Does god exist?

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Eh, I do. But i don't belive all the stuff we here about him. No i don't belive he's an all powerful being.Religion was created by men. Because of question we couldn't answer. So we made stuff up that we thought would explain such stuff.Yes i do say religion is good ( even though i prefer not have to have one) But when you get those headstrong religion fanatics. That's where i draw the line.

"Actually I've read the writings of folks such as Thomas Jefferson (he had something to do with the Constitution, no?) and Thomas Paine. You know: the Founding Fathers. Most of them were deists, not Christians. It was the dawn of the Age of Reason, as you'll recall."Most of them were Orthodox Christians...not deists. In fact, the only proclaiming deist in the group was Benjamin Franklin. Thomas Jefferson was a Materialist. You should check out what he wrote in his Bible (which has since been found) to see what he really thought about God (and Christ). BTW, a deist believes in God.

Thomas JeffersonYes, the Ken Burns series was just rerun on PBS, all in one long block. He was a ball of contradictions.> a deist believes in GodApparently a deist believes in slavery, and that a black man is worth a fraction of a white man, and that only the elite should vote. In other words, they were wrong about a lot of things. They were creatures of their era in many ways, but in other ways they were visionary.Thomas Paine, a deist, and a central player in "the history of liberty", thought the bible a crock. The idea of God sacrificing his only son did not resonate.Do you have a census of who believed what? Thomas Jefferson, among others, saw how bad it was for both church and government when each meddled in the affairs of the other. It worked out so poorly, in fact, that it has resulted in a secular Europe. They'd no sooner have have "in God we trust" on their currency than we'd have "in Michael Jackson we trust" on ours. The founding fathers well understood that government and religion are mutually corrupting forces.

Getting back to the point, It was largely Christians that built this country (that's the USA for you wise-acres out there)...and they ALL believed in God!BTW, "E Pluribus Unum" is latin for "United we stand". Part of this "unification" was the belief in Biblical morals, without which many of them believed that the system of government that they were putting into place would ultimately fail.Methinks some get too much of their "history" off the internet.

So even if it was true that the U.S. was started largely by Christians (although a lot of the heavy intellectual lifting was done by deists, and by an large by people who were certainly not fundamentalists), so what? There's nothing about God, much less Christianity, in the Constitution. What were the Founding Fathers saying by that deliberate omission?If you believe Jefferson and others, it's that the government shouldn't establish a religion, and that citizens shouldn't be coerced by religious institutions that they haven't joined. Jefferson coined the phrase "wall of separation" in a letter to the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.In reply to:Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.It's hard to see how stamping "God" on all currency doesn't violate that spirit. But it sounds like you would prefer "In Jesus we trust", and to hell with everyone of a different (or no) religion.

one of many or united we stand, either way, it has no bearing on the faith in god.
they both mean about the same thing if ya think about it, united we stand, devided we fall. strength in numbers and strength in unity.
Unions still follow that rule.
god doesnt play a part.

"Nope, nope, nope. Many of the "founding" fathers were Diests.Please stop. If you're going to make claims like that, at least look them up to make sure they are factual."____________________________________________________________You first. Tell us all which of the original Constitutional Framers were Deists, please.Then (since there were one or two), explain to us all how a Deist does not believe in God.

"There's nothing about God, much less Christianity, in the Constitution."If you were more familiar with the Bible and the Constitution, you'd know better.

> If you were more familiar with the Bible and the Constitution, you'd know better.

I'm not a biblical scholar, but I think I have a good working knowledge of the Constitution, and I understand the Christianity was (and is) a part of the culture. It shows up in literature all the time; you'll notice the symbolism if you're somewhat familiar with the scriptures.

But the point made by the Constitution (in its lack of direct reference to God or Jesus), and by the Bill of Rights (in it's protection of the federal government and religion from each other) is pretty clear. While the Supreme Court thinks the "In God we trust" motto is OK, as well as "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, they still subscribe to in the "wall of separation" idea.

So, instead of telling us we're ignorant, would you like to fill up in on the biblical influences on the Construction?

At the risk of making an incredibly long post, I'll see if I can find a few references for you. Right off the bat, you can take a look yourself at a lot of the speaches made by George Washington. They were full of direct references.

George Washington's political speeches (yes, he was a politician) are not the Constution. And compared to current politicians, George Washington did not invoke Jesus much (did he even do it more than once?).In reply to:"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth."-- Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and Thomas Paine did not have much nice to say about Christianity.See this for some quotes.The Founding Fathers Were Not Christians

Steve, I think the mods should change your title to 'Almighty Cod'.

Cause I'm fishing for a discussion?And so it shall pass, he will appear garbed in Cod. He will be known by his Cod Cape.

Like all things on earth, God exists as an agreement of at least 2bn people that he exists. In a way a spoon exists as a spoon. We all agree on the shape of a spoon, and what its being used for. It's a social construction. Things become real when ppl agree on them being there. And so is God.

Is this confounding connotation with denotation, intension with extension, the signified with the referent? (See e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intension )

Urk, I hope I didn't break the forums. :(

every religion people has different opinion

Reading through this thread refreshes my memory of active posters like SteveA and Thor. You could always get an argument out of one of them.