Having read Brian's post a while back regarding religion and its failings, here was my response to it. It's really just my comment to Verona's post about it... but CTRL+C and CTRL+V are my friends.



having only ever heard of this guy once prior to reading his post, i honestly don't know anything about him, but from just reading his post, i would almost completely agree with you verona. but to start off with, i find the MOST ironic thing comes directly from the last major point of his comment: "acceptance". he, apparently, advocates acceptance while, at the same time, writes a completely prejudiced essay on 'why religion does not exist.' uhh.. huh? sorry, i must've gotten lost when he contradicted himself.

a lot of my initial feelings and response to his post has been very well conveyed by you, and it's totally awesome because i could never be able to structure and build an argument like you did. it is important to note that you are NOT trying to force anything upon anybody, but you're simply doing what he intentionally tried to create: a debate.

and since i don't know brian, i'll share here (with verona :P) some other things that i thought:

what kept throwing me off about how i should view his claim was that he could not define his own personal beliefs to begin with. so is he agnostic or atheist? he sort of keeps jumping fences throughout his post between these two perspectives. if he was atheist, firstly he then has no right in claiming that "religion and these higher powers do not look over the lives of humanity but the lives of itself." a majority of his view would go down the drain because.. ATHEISTS DENY THE EXISTENCE OF God or GODS. you can't argue with something that you don't believe in, a belief that you are challenging. and actually, there has been significant proof for Christianity (not saying that there isn't for other religions, but i have more knowledge in Christianity) and the credibility of the Holy Bible based on historical proof. and if physical proof isn't evident enough for agnostics or atheists, tell me what driving force on this earth, other than religion, can change, shape, and give purpose to people's lives? in MY 19 "long" years on this planet, i know of NOBODY who has clung on to their vault of money, their collection of porsches and rolls royce, or their many Ph D's while on their deathbed.

i sincerely believe that we are driven to find purpose in life. although a businessman may tell you he is driven by his pursuit of money, he will tell you otherwise when money fails him and he goes bankrupt. religion gives people purpose and a vision for their lives -- whether you argue what religion drives people to do is good or bad is another story. you may fantasize about power, money, or knowledge, but all these things are temporary and have been tangibly proven to fail, falter, and change. religion, on the other hand, does not change. in the thousands of years that, for example, Christianity has existed, its core beliefs and integrity has been challenged over and over again, and yet it still stands the same and as solid as it has ever stood before. now wait, if my knowledge of history holds to be correct, i think i do remember something called "The Great Depression." i think it had something to do with money failing... hmm.

I also find interesting in his last paragraph how he boldly claims that "there is no higher power." wait, didn't he just accept that religion, and therefore a higher power or higher powers, exist in his opening paragraph: "there's this entity..."religion and these higher powers do not look over the lives of humanity but the lives of itself." again i question - if you believe it doesn't exist, how can you take a stance that suggests and argues that religion and a higher power DOES exist and is a corrupted presence?

so from challenging the existence and credibility of religion, he now ends by questioning life in the same way. if life "is just a fantasy," what are you living in right now? although that would definitely make a good post-modern philosophical claim, i'm quite sure that life is real. and anyways, if it were an illusion and "just a fantasy and we all know fantasies do not exist", your truths would be completely insignificant. if everything around you is fake, what makes what you think more real than what you're living? going back to what i think about purpose, i think brian really sums it up for me: "our hope of searching for [life's] true meaning." rather than being an essay of questioning religion or life or beliefs, i think he is having trouble questioning the purpose of his own existence, of what drives him, and rather than trying to solve this issue, he instead lashes out at the one thing he refuses to unravel. maybe he is feeling this way because he refuses to let go of "power, money, and the thirst for knowledge [that] ultimately controls [his] ideals."

PS. this is just simply what i felt and thought after reading his post, and obviously is tied into what i personally believe. and to clear things up (in case others read this), i am a Christian. my religion and my beliefs HAVE changed me completely and i have found purpose in it.