If everything has a purpose then evil doesn't exist

[Anomalocaris]

If you're here long enough, you hear every fool thing that people pin their superstitions on.  I don't think that your bit is even close to the silliest shit we've heard, not even about the magic boat, if that helps you feel better about it.

Again I can only speak for myself. While I freely admit that religion Can be a group think belief system, So too is science. as I would say there is a tiny percentage of us who are in fact able to 'science' on our own and formulate our own conclusions. Like with religion it can be as shallow as you want or it can go deeper than you are able. It's all about the individual.

“Us” most assuredly does not include you.

Unlike religion, depth in science is not make belief.

[The Grand Nudger]

Is that all that religion is, or is that all the superstitious will allow it to be?

[The Architect Of Fate]

Again I can only speak for myself. While I freely admit that religion Can be a group think belief system, So too is science. as I would say there is a tiny percentage of us who are in fact able to 'science' on our own and formulate our own conclusions. Like with religion it can be as shallow as you want or it can go deeper than you are able. It's all about the individual.

Nope people turn to science by reason. people to to religion out of indoctrination ignorance and emotionalism. I know you need to denigrate science by lower it down to the level of religion but this fails.

[The Grand Nudger]

It;s an interesting tick of western history that science was originally envisioned as a thing that could elevate religion. By hashing out the details of these relationships we're referring to when we talk about the connectedness of all things. It's not a huge leap from believing in the river god - to ecology. The former was, ostensibly, based on the latter. If you dump shit in the river and take out more than you require then, one day, the river stops providing. It's just about impossible to believe that even early groups of humans didn't manage to cause local ecological disasters - and so, their beliefs about -how to treat the river-..the actual religion of the river god, were likely informed by legitimate observation of adverse consequences in natural environments.

That's a pretty effective summary of a religion of nature all by itself. That the things we've been attributing to god were, in fact, natural. This doesn't just include the disasters, but whatever respect and awe and deference we felt towards those objects.

[The Architect Of Fate]

So?

I demonstrates Joe is the last person on earth someone should consider credible. Neither are the crackpots he had on.

[brewer]

It seems to me that is what religion depends on. You all gather in one place at the same time, repeat the same mindless drivel together, sing the same ridiculous songs together.

It's the epitome of groupthink. Independent thinkers my ass.

religion yes.. Relationship with God... Not so much.

So you're telling me that you don't attend any religious services? That you weren't raised (indoctrinated) in any particular religion by your parents?

I was until the age of 13. Had the whole group speak memorized, no 'turn to this page' required.

Edit: I noticed that you didn't participate here on Sunday, another part of group think of keeping the sabbath?

[Mister Agenda]

It's hard to find anyone in the USA who hasn't heard the 'Good News' already, any American Christian who somehow thinks they formed their religious beliefs indepently is likely kidding themselves.

[brewer]

It's hard to find anyone in the USA who hasn't heard the 'Good News' already, any American Christian who somehow thinks they formed their religious beliefs indepently is likely kidding themselves.

I'm sure that RF thinks he's a 'special' christian.

[Mister Agenda]

If I pour a glass of salty water and a glass of fresh water into a bowl, I will get a bowl of slightly less salty water!

google 'where the Fraser river meets the ocean.' in  Vancouver BC Canada, if you want to see pictures.

You can see the fresh water on the right and salt water on the left.

Salt water and fresh water do in fact mix when agitated. These diluted salt/fresh water areas are called estuaries or brackish water zones. But this only happens when the water is agitated.

What I would actually want to see is a representative sample of pictures of river water meeting ocean war all over the world. The reason you picked the Fraser river is that is one of the very few where you can see a boundary like that. The waters are mixing fine, it's the silt that's having trouble getting through the ocean water. Temperature and density are the main factors in determing how easily river water and ocean water mix.

Isn't the idea that there's some sort of barrier between freshwater and saltwater from the Q'uran anyway? I thought you were a Christian.

[brewer]

google 'where the Fraser river meets the ocean.' in  Vancouver BC Canada, if you want to see pictures.

You can see the fresh water on the right and salt water on the left.

Salt water and fresh water do in fact mix when agitated. These diluted salt/fresh water areas are called estuaries or brackish water zones. But this only happens when the water is agitated.

What I would actually want to see is a representative sample of pictures of river water meeting ocean war all over the world. The reason you picked the Fraser river is that is one of the very few where you can see a boundary like that. The waters are mixing fine, it's the silt that's having trouble getting through the ocean water. Temperature and density are the main factors in determing how easily river water and ocean water mix.

Isn't the idea that there's some sort of barrier between freshwater and saltwater from the Q'uran anyway? I thought you were a Christian.

Oh come on, there are no waves in the ocean to create agitation.  

Wait, I got it, god stopped all of the waves and ocean currents, just like magic.