Ask500

Interesting test proposal. Even though Gould says religion and science belong to different "magesteria," many of the claims of religions people actually are testable. Skeptics have already tested intercessory prayer and proved that it has no healing effect.

I think you should go through with it. Keep in mind that RCs will say you are testing for a "spirit" and probably that your lack of faith interferes with transubstantiation. "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test," BLATHER, BLATHER, BLATHER.

I would never, but maybe gaining a social advantage is the real reason why a lot of people go to church. It's not what you know, it's who you know, so let's not "forsake the assembling of ourselves together as is the habit of some."

Money is a means of exchange. You get money in exchange for the hours of your life. If you think money is evil, you think your own life is evil. If you love money, you love your own life.

In turn, you may exchange your money for goods and services, save it, or invest. Would you rather have a gun in your face?

The church teaches that loving money is evil because poor, ignorant, scared people are easier to control.

A lot of people who work for the Government or who protect the constitution don't agree with the way things are being done. An old saying is, "I may disagree with you, but I'd defend to the death your right to express an opinion." Bad government must be seen as temporary and changeable through the political process and balance of powers.

It's only a matter of degree. If the state has a right to tax you, some percentage of your life belongs to the state. If the state subsidizes anything you purchase, to some extent you also feed at the governent trough. The question really is, how much more a ward of the state will you be after the fix?

Religious mother + agnostic father = religiously obsessed atheist

more Greek than Biblical. And no reason to believe in either mythology.

John Paul Sartre

If a gay is in a church that doesn't allow homosexuality, why not just move to a different church where it is allowed, or start a new church?

Everybody has a different conception of God. Some base theirs on the Bible, which presents many different and sometimes conflicting ideas of its main character.

Others base their idea on whatever their mother or pastor tells them, without ever reading the Bible. Also, a lot of popular Christian religion is not even from the Bible, but external traditions.

Every religion in history has invented its own god. Nobody worships an objective god, but the god between their ears. If Romans 1 forbids homosexuality, you are free to just ignore Romans 1 and invent a new god who doesn't mind. It's all good.

This is typical. When the whole altar boy abuse scandal came to light, the Papacy realized that Cardinal Law had repeatedly relocated priests so they could avoid the angry parents.

What did Pope John Paul II do with Cardinal Law? He promoted him and moved him to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.