BOAZ_DAvid, one of the problems with religous experience being a guide to reality is that if you go to a different culture with different beliefs you will still find people with exciting experiences to share (I get the impression some Islamic believers can get into experience in a big way). I have not seen much of it recently but the New Age was even get flying saucer visits for a while and healings a plenty.

Unless you are into something really unpleasant it will always be fun to get together with lots of others who agree with you on some key point (especially if the event is put together by a well organised promotions team with skill at making sure you do).

For those of you who whish to discuss the actual article.
I find it quite interesting and intriguing that the sexuality of the deity generally changes from female to male depending on the apparent sophistication of the society. We can see this in the egiptian and other early civilizations even the cannite gods. I wonder if this is caused by the civilizations gradual dominance over nature. Female gods generally have a giving or protective nature while male gods tend to have a aggressive nature that requires appeasement.

>That does nothing to explain an absolute plethora of well known and reliably witnessed phenomena of God intervening in amazing ways in our earthly abode and experience.

Boaz -are you talking about the Bible in the above?
BTW I'm assuming that you are talking about the Christian God.

Even if you are talking about modern miracles, do you think that the Christian miracles are reliable and all other non-Christian are just myths or mental disorders? Please justify.

Given the apparent link between religiosity and temporal lobe epilepsy -search for past Compass programme- why should we think that religion -combined the social benefit of shared group values and identity grant- is anything other than the result of materialistic forces?

Kenny did you know for the early proto-Jews that they were polytheist and that 'God' had a wife?

Neohuman,
Yes the early Canaanites head god was EL which later changed to Yahweh when the hill tribes started to form a distinct culture of their own. There seems to be a distinct political movement around 600 EC to make the Jewish religion monotheists. It is interesting in that the name Yahweh was thought to represent four gods El the Father, Asherah the mother, He the son, Anath the daughter. Maybe this is the root of the trinity concept used by modern Christians.
A excellent link about the Canaanite is http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/thera/canaan.html

Religion has been and shall continue to remain the opiate of the masses and it does provide the answers for us. Although interfaith conflict separates mankind, faith is the resin which keeps these fragmented groups unified. Barring the scientific facts of creation; the wisdom of the elders or the traditional sentiments of the patriarchs, there is still no sound basis for a single unifying fully-fledged dogma for all people to embrace. Man has evolved into a creature with aspirations, and with the strength of will to question that which he does not understand. Our quest for knowledge, spawned by our liberation has motivated us to seek answers to questions our ancestors have pondered over for centuries. What created the complex process that instills life within every living being? What created conditions suitable for the preponderance of life? With everything around us flourishing and thriving, what divine intervention holds things in place?

Man will always question and will never be content until he has figured out what plagues him. Unfortunately the quest for knowledge and understanding is infinite and there are things in the spiritual world which are beyond human comprehension. That is where faith comes in, it is more than an assurance; a sort of satiated conviction which burns brightly and provides hope. Faith and religion allow you to answer the questions which you don't understand. Faith and spirituality have credence, and it is only once you have searched deep within yourself, once you have been tested to your limits, after you have toiled through immeasurable anguish or experienced true bliss that you can appreciate that something divine is within every one of us, and all around us.

A word of caution, the suggestion that faith is a blanket solution to everything complex is not the point I wish to drive home. The acquisition of faith is a process in itself, which requires commitment to one's beliefs through trial and error, through persistence and constant questioning. The reason that those with faith in God are content is that their faith restores them and nurtures them when all else seems futile.

Asian
You say that "God is the first cause".& "That's what makes him God!"
Would you care to PROVE to me that God is the first cause please?
You are asking me to have blind faith without any real EVIDENCE.
Perhaps you have a need to hide behind blind faith in order to assuage doubts that your God may not be?