many insights out of it. (I just don’t call it prayer.)

- I am part of something bigger, too – the universe, the Earth as a living planet, the human endeavor. (I just don’t call it God.)

- Good things happen to me all the time. (I just don’t call it a miracle.)

- I enjoy the beauty in the world: Nature, art, the magnificence of life itself. (I just don’t call it God.)

- I think I’m thoroughly moral, too and I feel the love for all human beings. (I just don’t call it God.)

i got a brief moment in my busy life to checkout some really interesting news, the first reakky shocked me but, can you believe newton a renowned scientist someone who had to be a concrete fact finding person , believed in god and christ he even went on to try and predict the end of the world. He was hoping to stop other people from making outrageous claims and therefore keep the scriptures from being ignored. this man feared god.

i also got a chance to see the vatican put out the ten commandments of driving. ok now im a thiest i beleve in jesus christ, to see religion do something like that just makes me shake my head in amazment. what was the vatican thinking.

 Sapien, I understand you used to be Catholic. Didn't you know that the Blessed Virgin prophesized in 1917 at Fatima that many would leave the Church? You are helping to fulfill that prophesy. What a miracle it would be to the world if you would return to the faith. You have a unique opportunity to make the Church shine before the world. This would be a great witness and victory of the faith to a world that is headed to hell in a hand basket. To the skeptics, I advise you to study Fatima. The miracle of the Sun was witnessed by 70 thousand people, and many people were healed. All this was reported in the local newspapers. The healings occur to this day. God bless you Sapien. You are my brother. You can do this. Come home. God is waiting with open arms.

Speculation ahead - warning.

So suppose humans bring the understanding of quantum mechanics to the point where we know how to manipulate the vacuum to initiate big bangs. Given our history of making new toys, I consider it likely that we would actually do this.

No? 

I am not quite sure where to put this.

What is more of a "freeing" experience? Being saved and/or redemption or deconversion?

I think deconverting is much much more freeing.

We know now that the sky goes on seemingly forever, and that there is no mystical spirit world in the sky.

 Why, then, are angels, Jesus, God, and heaven depicted as flying around or existing in the sky?

When Jesus died and resurrected, why the ascension into the sky?  Wouldn't it make more sense for him to just pop out of existence and enter the spirit world?

There are some serious logical problems with all this flying around and living up in the clouds.  I think the easy answer is that most pre-modern peoples believed that there really was some spirit world up in the sky, so their religious traditions reflected that premise.

what i've learned here

after reading the beautiful thoughts that each of you have, i see that we are very similar.  the only difference that separates an atheist and a theist is the belief of God.  we both are passionate, caring, kind, friendly, analytical, logical, and rational beings... apart from our faith in God.

what do we do now?

i pose that we still debate and talk with each other about our beliefs.  ask questions in good fun and admit when we don't have an answer.  quick answers are always full of holes and we all tend to have a "rant" that may prevent us from growing within or outside that "rant".  sometimes with such answers the other person may not feel they have truly been heard.  we both can agree that communication is an important attribute of mankind.  you guys have shown an excellent ability to communicate here.

OMG indocranation.