The purpose of this thread is to prove that agnosticism is the best way to go. To do that, I will present my best argument against all religious faiths (atheism included), because if those belief systems are called into question, agnosticism will be the only choice left.

Built into my argument is the assumption that there is no evidence to suggest that any one religion is more valid than any other. This assumption is based on the fact that I've never encountered such evidence. I'll concede that there is a large body of evidence suggesting the existence of a creator, but the incredible aspects of our reality don't support Christianity any more than they support Islam. If you think that I've missed something that proves one religion over all the others, present it in this thread and I'll consider it.

Since all religions possess an equally perfect lack of evidence supporting their metaphysical claims, belief in any one of them can only be justified through faith. I contend that faith is not enough to justify one religion over the others. Here's where we start the discussion. For anyone who disagrees, why is your faith better than that of someone who subscribes to a different belief system than you?

Edit: Thread started back up - Round 2

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I agree that agnosticism is the safest, most intelligent religion to chose (which is why I kind of did chose it), my only concern is what if tonight you find out you have cancer and you have 100 hours to live?
For those 100 hours, it'd be comforting to know (at least in your mind) what's coming up for you.

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I hope that I'd be able to withstand the temptation to repent on my deathbed. Sure, it would be comforting to give in, but it'd be wrong.

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Well, yeah, naturally. I want to stay a G til I stop breathing or until I'm completely convinced otherwise. I don't want circumstances to determine my beliefs.

But that's my only qualm with being one of the agnostic faith. I see everything as it is. What you see is what you get. So those last 100 hours when you can't see what you're going to get, those'd be tough.

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How can Agnosticism be good? How can you half-heartedly believe in a Christian God and expect to be able to unite with him in Heaven? How can you say, "oh, Allah might exist, but I can't be sure" and expect to be able to get to the Muslim afterlife? How can you say, "oh, Buddha MIGHT have walked on Earth and enlightened many people blah blah blah," and expect to reach perfection? In my opinion, it is better to find the most comforting religion that appeals to you and have faith in it.

I do agree with you however, that there is no way to prove one religion's truth over another's. I am personally a Catholic. I have heard that there is historical evidence of Jesus's existence not including the Bible. Do you know anything of this by any chance?

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I don't half-heartedly believe in any religion and expect to reap the rewards. I think it's possible that any religion is right, but I find it very unlikely. I expect to be sent straight to Hell if any religion I've ever heard of is right (at least the ones that believe in some form of Hell). However, I can deal with that, because the possibility of me languishing in Hell for all eternity is a very small chance in my mind. Religion is certainly comforting, but that's just another way of saying it's the easy way out. When presented with a choice between what is right and what is easy, I hope that I will always choose what's right, and that's what I think I'm doing with agnosticism.

I have heard that there is a general concensus among historians that Jesus did walk the Earth, so I think it's reasonable to conclude that he probably was a real guy. But that doesn't mean that he was the Jesus of the Bible. I very much doubt that.

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What do you think are the odds that god actually exists?

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-i got kicked out of barnes and noble once for moving all the bibles into the fiction section

My Facebook thing. . .

Think You Watch Movies? http://www.halo3forum.com/movies/81621-movies-you-need-see-before-you-die-weekly-review.html

Oh I think the odds are

1 out of 1,000,000,000^32e

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I can't really put a number to it, but I definitely think it's more likely that there was a creator rather than reality winking into existence of itself or always being around. Also, I find it very unlikely that the universe developed in such a way that life could appear by chance.

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In the bible the flood can be traced back about 2,000 years ago...than the earth was completely destroyed...how come the oldest tree is exactly that old!? Christianity is the way to go