Again, about that Atheist Thing

My issue is not really religion but irrational thought and belief without evidence. Religion is just the most evident, and for some reason respected, irrational belief system on the planet. If you really analyze religion, it's all about accepting the unprovable and non-existent as a matter of course.  You would readily scoff at someone who worshiped a giant flying space pickle, so why is your particularly strange deity immune from that rational examination? Have you examined homeopathy, power balance bracelets, new age, alchemy, astrology, tarot card reading, ghosts, UFOs, paranormal, mind-reading, tea leaf reading, remote viewing, spirit guides, bigfoot, etc. and made conclusions about those things? Why not examine the rest of things you "know" in the same way?  Not to keep flogging a horse, but what I like about science is that it makes no claims without backing them with evidence. And the fantastic discoveries that it makes in every field are so much grander and more astounding than any supernatural conjecture about omniscience, answers to prayer, miracle healing, etc., that people have ever come up with, both past and present. And its brutally honest with itself. No religion has ever passed this test and every preacher pretty much makes stuff up as they go along. And people keep believing it.

I do understand how a person can be "spiritual" and cling to the possibility of a supernatural entity. Especially in tough times its nice to think that something "up" there is looking out for you. But when it comes down to it personal responsibility is the key. Laying your hopes, desires, and life on some invisible unevidenced entity is a cop-out if you don't work to make things happen yourself.

And I must add, your right to your religion end at everyone else's rights to their religion or lack thereof.  Again, I could care less what you believe, so long as you aren't trying to foist off your fairy tales as science in the schools, attempting to deny other human beings their basic rights, or expecting everyone to live by your rules and dictates.  I think I have posted enough essays about that before that I won't repeat them, just yet...