Life does indeed stink.

If life didn't suck so bad, nobody would need a god. Life does indeed stink, so God fills a void. There is great suffering in the world. Just read the news for proof. God gives people a reason to live for another day. For much of the global populace, God symbolizes hope. Hope that there is more to life than just walking towards death. Until you atheists and rich folk can offer common people a better reality than famine, disease, and violence, I'm afraid your efforts of eliminating God from the equation are of utmost futility.

In spite of all this, how can anyone soundly finite as a human being completely disregard the infinite wonder of a real living God? We haven't even breached 1 percent of our own solar system, let alone the whole universe. It's highly premature and foolish to disregard The Great Marvel. Yet, even through all this astounding reason nothing short of a brick wall will contend through all of eternity that God does not exist!

yeah, god is great.

good thing that people never fight over religion, or who's god is better.

why do atheists and rich folk have to offer common people a better reality? why is it their duty to do that?

yeah the solar system is big, how does that prove god?

and in other news a cat gets stuck up a tree.

i heard the inside scoop on that... it was Charlie Sheen's cat

I never said any atheist had to offer anything, but if anyone was thinking the world would become atheistic anytime soon is sadly mistaken. Just because you don't like the idea of God it doesn't make Him not true. You can't just imagine things away. Remember it's the people like you and me who are mistake prone not God. People fight over plenty of things doesn't make the 'thing' they are fighting over not real. Your just brick walling with these stubborn denials.

oh sorry, I must have miss read your statement about offering a better reality.

i know that some people need god, that is fine, they can have it. and despite your rants, not every atheist is trying to get rid of god. just like not every religious person is trying to get people to worship god.

maybe you should re-examine your values and not label everyone in the same category.

So life sucks all the time for everyone? And this is your evidence for the existence of a god? I would have thought that if there was a god these things could have been taken out of the human experience or at the very least, god could make things a little easier for us seeing as how he can do anything and he apparently loves us.

Famine - with nearly 7 billion people in the world you expect them all to be fed properly otherwise god exists.

Disease - can be explained by natural mechanisms.

Violence - see above.

"your efforts of eliminating God from the equation are of utmost futility." You're entitled to your opinion. But who said that is the atheist end game anyway?

"... how can anyone soundly finite as a human being completely disregard the infinite wonder of a real living God?" Evidence for the existence of this real living god please.

You've just presented the classic argument from ignorance - it's all just so intense and complicated and I don't understand it therefore god did it.

Try again tough guy.

Once again your twisting my original post to your liking. I did not say 'every' atheist is trying to "get rid of god." I can honestly be justified in saying that I know a few are because I've ran into some. You're right, I'm not trying to convince you that you need God. It's perfectly fine if you believe you are self-sufficient enough to thrive in this awesome universe without God's help. Fine by me. Best of Luck

I'm sorry, I'm going to have to agree with Snotty's assessment of your opening statement, simply because of this one sentence.

(from your OP)
"Until you atheists and rich folk can offer common people a better reality than famine, disease, and violence, I'm afraid your efforts of eliminating God from the equation are of utmost futility."

So, yeah, you might want to tread a little more carefully. You may not, but it was there. Nothing had to be twisted.

Off-topic...Is your avatar intentionally ironic?

oh thank god I'm not the only one to notice that
I couldn't take this thread seriously to begin with but then I saw that and just busted out laughing

Lets try this:

Just because you like the idea of a god, doesn't make him real. You can't just imagine things into existence.

Well, with a name like "ToughGuy" you have much to live up to (or down to, depending upon our view of the word "tough" )

I would agree, myself, that it is highly premature and foolish to disregard The Great Marvel irrespective of the suffering indisputably found in our world. ("The Great Marvel"?.........never heard that one before, but we live and learn.)

Buddhism also sees the suffering in our world, yet instead of looking for a God to sort it out, the Buddha sought within, for its source. But thats another story........just to say that suffering as such need not necessarily lead to a "need for God", nor has it done in one of the great faiths of the world.

Attempting to say "yes" where I can, I would agree in many ways that "when visions die the people perish". We do need to find meaning - at least I think so. Yet the "meaning" offered by much organised religion is in my own eyes bogus, a pseudo meaning, just a replacement of a secular materialism with a "spiritual" one, still the same old "self" searching to cloth itself in some sort of glory so as to avoid the real questions.

Don't ask me what the real questions are. We really have to find our own.

Not quite sure exactly where the "brick wall" comes into it. Just reminds me of an "enlightened" Tibetan "master" who, upon reaching the West quickly became an alcoholic and ended up driving his car into a brick wall in a drunken stupor. That's what the "West" does for you! ( ) This master often refered to doubt as "rat s***", yet speaking for myself, if I ended up driving a car into a brick wall in a drunken stupor, I would welcome a drop of rat s***, not least if it concerned my own "enlightenment". Anyway, I'm waffling as usual. Just to say we do need to question much more than we appear to do at times.

All the best Tough Guy! ( )

(and you have my full permission to think my opinions are stupid)

If it works for you, that's good. But as an atheist, I don't need a myth to fill my 'void' as you put it.
It's not foolish to disreguard the myth at all.
You show me solid irrifutable proof that the so called god exists, then I will believe.
But there isn't any, is there?

Regarding the OP.. I'm certainly glad that I don't believe in god, because my life doesn't stink at all.. In fact, if I used the "logic" in the OP, I guess that I could say that I've got a fantastic life because I DON'T believe in god.

You could also say that you don't ramble incoherently like a burnout in the midst of a LSD trip because you DON'T believe in god.