some questions

[Darkstar]

1. What do you believe about God?

Well, I'm going to assume that by 'believe', you mean 'think'. I try not to simply believe things, but to actually know them. If I cannot say something with reasonable certainty, I will not claim it as fact, but only as something that I think. Now then, about god in general; he is made up. There a hundreds, if not thousands of gods that have been fabricated over time, and I don't know much about most of them, other than that they aren't real.

2. What do you believe about the universe?

It exists, it is constantly expanding, and it is uncomprehenisbly big.

3. What do you believe about the nature of human beings?

Whaterver is/was evolutionarily beneficial will be in there. 'Human nature' is too complex to explain here (if I even could explain it) and it is not a catch all decider of behavior by any means. The values that people have are very important, and perhaps in a way become part of their individual nature.

4 What do you believe about life and death?

Life is animity, death is inanimity. Death is the end of life and consciousness, forever.[/quote]

5. How do we get knowledge?

We get raw data from sensory input, and we use reason to interpret this further and get knowledge. How else could we get knowledge? (Or do you mean divine revelation? Religion does not advance society, science does, plain and simple. Religion never invents anything except storys and predjudices. And no, just because early scientists were Christians (everyone was a Christian, practically) does not mean religion did anything. Did they ask god to make their discoveries, or did they use the scientific method?) Ok...rambling done.

6. How do you determine right and wrong?

Most people have something called a 'conscience'...if you don't, I would reccommend checking into a psych ward, as you are legally insane. You won't always inherently know what is wrong, but a conscience is a good start. You should use rational thought to determine it beyond your gut reaction. Empathy is a pretty universal standard for helping determine whether or not something is moral or not. Now, there is a limit. You must recognize when an organism is suffuciently inferior to you and withhold empathy. Otherwise, things like this will happen:

---

---

7. What is the meaning of history?

Would you like a 1,000 page dissertation on that? /rhetorical
We learn from the past, what we learn would fill that dissertation, and possibly more.

8. If you have a specific religion or recognized belief system you belong to, please state what it is. (ex. Athiest, Buddhist, Agnostic, etc)

I am an atheist. Atheism is most certainly not a religion, but I wouldn't really call it a belief system, as it only requires one belief, or more accurately, the lack of a belief.