3 Answers

No! ;-)

No, I don't think so, not for one minute. If you consider the way the world works you can see that everything is quantifiable, in other words, it can be measured and observed. And what are the results of this examination? That nature follows a set of rules that are defined by the laws of science and mathmatics. People follow a more subjective path in a phylisophical sense as far as their daily lives are concerned, but measurable just the same by the behavorial sciences. History shows us that religion was originally an attempt to define and understand the natural world that surrounded man. Eventually, science evolved from this attempt to understand and has been leaving religion in the dust ever sence. If you look at a statistical timeline you will notice that science has filled in almost all of the blanks that represented the unknowns and religion has become less important in the scheme of things for people. The U.S. is probably the most religious country left in the world. Statistics show religion is in decline in most of the world with people becoming more agnostic or atheistic.

Religion is still important to a lot of people because it is an attempt to assuage the anxiety caused by the finite strand that is life. It provides solace and that's great if it makes your life easier. However, that doesn't make it true. There are a multitude of reasons that support a humanistic aproach to life, but when confronted religious people can only offer you belief which is arbitrary. There isn't one iota of evidence to support that belief. When confronted the religious will sputter and get angry and finally emotionally insulting and there are some atheist that do the same, especially the new atheist authors, but that doesn't change the outcome.

Look at the bible and all the quotes that people extract from it. A great many of them are contradictory and most of the events aren't historical in the least. Which means that they most likely didn't even happen. Take Jesus for instance.  I was just reading a study by historians, including religious historians, the there is no real proof that Jesus actually existed. Most of the information comes from christian authors whose objectivity can hardly be accepted unquestioned. For example, for a long time there was a short section of writing by Josephus, a jewish historian, during Jesus time, which made reference to his crusifixion. However, upon recent examination, experts don't think that Josephus actually wrote it because it doesn't folloow his usual style and because it refers to Jesus in a complimentary mannner. Now, the reason this is strange is that Josephus was an orthadox jew which means that he wouldn't have supported Jesus preachings. Religious historians believe that most likely christian authors changed some of the histories. Then take a look at Jesus lifein Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Three of these are based on the origional, Mark. In fact, some biblical historians believe that Matthew was written by a greek and not the apostle.

Anyway, this reflects my belief system and if people recieve peace and comfort from belief in god then more power to them, but it doesn't work for me.

No question, YES.