Just out of curiosity what are everyones thoughts on God and a higher power here.

[JV]

As you can tell... I'm a Mormon... Lol

 

[UA_Iron]

I do not believe. I alternate between strong atheist and agnostic with more agnostic beliefs as of late. I believe this is due to my growing indifference with God and religion as a whole, when before it was definite hate.

Some people need Religion for their moral base, others do not. I respect what people believe until they do not return the same respect - and thats when the argument breaks down. But the fight isn't even worth it, in fact, no argument is really acceptable until both sides go into the argument with the understanding that "if this guy presents the better argument, I will concede and agreed."

My governing principle:

The atheist makes no claims about gods, but simply observes what is observable and detects what is detectable. It is the theist who makes an existential claim (a claim that the thing described, a god, actually exists). The atheist makes no such claim, but maintains the default position: “I don’t see any gods” (or, “I don’t detect any gods”; or, “I don’t conceive that gods exist”). “One cannot prove a negative, nor is that demanded in [the theistic] system of logic. Since negative is not susceptible to proof, the person posting the positive assertion has the burden of maintaining the assertion.” [1] For this reason, it is the theist — not the atheist — who is responsible for backing up her or his claim. Though many atheists are able to provide very strong arguments for the nonexistence of a deity, it is not the atheist’s job to make any case whatsoever. The reason for this is simple: Nobody can prove that a thing does not exist unless it cannot possibly exist (such as a square circle).

 

[stevesmi]

In my opinion ill Beleive it when I see it. I mean there's so much pain, war, illnesses and suffering. I can't see there being a higher being.
And also the fact that if it weren't for the church we would be leaps and bounds ahead in scientific research!!
Never mind all this holy war Muslim bullshit!!!
Just my opinion.

a very small % of muslims are what you think they are. I come from a country that was wrecked by civil war.. and it wasn't the muslims who were the aggressors, it was the christians... however because muslims come from very poor countries and have zero political strength in the world they get little sympathy.

Osama Bin Laden was a multi millionaire, and a psychopath.. he didn't make his millions.. he inherited it. it just so happened he was a nut who was born into wealth. has nothing to do with his religion. just imagine giving Tim McVeigh or any right wing christian fundamentalist billions (which is the equivalent of what bin laden had comparing apples to apples) and see how much damage they would do

using religion to trick and fool others into doing something for you isn't exclusive to any one religion or ideology either. look at Bernie Madoff who used his Jewish background to rob people of billions.

 

[El Hefe]

Moderate Muslims in the US are proud of their religion and understandably want to protect it and the perception of. Some media outlets also like try portray the average Muslim in the Middle East as being very moderate.

I spent a number of years living in a city with a large middle eastern population. I knew, worked with and was friends with a number of middle eastern professionals/businessmen. Notice I didn't say Muslims. These were somewhat oppressed individuals who fled their home country and religion in search of freedom and opportunity. They would readily admit and share that the moderate Muslim portrayed in the US is a bit of a myth. To be clear, most Muslims in the US are moderate/peaceful. But what we call radical Muslims in the Middle East are simply called Muslims in their home region. In the Middle East, they refer to moderate muslims in the US as Americans. One difference that they would point out is that in the US we have violent and radical Christians who have twisted and misinterpreted their religion. In the Middle East they have violent and radical Muslims who are accurately following their religion - at least as its taught in schools from an early age and also understood in the popular church.

Of course evil exists everywhere in every religion and non-religion.

Just my opinion developed from my experience and in depth observation.
Of course

 

[El Hefe]

By the way, the Middle Eastern friends and colleagues that I was referring to we're primarily from Iran and Palestine.

 

[Headholio]

. look at Bernie Madoff who used his Jewish background to rob people of billions.

How was his Jewish background part of his ponzie scheme?

 

[Headholio]

The atheist makes no claims about gods, but simply observes what is observable and detects what is detectable. It is the theist who makes an existential claim (a claim that the thing described, a god, actually exists). The atheist makes no such claim, but maintains the default position: “I don’t see any gods” (or, “I don’t detect any gods”; or, “I don’t conceive that gods exist”). “One cannot prove a negative, nor is that demanded in [the theistic] system of logic. Since negative is not susceptible to proof, the person posting the positive assertion has the burden of maintaining the assertion.” [1] For this reason, it is the theist — not the atheist — who is responsible for backing up her or his claim. Though many atheists are able to provide very strong arguments for the nonexistence of a deity, it is not the atheist’s job to make any case whatsoever. The reason for this is simple: Nobody can prove that a thing does not exist unless it cannot possibly exist (such as a square circle).

Pretty good. Where did you get it?

 

[Headholio]

They would readily admit and share that the moderate Muslim portrayed in the US is a bit of a myth. To be clear, most Muslims in the US are moderate/peaceful. But what we call radical Muslims in the Middle East are simply called Muslims in their home region. In the Middle East, they refer to moderate muslims in the US as Americans. One difference that they would point out is that in the US we have violent and radical Christians who have twisted and misinterpreted their religion. In the Middle East they have violent and radical

I would say that what we call a radical Muslim is one who does, or is ready to, commit acts of terror or murder to progress a false idea of his religion being supreme, and war against non-muslims being condoned by God.
I don't think that is what you would call any Middle Eastern Muslim.

 

[stevesmi]

How was his Jewish background part of his ponzie scheme?

he used his jewish 'faith' to convince people to trust him. a huge %, not all, his investors were jewish.

I once got suckered into a ponzi scheme myself years ago.. it was a christian minister who ran it.. you can look it up if you want.. it was called IPIC.. it was about 1B big.. he used his faith within his church to fool people into investing in it. it took about 6 years before the FBI finally arrested him and his family.. the guy had a helicopter, mansions, yachts etc. what a scumbag.

 

[stevesmi]

By the way, the Middle Eastern friends and colleagues that I was referring to we're primarily from Iran and Palestine.

Iranians in the US are primarily secular. thats why they fled Iran throughout the 80's and 90's to get away from that crap over there. you would have a hard time finding someone Iranian in the US who actually is a practicing Muslim. palestinians are a different story.

most middle easterners in the US are actually christian, not muslim. there are more black muslims in the US than middle eastern muslims... notice i said middle eastern, not pakistan/afghanistan/bangladesh which is part of Asia.