"Rational beliefs in atheism will never entirely win out, for they are a total misunderstanding of human nature."

The above sentence is problematical. Atheism is not a belief. Any Christian does not believe in the pagan gods. That does not mean he is a believer in that regard.

I do not believe in any God. Atheism is not a belief. In my feeling toward God I am not making any statement about human nature so I don't know why atheism is a misunderstanding of human nature.

Does the sentence mean that it is a misunderstanding of human nature to accept that a rational acceptance of atheism will entirely win out? I accept that people will continue to believe in such nonsense as astrology, lucky numbers, God or gods and the like.

The sentence sets up a straw man in assuming the human population of this world will ever be entirely rational.

A good attempt to bring some sanity into the debate.

But I find some of the arguments to be somewhat tenuous.

>>We have had religious beliefs in all communities and all races since the beginnings of historical knowledge<<

Offset against that must surely be the increase in knowledge we have accumulated over the years. "We have always believed the sun revolves around the earth" had a pretty long run, too, only finally to be overwhelmed.

What happens as we gradually determine how this universe began, why it has evolved the way it has, and how it will end? There will be less and less compulsion to fill out our lack of certainty with fairy stories.

>>Religion... creates a community, a sense of belonging...[c]ommunities are social vehicles, coherent, protective of members, offering assistance to and engagement with others in the group.<<

Bikie gangs operate along similar lines. As, I understand, does the Mafia.

>>Religion offers consolation in times of great suffering<<

Ye-e-e-e-s. But only by substituting fiction for fact.

>>If the research is valid, it also demonstrates that religion complies with the conditions for an evolved behaviour<<

I can only be sceptical of the research on this. I suspect the researcher may have fallen into the trap of identifying one attribute among many to explain an anomalous result.

>>The absence of valid counterarguments.<<

A counterargument against religion? Surely, when there are so many examples of it in the world, you can't actually argue that it doesn't exist.

I certainly don't belong to the school that says religion is always a bad thing. I have met plenty of fine, healthy and intelligent people who are also religious.

But it is instructive that the writer does not address the situation where the selection of a particular religion determines whether or not you want to go out and kill other people.

Having lived and worked in London in the 1970s, on constant lookout for unattended bags on the underground, I can only hope that if religion is destined to last "forever", it evolves into a form substantially less dangerous that it presently manifests.

I think Bowden needs to work on the idea that atheism is a belief: most atheists understand it as a lack of belief, or a declining to believe. It always astounds me when people claim, with no further justification, that declining to join a group of believers is of itself a belief.

Aside from that, he’s running a curious set of arguments, and as Pericles has pointed out, they don’t really connect together. It’s a bit like my old high-school debating strategy of thinking up as many points as possible to support your argument, and then firing away. It seems to me he can support the case he is trying to make simply with his fourth point, about religious belief being wired into our brains (cf. Pinker, Dennett and many others).

Still, it’s nice to have an atheist/”Huxley agnostic” talking about religion without ridiculing it. Too much of the discourse these days is in the Dawkins “religion is the root of all evil” vein. It’s good to acknowledge that for individual believers religious beliefs are perceived as well-founded and useful in their personal lives.

The challenge is to get believers to acknowledge the same about non-believers.

Religion is government. Atheism can be government but it is bad government like a ship without a rudder. Australia currently has bad government because the logic chips of atheists are hot wired to dishonesty. The logic chip of many beliefs are headed for law and order, and law and order are the centerpiece of all religions, even atheism.

Those of us who are and remain Church going Christians are still under instruction in the Religion that founded the great societies of Europe that dominated the world for so long. The legacy of Christianity is sound government. When it is abandoned as it is in Australia today, the result is bad government. Like stray cattle we are wandering in the wilderness and a quote from Ephesians 2 verse 12 comes to mind. That at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world.

This passage is cited by Quick and Garran annotated Australian Constitution, and adequately expresses the feelings of a huge number of Australians. Commonwealth is a word from the Holy Bible, and is coupled with Israel. In the Holy Bible the meaning of Israel, is defined way back in Exodus 32, and Israel meant man of God. When Jacob, the heel grabber, a grasping avaricious man, had a God Encounter, his whole life changed, and Almighty God himself changed his name to Israel.

A Man of God, should never accept slavery. He should not be a slave himself or condone enslavement of others. Unfortunately for those who benefit from the discipline of Islam, slavery is not anathema to that religion. The Christian religion is about justice. The justice it delivers when the authorities adhere to its teaching is universal, fair and ubiquitous. It does not tolerate whoremasters like Abe Saffron, making sex slaves of women for money, supplying sly grog to circumvent the liquor laws, and promoting illegal gambling. The State of New South Wales now allows almost unlimited sales of liquor, 24/7. Is New South Wales a religion?

"Sartre pointed out that we have no purpose, we exist only. The arguments are quite frightening. Life is absurd, abandoned, it has no meaning."

I'm with Satre, and anyway what's frightening about no meaning? existing is beautiful, i don't need meaning as well. i am over all this "meaning". quite happy to be god free, post-modern and meaningless.

When we get all excited about the State of Origin Football series, between Queensland and New South Wales what are we doing? We are worshipping and celebrating a State. For a few weeks we forget we are Australians, and become partisan for our own particular religion, which may be rugby.

We have our saints and sinners, champions and losers, but it is all about passion. It is about fun and appeasing the deep seated desire to see people compete with each other at the highest level. I am told women enjoy seeing healthy fit men doing men things. Some of them even lead them into temptation, and being men they are tempted. We seem to think they should all be saints. Is this a form of Religious Instruction?

The false morality of football as a Religion, is reflected in the mock outrage when a man does what men do, when pumped full of testosterone, fed well, fit and away from home. They get tempted. So what? Hasim Al Nasri is a Muslim. He plays excellent football, and if his boot is anything to go by God loves him. He is a man of high morals, has never been accused of being unfaithful to his wife, although he probably has the same opportunities to be tempted as any other man.

We need to be realistic about things. When a religion is about love, as the Christian religion is, and a person is committed to a Church, married to a loving woman or man, drinks only in moderation, and is humble in the face of Almighty God, than the blessing of a good life is more than likely to follow than not. Community living is about religion. When Religion becomes fanatical, as it has in Belfast, they have erected walls to keep the two sides apart, and the walls work.

The Constitution of Australia is a Christian document, and it has all the attributes necessary to promote harmonious living within our borders. We live in a world full of religion, and we are tolerant of others, but can be too religious