I believe that belief is very important to some people, and I try to recognise that, and tolerate what I sometimes percieve as stubbornness. To that end I would like to apologise to Pinky and anyone else I have offended.
On the subject of God and the Devil, I think I'll elaborate a little on what I said in my conversation with Pinky. I generally find that belief in external forces like God and the Devil leads to a sort of refusal to accept responsibility. With that sort of belief, people can basically do what they like, and then just 'blame it on the Devil'. I believe that we are all capable of good and bad and shades of grey, and that it is entirely in our hands what we do. If people could just recognise that, then a lot of the bad side of religion would just disappear. I speak of 'Holy Wars', such as the Crusades, or even the attack of September 11th. Both of these events would probably never have happened had the perpetrators known that they would have to take responsibility for their actions instead of claiming to 'do God's work'.
I do believe in some kind of life after death, although I find it extremely unlikely that it will take a form much like that of a Christian Heaven, since I fail to see how anyone could know about it. I am very much "just wait and see" on this issue, although I feel that Reincarnation is probably more likely than a Heaven as such. Heaven and Hell are misleading in the same way as God and theh Devil, and people should behave as they believe would best benefit those around them, not behave as some Religious Leader tells them they should to get into Heaven...
I have Blabbered for long. Please, no-one take offense at anyone here, I am quite proud of this topic for having spawned Civilised debate on such a contentious issue without resorting to Flaming. Here are my beliefs, tell me yours, everyone...
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Guns don't kill people, People kill people! Using Guns.
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