Testreligion.com 

In the big picture, is faith in God, revelation from God and prayer worth it?

Do we prevent somebody being hurt by superstition or faith by rejecting and challenging those things?  Is it mistaken to support organised religion in membership or donations?

If people do good because they are human, not because God prompts them then is it right to risk giving God any credit when they alone own their good??

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

A miracle that is NOT about inviting you to learn about God and thus consider a relationship or a stronger relationship with him would mean a miracle is just about show.  Thus the power doing it could be dangerous.  It is either random and believers are covering that randomness up by lying about any message given or it is done by something that we cannot trust for it does not care.  Most miracle claims fall into that category.  To pray to the cause of the miracle shows no deep concern.  Praying to heal John means nothing when you are dealing with something you don't know.  If you do that then blame your prayer and yourself if John gets worse. Responsibility means taking credit for the good and taking the blame if it backfires.  Don't use John to try and feel responsible for the good - do it to feel responsible for the bad as well.  A miracle that is not happening in the framework of prayer cannot be called an act of God who is master of nature and science.  It is not really a spiritual matter but a magical or anti-scientific one.  Even religion tells us that.  Nobody is really all for God or loves God as the perfectly loving origin of all "You shall love the Lord your God with all your strength and heart soul etc".  Lord means he who is to be obeyed and nobody likes that bit.  It is loving obedience that is called for.  Prayer then is an act of hypocrisy for if you are told to love God and don't do it which means you can you are really just trying to use and exploit and fool God.  FROM WWW.TESTRELIGION.COM/HUME.HTML

Patrick H Gormley