I'm too lazy to write my own post, so here's a link to someone else's.

What is love?

Reactions to the Bill Nye/Ken Ham debate.

Every religion has its own form of creation. Ken Ham is unaware of any other book that speaks of the origin of life and society, though the Torah and Quran do just that. Perhaps I have been watching with an eye out for Ham's errors, but he seems quite narrow-minded and rather ignorant of the world outside his own corner of ultra-conservative midwestern America. He seems to believe that even within the millions of practicing Christians on this earth, the majority of humankind is condemned to a fiery eternal life simply for not having the same rigid perspective as him. I believe the issue with the Bible, the Old Testament in particular, is not that it is irreconcilable with modern life, but that it is both mistranslated and taken literally far too often, as Ham so perfectly displayed.

I believe in the union of everything. Religion is not all-or-nothing; one can believe in a God, and I certainly do, but not believe in the literal version of a parable from one of the countless spiritual texts that all seem to converge and contradict at the same time. If you cannot question your beliefs, how will you ever find truth? If you cannot question your beliefs, how afraid must you be that they are not it?

“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.” (Carl Sagan)

Many of the greatest scientists the world has known considered their work the extension of God's holy vision. Some have even been creationists. The most important trait for a scientist to have, though, is not any specific belief system or lack thereof, it is the ability to be wrong. Nothing was ever proven by someone who mindlessly repeated, "I know I'm right, therefore I'm right".

How do you know what parts of the Bible to take literally, and which are pure poetry? Is this simply a matter of convenience, as much of the Christian world seems to consider?

"One of the biggest facts you have to face, Vicky, is that if there is a God he's infinite, and we're finite, and therefore we can't ever understand him. The minute anybody starts telling you what God thinks, or exactly why he does such and such, beware. People should never try to make God in man's image, and that's what they're constantly doing." (The Moon By Night)

That is all.