Dear Ponde,

People when they're afraid and desperate seek help
wherever they can.

' Would any of you turn to religion if you felt that you were going to die?'

Foxy we are all going to die. Its just a matter of when. I doubt whether there are many true atheist around. I am sure that many are agnostics but one has to do away with all reason to be an atheist. The cancer in your friend I would say made her think which an atheist can't do to well.

The reception/rejection of Christ is determined largely by whether one humble's themselves or not. Pride is a stinking thing and often disappears when one realises they have not got long to live. Turning to religion is much different to turning to Christ. Turning to religion usually means you try hard to be accepted by God. Turning to Christ means you are accepted by God on the basis of what Christ has done for you. Turning to religion means doing certain things to reach God's standard while turning to Christ is an acknowledgment that He was the Only One able to meet God's standards on our behalf.

Turning to religion might turn you into a suicide bomber (especuially if you are a young single male), turning to Christ someone who forgives and tries hard to treat your neighbour as yourself. Turning to religion could cause you to stare at your navel all day while turning to Christ will cause you to become generous towards the poor.

Dear runner,

Thank You for your explanations - on the differences
between relgion and Christ.

I'm not sure specifically, what my friend has done,
so I can't speak on her behalf. And you're probably
right, perhaps she was not such a non-believer as
she claimed.

Still, there's various ways of looking at things, which
I find interesting from the posts on this discussion.

I found this quote on the web:

"By projecting a loving, caring figure who never leaves
your side, loves you eternally and forgives you for
your human faults allows for you to mentally dominate
the unknown.
This restores your control (and security). This control
(and security) whether false or not pacifies anxiety."

"But one has to do away with all reason to be an atheist."

Can't resist...

Either:

"But one has to do away with all reason to believe in a 'god'?

or

"But one has to do use all reason to be an atheist."

I accept that believing in a god is important for many people. But please don't assume that you (or your particular religion) are the only ones who know the truth and those who think differently have done away with all reason.

I have been an atheist since as long as I could reason - certainly before I was 10. I noted the standoff between Catholic and Protestants where I lived, and I remember reading or being told about Jews, Hindus and Buddhists. I remember thinking to myself - they all believe they are right and everyone else is wrong. But if they are all correct in believing everyone else is wrong: then maybe they are all wrong.

I became a scientist and historian, not because I was an atheist, but because I have a deep interest in how the world works and how humans tick, and have read widely in comparative religion. I think the development of religion has an evolutionary basis, and is a spin-off of the development of consciousness. But that doesn't mean there really is/are gods.

Further if you a monotheist, you are in fact an atheist with respect to many other people's gods (eg Hinduism) and you would probably use a reason-based argument to justify that.

Cossomby,

I'm not particularly interested in "religion" or a "God" in the traditional idea of a god.

I was staring down the barrel of a potential tragedy and I reached out in supplication to the Way.

An entreaty to "Whatever", if you like, because I wanted my child to survive and there was nothing else to be done except wait and let the experts do their thing. Perhaps the prayer was in response to the fact that that I was unable to help myself.

o sung wu,

Thanks for that.

I'm just coming around to the fact that although we can't help but judge others by attempting to classify them as one particular "type" - the truth is that we are all complex beings and sometimes we surprise others when certain aspects of our personalities don't necessarily match the initial impression.

Dear Poirot,

My heart goes out to you regarding your child.
Who knows how any of us will behave in times of
crisis - especially when the pain of this life
becomes more than one can bear. Your thoughts
can become dark, and your sorrow huge. One can
often feel that one will not endure and there
is no one and nothing to turn to. So you turn
to prayer, "If You can, dear God, please do.
If you can, please do."

Dear Cossomby,

As Rabbi Williamson, whom I quote very often has expressed:

"Religious institutions, as such are not the only
arbiters of religious experience. They do not own the
Truth, for Truth cannot be owned. Nor should they
think they hold some francise on our spiritual life.
They are consultants and frameworks, but they are not
God Himself. We should not confuse the path with the
destination."

Nikola Tesla stated:

"The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena
it will make more progress in one decade than in all
the previous centuries..."