I am an atheist but of course that is only a matter of faith in the same way that that those who believe in God have faith.   You cannot prove nor disprove the existence of God.   As soon as you accept that God could be responsible for creating the singularity that initiated the "Big Bang" then you have to accept that God could have spoken to man through the various religious texts which are the basis of the various religious groups.  After all in comparison to the "power" required to create the start of the universe this would be just a small matter for such a God.   Those that won't accept that God could be responsible for everything in existence and the way it has been formed are just as closed in their opinions as those who won't accept that it could be possible that there is no God.   The bottom line is that it it is a matter of faith one way or the other, neither can be proved, both faiths have equal standing and belief in one or the other should be no excuse for insulting or being derogatory about those with opposite beliefs.

Hello Creeky,

A nice post, and I do agree there is no excuse for insults or being derogatory about those with opposite beleifs.

If I have at all come across like that and offended anyone I apologise very strongly. I would never want to do that as I respect the fact that not all will have the same belief as I.

If I by my posts have offended you personally in anyway because I strongly believe in what I have explained to the point of saying I feel others are wrong then I do apologise for that too. But that is what faith is, if I cannot defend my beliefs to the point of thinking they are the true ones then I don't have true whole hearted faith do I.

It is how we put across our opinions and how we accept others even if they are different to our own that is important, but we all have to accept that others will feel we are wrong sometimes but not take it personally.

That is one thing we have been taught in our faith that there will be many who disagree with us, but we are still required to go and tell people, if they say no thank you I am not interested then we respect those wishes.

As for a thread like this then we are all entitled to take part and give our opinions because that is waht the OP has invited, we have an obligation then to do it in a respectful and kind uninsulting way, and I also feel, not to be too sensitive too and not too quick to acuse someone of being disrespectful when they really weren't. (Hope that meaks sense - I know what I mean though:-))

So perhaps we should make sure we read a post thouroughly and see if we understand the poster properly before we jump in head first and put up the defences. We can always ask the poster if how you have taken something was meant.

Comunication sometimes is not something we all do very well.