What Shakira are you talking about? I only know one Shakira and she's definitely a woman! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakira
Johnny, I'd dialogue about some of these things but I don't know what the point is since it would only be one way. You would just type more "I'm Buddha/Jesus stuff and you're grasshopper" stuff into your screen...
Let's assume for a moment that atheism is in decline (not true, but let's assume it is). Hmmm, let's see. 1000 years of steady increase in atheism, followed by 50 years of retracement... and that represents a 'steady decline'? Time to sell it short? In trading, we try not to step in front of moving freight trains. : )
It's not just me saying it: http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/breaking2453432.91875.html http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Athe...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196402102&sr=8-1 http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.848/article_detail.asp http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/03/atheism_in_decline.html
And notice the cool quote about Flew in the last link: "Take Anthony Flew, British philosopher, for example. He was once of the firstâinâline atheists. Now he has publicly denounced atheism He reports that evolution, for instance, cannot 'account for the fact that one single cell can carry more data than all the volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.'" An atheist who is willing to admit the problems with the Origin of Life - will wonder never cease?
A bore is when someone is joking and isn't funny. Johnny really thinks he is Jesus. It's like having Reverend Moon - remember him? - show up on your thread.
I don't really feel comfortable clicking on any of those links. 'New World Thinker' or whatever? Er, no, I don't think so. There's another one of the faithful on here who used to post up links from Christian fundamentalist sites and suggest that they represented 'support' for his statements. I am going to assume that you're not as cynical as that. At any rate, you may not be the only one who feels that way, but the facts are the facts. We are in a secular bear market in religiosity that started in the Middle Ages. In a few thousand years, belief in all of these separate 'Gods' will be replaced by a universal spirituality that doesn't make the (outrageous) claim that this or that historical/allegorical text is the 'Word of God'. Already, contemporary Christians are admitting that the Bible isn't to be taken literally, and is in fact best seen as a guide for living well. I have no problem with that. Just take that 'Creator God' part out and all will be well.
Lots of people become more spiritual in their old age. Lots of people lose their religion when faced with inconsolable tragedy. Such is life.
Not against you Shoe. Love the way you think. But I can't resist pointing out that those prolific ancient Greeks were believers too - in some pretty silly stuff when it came to religion. No question: you don't have to be an agnostic to be a seeker. I'll give odds that most agnostics aren't seekers and most seekers aren't agnostics.