Quote from spect8or:
Religious beliefs are holding back progress in the most important aspects of life. While there are certain benefits attached to religious belief, they are soundly outweighed by the costs of holding them.
Scientific advancement is required if we are to sustain the rate at which our quality of life has been improving over the decades of the 20th century and if we are to address the challenges that face us in the 21st and beyond.
To the extent that religious beliefs stifle scientific literacy and stifle the desire for scientific enquiry, to the extent that religious beliefs impose on personal freedom, to the extent that religious beliefs divide societies, religious beliefs are a net drain on society.
A fair assessment?

Quote from Turok:
Shoe:
>Your thesis is based entirely on an assumption
>that you cannot prove.
C'mon man, I still gotta believe that you are sharper than this. What part of "you can't prove a negative" (and don't need to) don't you understand?
Ok, prove to me Santa doesn't exist! That'll keep you busy for a while.
JB
Quote from ShoeshineBoy:
Let me (hopefully) be a little more clear. Look at these statements:
I'm simply pointing out that this sort of arrogance could probably only be exhibited by someone who was absolutely convinced he had proven there was no God. And I'm pointing out that that is ridiculously impossible. So, in effect, I am agreeing with you...
Quote from peterfigliozzi:
I am a professional scientist and also religious. One does not stifle the other. Any stifiling is done on individual, not organizational levels, for individual reasons.
