[idi banashapan]

you're doing well - thought provoking and well explained. I think it's becoming clear that my questions are simply down to my own naivety in regards to religion. you're quite right that pick'n'mix does lead to a hash of flavours. perhaps religion is something that should not be taken in a literal sense.

I just find it difficult to understand how faith drives people. I've heard people say "if i follow God and there isn't one at the end of it, I've not really lost anything. If i follow God and there is one, I gain everything.", but I'm not so sure. religion (how should I say this?) 'encourages' people to live their lives in a certain way - according to certain rules. social morals are built around these rules and those who go against them could end up in jail. for example, were society not to frown upon hurting another physically who had done harm to either yourself or family member / friend, I'm sure there would be a lot more injured people out there!

So this makes me wonder if religion was really a way of dressing up a set of rules and then placing the onus on the individual with the fear that if they did not follow these rules, God would not accept them. something which we obviously cannot prove either way. As our scientific understanding of the world progresses, we have far fewer 'miracles' as we know how things work a lot better. this onbviously leads society to lose it's faith in religion as those things the churches used to make people believe are explained away one by one.

so where does this leave society and the church. is there actually a benefit from devoting or not? and why do so many people stll believe God exists when we now have answers to so many 'miracles'?

On the flip side, would you agree that faith has been lost due to our advancement as a race and could it eventually decline to a point that religion is merely a cult establishment? what effect would this have on the way we govern ourselves in respect to laws and morals?