Imagine this scenario.  Science discovers a way to copy the brain and brain patterns into a renuable medium so that theoretically you could copy your consciousness and continue to exist and 'evolve' as long as you desire to do so.

 

Would you try it or not and why?

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/defiant-pastors-irs-pulpit-freedom-sunday/story?id=11726610

Just wondering if you guys had seen this yet and your thoughts on it.

Looks like the churches are wanting to get into the political arena. They want to endorse cantidates and influence how people vote.

Fine. They can also start paying taxes on all that property.

I used to see this in different religious groups where people would become disatisfied with one group and then join another....but the only real difference in perspective was the change of allegiences, the 'mindset' was exactly the same. They would claim great change....but they really hadn't...not very much.

I've seen this with fundamentalist christians who quit christianity, join another religion and bring their fundy mindset right along with them. Everything is interpreted…

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"It is a great tragedy that science, this wonderful process for finding out what is true, has ceded the spiritual uplift of its central revelations: the vastness of the universe, the immensity of time, the relatedness of all life, and life’s preciousness on our tiny planet." Ann Druyan…

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Why did an all-powerful, all-knowing being create an ETERNAL TORTURE CHAMBER and fill it with MOST of his creation? Was that THE PLAN?

If that wasn't the plan....it raises the more worrying question (for theists).. Did God's Plan go wrong?

Why did he create a universe where he had to kill himself to save a tiny portion of it?

What is this ultimate purpose for our existence that theists are always rambling on about in their arguments for an…

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I've felt the emotional inspirational 'hard to pin down' experience of the 'holy spirit' in church, in prayer and at other times when i was a young believer. As a 'confirmation' of beliefs... I guess if it was the only thing you knew or experienced it would be all you needed. But it is nothing compared to a full-fledged inner 'spiritual' experience.

I grew up the son of a liberal theologian.... not a charismatic, His father, my grandfather, was a mystic. I longed for more than…

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Lets not turn into what we despise.

Religion will not be overcome by WAR... by hangings or burnings.....by limiting a persons freedom to believe what they wish.

Religion must be defeated by reason and logic and goodness and justice that are 'better' than what they are offering.

Its doubtful that it will ever be eradicated altogether, but its possible that it might eventually evolve into something helpfull and based upon the natural instead of the…

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Here's a site that I can appreciate even as a non-believer. http://peaceseeds.elysiumgates.com/



Anything that supports and shows inclusiveness between the religions I think is good. It shows a willingness to move forward, to evolve and that's what religion is going to have to do to survive.



I supported this kind of thinking back when I was a believer and I can still support now.....as its a step up from the separatism of… Continue

What kind of Gun would Jesus use to fight his enemies? What verses would he etch on his sites?



Will he have a job or live off the fruit and labor of others? Will he be a building contractor when he comes back to rule? Will he invest in stocks?



I mean we know (from the religious right) that he's a gun toting capitalist that believes in patriotism and pre-emptive strikes.... right?



How will the religious services change when Jesus comes back? Are they still going… Continue

This site shows a cooperation between secular and religious. It shows that when things get desperate enough 'thinking' people can come together in spite of ideological differences to battle 'radicalism'. To further this point there have almost always been religious people who have been involved in legally opposing the teaching of creationism in the public schools.



http://www.teachthemscience.org/



Science education is at risk… Continue

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

(with Apologies to Clement Moore)





‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the shack,

The snow was drifting in through a crack.

The stockings were hung on nails in a row:

And every sock had a hole through the toe.

The children were restless, worried and jumpy;

Because the mattress was worn out – and lumpy.

And Ma in her kerchief – and I with bare feet;

Had gone to the kitchen to get something to… Continue

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090818/OPINION/908180335/-1/OPINION0311



By JIM COOGAN

August 18, 2009Earlier this month a letter to the editor in this paper caught my attention. Essentially, the writer tried to make the case that if Americans want good health insurance they should stop asking the government for help and simply work harder to get it.



The writer took the usual approach by people opposed to some type of a national health… Continue

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/



" OK, what’s this book about? It’s about what happened to the American government after "conservatives" gained control of Congress in the 1990s and the White House in 2000. It’s about the disastrous decisions that government made, which have created the enormous problems we face now. It’s about the corruption that rotted the Congress. It’s about how traditional conservatism has nearly been destroyed by authoritarianism. It’s about how the… Continue

Yep, I said it.



Its time to teach religion in schools... All religions.



Its time to 'teach the controversy'...as the fundies like to say. (when talking about teaching creationism/ID as opposed to evolution)



Teach the Controversy... Christianity is just ONE theory among many and unlike evolution has no more support for its legitimacy than any of its competitors.



Give children ALL the information on the various religions and let THEM decide which ones… Continue