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Hi Nitai. I would point out that I've seen no one here dispute this idea - even those terrible killjoys, the atheists, would agree that reason isn't designed for the inconceivable. The difference of opinion is over the proper applications of reason. For people of faith, it means thinking about...

Would that be a Buddhist sutta? Anyway, I think we could wittle on this for a while but in the end our views are probably a little different but not all that far apart. When you look at tradition, I think you find different perceptions arising from basically sectarian impulses. Both sides -...

Yah, I've heard that. Of course, if you've see George Lucas interviewed you'll notice that he takes himself a little too seriously - the downside of talking to Joseph Campbell. As an aside from this end, I very much like Mr. Campbell. He may be considered no more than a popularizer of Jung and...

I don't know if I quite understand your last comment, but otherwise I appreciate your honest response. You're right to be frustrated. You see the merits of your culture from the inside, and know the 90% that's going right as opposed to the 10% that's going wrong. But as an ordinary person I...

Again, I think you may be a little quick to dismiss my points and perhaps you still misunderstand my intent, just a little. But it may have been my faulty expression, as I've said in a reply I've just made to Q. If you like, you can have a look at that, since it deals with a similar divergeance...

I'm not sure if my replies will satisfy your objections. Like Juantoo3, you appear to assume that I'm offering evidence for the non-existence of God in a much larger sense than I intended. I tried my best to point out that I'm only taking about the idea of God as a quasi-human personality, not...

Hi Thipps. Leaving aside the two Sheiks you mention, which were cited earlier in the thread, the 500 Imams are based in the U.K., and CAIR is based in Washington D.C. – and then there’s the Muslims leaders I cited in Canada. Do we see a pattern here? And as far as the Muslim leaders in...

Hi again. I appreciate your thoughtful & interesting comments, many of which I wouldn't quibble with, some of which I might only situate a little differently. But in terms of our dialogue, I think you perhaps misunderstand my aims. As I tried to make clear, I'm presenting evidence against the...

Hi Vajra. First, I'd like to say that I think at times I come on a little stronger than I need to, so I apologize if I've been in any way strident at any point in our exchanges. I think the point I would like to make here is that we shouldn't confuse worship of "Brahma" or the idea of...

Hey Juantoo3. (I just got the pun, shows you how slow I am!) You're right these observatons would have been more to the point on the other thread, which I agree got derailed. On the other hand, I appreciate your comments, and I'm very sympathetic to your open view of things. As for my two...

Hi Q. I’m okay with this. But while we’re sticking to principles, I’ll stick with mine and restate my belief that properly speaking the burden of evidence has to be from the other side. However, in recognition of this new & relaxed environment, and in the spirit of diversion let’s soldier on –...

Thanks Q. Appreciate the intervention. I guess I would have two question just to narrow it down a little more. Should this concept/being/force be considered an agent in our human sense? That is, would it need to be a conscious being molding the universe, the way a potter molds a vase? Or could...

Thanks for that definitive bit from Russell. Though it's depressing to be reminded of how amateur my own thinking is! But on Russell and religion, I think we do well to remember that his application is limited - as far as I've read - to the strictly logical basis/non-basis of dogma. He really...

I was a silly man I suppose for even stepping into this thread, since this kind of response could have been predicted. Some may think I’m trying to push buttons; in fact, I’m more naive than that. I’m genuinely trying to make a point. But let’s look at it from the other side. Some may take my...

Oops! I'm back. For sure this will be my last. I just realized, especially with Bandit's post, that the idea of the gulf between verbal desciptions and spiritual experience really goes directly against the grain of some traditional Bible-based views, which specifically claim a continuity...

For Q: This will be my last post, since we can't seem to agree on the ground rules. Obviously, I can't agree that I've gone off topic in any sense. Sorry if I've caused you any frustration, but it was not intention. Naturally, I feel a certain frustration from my side, in that I don't appear...

Again, it comes down to a little more precision. What you're expressing here is a kind of intuition that is so general that it could be applied to everyone from the most orthodox, to a deist, a scientst, a bonafide secularist, to anyone with any imagination who is thrilled by the sight of the...

I agree. That was just an aside to Earl. But speaking of beating around the bush, what about my main objectives? Leaving aside the framing of the question, I believe you're beating around the bush by not specifying what conception of God you're talking about. If you're talking about God...

Thanks for this point in particular, Earl, which I don't think is made often enough. Rather than being stuck on verbal formulas we really need to observe how people are living and acting. Cheers.

With all respect, I guess I stand by my objections as well. Perhaps some exceptions exist, I don't know, but in general the demand to "prove a negative" is a bit of sophistry. Consider standard courtroom procedure. The state makes a charge; it claims the existence of a certain definite event...