In article <124820@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> perryc.wheelie.Sun.COM (Perry Cross): >In article <242

In article <124820@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> perryc.wheelie.Sun.COM (Perry Cross):
>In article <2428@wyse.wyse.com> jmunro@wyse.UUCP (Jim Munro) writes:
>
>Atheists have about as much in common as people who eat Cornflakes for
>breakfast. In fact, I can only think of two:
>
>	They deny the existance of (G)god(s)
>	They are right.

>Actually, you're forgeting the most salient commonality.  We must suffer
>through a world filled with primitive religions.

Not only that, but even the culture of the US (if you can call it culture),
even though it is so "secular" and "ungodly", is actually filled with
religious language and ideas.  Being on the "outside" tends to make one all
the more aware of it.  As an example-- listen to nearly any radio station,
even the most secular-humanist-rock-n-roll one, or watch a significant
amount of TV in a day.  Count the number of times you hear some religious term
or see some allusion to religious dogma or fable.  You'd be surprised.
Main-stream churches may be in decline, but religious mysticism itself is
definitely on the rise.

>Hey folks, you've read the bible, right?  So tell me, the ark settled on
>Mt. Ararat some number of days after the flood.  Later (a few days as I recall)
>the tops of the mountains shown.  So tell me, given the height of Mt. Ararat
>and the size of the ark, how could the ark not be submerged and Mt. Everest
>still covered with water?

Not only that, but consider the bristlecone pines in California.

It still amazes me that so many religious people still kick around many of
the same old arguments and stories that have been refuted so many times.
I still hear Pascal's Wager quite frequently, although most people are
completely ignorant of the origin of this and other arguments they use so
freely.

Wayne Aiken                netoprwa@ncsuvm.bitnet      "You can BE what
PO Box 30904               netoprwa@ncsuvm.ncsu.edu     you WON'T!!"
Raleigh, NC  27622         StarFleet BBS                  --"Bob"
(919) 782-8171                (919) 782-3095