Originally Posted by Mutt

There is no way to prove to a true believer that God doesn't exist, nor can he prove to a non-believer that God does exist, it's a stalemate. But there's plenty in the Bible that can be challenged based on science and history, Creationists of course make fools of themselves when they attempt to defend the Bible scientifically. There's a world reknowned Jewish physicist who has gone to great lengths to *prove* that the universe and everything in it was created in 6 days. I cringe when I see them do this, it makes them look like fools. What they should say is 'God works in mysterious ways, we are not capable of fully understanding what God does'.

Religion is dying in well educated developed countries, those who still practice some of their Christian and Jewish rituals do so out of nostalgia and tradition, they don't intellectually believe the Bible stories. If you take out the supernatural from the scriptures there's a moral code of ethics and some philosophical comfort that serve people well. Of course you don't need religion or scriptures to teach you ethics or find comfort and hope. For those who can suspend their disbelief it's a nice thing - I value the truth too much to have faith in anything for which a rational argument can't be raised.

I used to think religions started mostly because people were afraid of death - I was wrong, ancient people weren't as neurotic about their mortality as we are, death was much more a fact of life, average lifespan was 30, women and babies died in childbirth all the time, natural disasters, constant wars, untreatable diseases/epidemics, rape, murder - they were more concerned what happened to them in the here and now. It wasn't until the Greek philosophers, Plato, who conceived the idea of the immortal soul, an afterlife, and the Jews picked up on it and the early Christians who were Jews fleshed it out in the story of Jesus Christ.