lso,

[pocaracas]

It is customary to introduce yourself with a thread in the intro area of the forum, before you bring out you high-school/uni research paper questions...

Sorry about that, I probably should have introduced myself before jumping on here. Come to think of it, I haven't even finished up my profile yet--guess I was just eager . . .

See where that leads to when you're with a woman...

"the party line"? Being from Europe, I don't know what that is... care to explain?

Sure. Usually, the line I hear around here is that atheists are bitter loners who are angry at God or angry at Christians (but just think they're angry about God). I know this isn't the case (I'm sure all of us could fit into the "bitter loner" category at some point in our lives), but it tends to be the assumption in the region where I live.

AH... the angry at god thing... -.-'
I'm going to type the usual comparison: It's like being angry at Darth Vader, or Voldemort, or Dracula... pick your [fictitious] monster.

I guess that does lead me to a follow-up question, though. What, if anything, would convince you that a being/god/whatever does exist? Is there any kind of evidence that would convince you?

So many threads on that, so little time...

What would make me accept that such an entity exists? I guess, that it shows up to me and everyone else on the planet.
You know, unequivocally.
I like a god to be unequivocal. Makes it believable, you know?
And if everyone else on the planet has the same experience, then any problems with my mental sanity can be ruled out. Also, we'd get worldwide acceptance of the deity. Win-win!

Instead, we get accounts from ancient times...
If it managed to show up to a few people in the past, as is documented in the "holy books", then it shouldn't have that much of a problem repeating for everyone... don't you think?
Unless... unless... those few people that had contact were actually... no way!!... could they be having some psychotic episode, like all the loonies we get nowadays?!?!!?!?!!

Damned loonies make it so hard to lend any credence to those old, old, old accounts...