When i was a kid (or when i was in Nepal), i used to believe in God. I did however have reservations on religion but i still believed in God. Its been a year in US now and having met people from other cultures, the existence of a supreme being doesnt make sense anymore. 

I think that believeing in GOd instills in a person faith, confidence and positivity to get through good times and be appreciative of the bad ones. I want my children to have these qualities so i dont want to tell them that GOd doesnt exist. Moreover, i cant imagine what my parents/relatives will make of me when i talk to them about this. It isnt going to be pretty. 

It does give me great discomfort to think about all this. I must admit i feel less confident and more pessimistic these days. I want to believe in God but my logic doesnt give in anymore. In fact, i get irritated when i hear things like "God COMMANDED you to.." "GOd will PUNISH you if..", "We are SERVANTS in from of Him" "(on Christianity): "Jesus died on the cross for you"(THere are many who have made a similar magnitude of sacrifice). 

I think that God and religion are ancient theories that havent been discarded yet. And it hasnt due to the fear in people of what might happen if they didnt. One of my teachers once said "if there is no god and you believe in god, there is no harm but if there is god and you dont believe in god, there is harm". i feel this and cultural and social stigmas lead people to be religious and not question their beliefs. 

I wanna know what you guys make of this.

FF bro,

How beautifully put. We're all made up of stars (and so are all the living beings). That is as supernatural as we can get and we're all part of it. To evoke that only "humans" have a special purpose and godly blessing is nothing but sheer arrogance.

 BitterTruth. That's the same guy I remembered commenting about how god made the Banana. Now I can question the IQ of the guy who make such claims. 
Anyways, if there were any god then Einstein and other Scientists would literally be the sun of God since they made actual contributions to humanity through science than mere religious propagandas for example "Earth is flat" and "Man walked with Dinosaurs".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq7LXn4KSrM

lol

loonies!! god did not just make a banana, he made banana, naaspati, banana and naaspati and lahurey dai ko sampati. people even worship this banana and nashpati calling it pashupati....it makes perfect sense.

 
I have been following this thread closely, but I just didn't want to sign in on to Sajha to comment. Now that I found something relevant to the discussion here, I thought I'd finally sign in and scribble something.

These two articles may interest some of you here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/13/higgs-boson-cern-god-particle_n_1145593.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100123765/how-the-god-particle-got-its-name/

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<b>Rethink</b> wrote:

\"Even then there are many things man cannot fathom such as how the world came to be how things got created. So man is afraid of this unknown. In order to cope with the unexplained fear they start to pray to the unknown giving it a name of God.

Religion is just an escapist mentality whereby you want to escape reality to create a supposedly better mental outlook by believing in different supernatural explanations.

I am merely observing and making a conjecture since obviously the unknown stays unknown, and I am not going to personify the unknown and follow the escapist mentality."

Wow!!! That is just so brilliant, intelligent, and eloquent. Please keep it up. :) 

k bhanchin yini :D

 Amazing thread from the past, but the thoughts are still fresh and I'm loving it. 

wonton, thanks for reviving it :D 
here is a latest update

 Just because a neroscientist has had a spiritual afterlife experience does not mean that this can be taken as evidence for afterlife or god. People have all kinds of vivid experiences during medical conditions, phychedelic drugs, etc.

God/religion is there to guide people through life. I don't follow any religion. You don't need religion/god to be good. There has not been any concrete evidence ever that god exists.

Yes if you believe and No if you don't ; it all comes down in Faith.Faith creates reality and brings things you wish to see.I haven't seen the One but certainly there is magic.From tiny ants walking in a st.line like a good school children to the rockets that goes up,up and up,the meticulous Nature that surrounds us always give me vibes that there is something which people have decided to call God.As people have created many Gods  time and again with many alias,its obvious that people get confused and leave the subject which is so fluid.Books teaches us who is God,how to praise him,what he like but not what is God?.Religion is just a community..a big club with alike members and lifestyle with mutual beliefs,it acts like a helpful material to those who seek.While theist might praise his Lord when something grand happen and atheist his luck; it all comes down to what you are atttuned and aligned into.Yes I do believe in my own version of God--the Supreme-- and Master will present himself when the student is ready.

Human beings are full of hope and this hope has been used and abused since time immemorial. Let's keep hoping for the best.

Believing in god is part of meditation or a path to self-disciplining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXNTq0k9NEk