Dear Ludwig,

Many definitions of religion
have been offered in the past,
most of the ones we are familiar with come
from the Judeo-Christian ideas about religion.

That there exists one supreme being or God:
that God created the universe and all life,
and takes a continuing interest in the
creation; that there is a life hereafter;
and that our moral behaviour in this life
influences our fate in the next.

Is religion a product of an overactive imagination?
No. Religion is a system of communally shared
beliefs and rituals that are oriented toward
some sacred, supernatural realm.

The phenomenon is of such universal social importance
that it has long been, and remains, a major focus
of sociological interest.
(Ian Robertson, 'Sociology,').

There is an inherent need to be loved and cherished. Ergo man creats god / allah etc.

I see under one dog muttering again.

Ludwig walk with me a while imagination, not a word to be afraid of we all have one.
Think of the best ten books you ever read, all from mans imagination, some moved you so much if reading gives you the same joy it gives me.
Best ten movies you ever saw, mine move me still Gandhi, one about Nelson Mandela, and the killing Fields are just three[ not bad for the red neck racist some call me]
Man has always invented storys.
On dark cold nights in blacked out camps century's ago it must have been comforting to believe God, Baal, Allah, was in charge and morning would come.
To be able to think loved ones did not die just moved into a heaven and wait for us.
For these reasons I understand we will never get rid of Gods, any of them.
But if those of us prepared to live our lives without props could only undo the real harm religion has done, and continues forever to do.
Today however I heard a truth we can not denie if you or I fell on true hard times it would be a Christian who first thought of helping.
Imagination made every God, some who follow our invention are quite mad, some are good people.
If only we who do not believe could convince them to stay out of almost every thing in our daily lives.

Dear Belly,

You, without doubt,
are a very special man!

Please don't ever stop posting.

All The Best,

Poly,

Above you draw the metaphor of the various Christian denominations seeing the one event from three different perspectives. From a Jewish perspective, how, by proxy, of course :), would see Jesus Christ vis-a-vis Melchisedec? Both were agenealogetos, i.e., without parents, and, priest-kings. The Bible refers to Melchisedec as like the Son of God, whereas Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man.

My earlier posit about ordinary time was that time itself came into being, with higher entropy, as a cooling process, and, there is no need for a Creator, before Planck time.

Cheers,

Oly

runner,

Did you appreciate my rationale in allusion that not looking at the results of Super Collider experiments over the next few years, is like not looking through Gallileo's telescope, where Christians maintained that there only seven heavenly bodies. I posit that there are many times seven bodies. I would even go so far as Carl Sagan (in his book) to say there are Billions and Billions of these bodies. It is honestly hard for me to believe that COBE photographs and those taken of the planets are not real or a "joke," as you posited.

Regards,

Oly

Good points Fractelle.

.
“Religion is a system of communally shared
beliefs and rituals that are oriented toward
some sacred, supernatural realm.”

That’s about the size of it Foxy.

“On dark cold nights in blacked out camps century's ago it must have been comforting to believe God, Baal, Allah, was in charge and morning would come. To be able to think loved ones did not die just moved into a heaven and wait for us “

Belly, yes. It is easy to see how religions arose and gained widespread followings.

But really, with our vastly increased knowledge of the world around us, including a good understanding of many things that were completely incomprehensible to people when the major religions came into being, let alone fifty years ago, how can religions still hold so much sway over peoples’ lives, especially in countries like Australia….or the US, where it is huge and apparently increasing ahead of population growth?