Mr Rayon

Maybe all these natural disasters are just a big wake up call by God for all of humanity to look more into the religions of the world and find the true one. I suppose you could also extend the idea to global warming as well (that God's causing it or just letting it occur whatever the case may be). If this is the case, then He's giving us more chances to redeem ourselves in this life so that more people can go to Heaven in the Afterlife and just learn to generally be morally better people in this life in a very selfish "ME, ME busy capitalistic world"! Also, this may be an interesting read to anyone reading this post: http://www.doesgodexist.org/AboutClayton/PastLife.html I'm sure for a lot of people being part of the science community out there one would be exposed a fair bit of peer pressure to conform to the atheistic viewpoint like everyone else, but please remember to keep asking questions and always be skeptical and open-minded of different possibilities.

haha yep - correct! I just was wondering what the concentration of sucrose would need to be for it to be considered isotonic. It's a pretty common experiment... ...but nevermind already finished.

What were their motives? And has it made this world a better place?

why is the iranian president so weird? also iz it true that zionists control our media? I keep finding a lot of conspiracy theories (e.g. them being the causes for the US war in Iraq) on youtube involving the jewish people and i am wondering whether these have any credibility. thanks.

People’s sense of entertainment can become perverted. Think back to ancient Greece where people were forced to fight one another in colosseums for other people’s entertainment. Remember: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”- Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Irish philosopher

What good does it serve society and why is demand for these things growing? Each year, younger teens are by collateral being exposed to free online pornography, they are getting addicted by it and enjoy it. As adults of the free world we are enabling this and I'm afraid this may have long-term psychological repercussions for everyone as we head into the future. To name and shame, here in Australia (where I come from) we've had quite a few politicians who have gotten into the habit of watching pornography in places they shouldn't be. http://express-advocate-wyong.whereilive.com.au/news/story/mp-paul-mcleay-resigns-over-porn-and-gambling/ But lastly, are these things immoral and should they be made illegal as it doesn't benefit society in any significant and meaningful way?

In mol L-1, what is the concentration of sucrose in your typical potato? Does it vary extensively depending on the type of potato? If so, then I am also wondering whether I would be able to get a list of different types of potatoes with their differing concentrations of sucrose?

Why so? Why does you dad think that the IB program is more superior than the AP system?

What does everyone think about the reactions of people during natural disasters such as these? I feel as though as time progresses further people are getting more and more immature and detached from the suffering of others. For example, in the New Zealand earthquake people who were in the area close to where the natural disaster took place, there were some people around who laughing and giggling and some who described the experience of being witness to the devastation as 'awesome' in a totally serious and life-threatening situation. I think because we're all so used to watching movies/playing video games, people (both within a natural disaster or elsewhere far away) often forget how to react properly in emergencies such as these. Think can't distinguish between what they see on television as entertainment and what's real. Also, in Melbourne there were floods going on a few weeks ago and people just started having fun in the water and taking pictures, everyone totally forgot that it was a potentially life-threatening situation. And check this out: http://cdn-www.i-am-bored.com/media/pearlharborjapan.jpg I can't believe a lot of Americans haven't forgot about Pearl Harbour. It was a long time ago and now they're happy that a tsunami hit Japan...horrible people.

What if in the future it became scientifically proven that God exists? (By God I mean the famous one, the omnipotent, omnipresent one etc) How would you SFN athiests react in response to this revelation? How would your feelings about God change? Would you love Him or hate him? Would you worship Him or would you be neutral about the situation? What questions would you ask God if you could talk to Him?

I think people within our society are becoming increasing malevolent and unsympathetic. Share us your stories. Have you ever felt as though one of your friends or co-workers at work were happy that something painful or unfortunate happened to you or to one of your relatives? What should you do if you know they are being malevolent? I've also heard of the notion that good people always see the good in others. However, does this mean that they have to be blind to the evilness in others?

Just read this article: http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/13/when-will-we-learn.html Are our tsunami warning systems up to date? Do we need better ones? What's stopping people from making better ones? What does everyone think?

I know countries in the ring of fire experience the greatest number of earthquakes worldwide, but which of these within the ring fire experience the highest number of earthquakes? Does modern science know the numbers? Is there some sort of world ranking, for greatest number of earthquakes experienced (e.g. since 1900) out there for countries worldwide?

Hi everybody! I am wondering if someone decides, hypothetically, to go overseas say for a holiday however chooses not to get health insurance or anything similar, how much would his/her family have to pay if the person going on the holiday somehow dies overseas (e.g. from a tornado) to get their body flown back for burial to their country of origin? How much is it for you country? Is it expensive? How about if you have two bodies that need to be flown back? Would the cost double in this case? ...just curious.

Yes, first cousins only, I'm pretty sure most people have married distant cousins. Distant cousin marriages seem to be socially acceptable in most places.

Despite many great scientific minds having undertaken cousin marriages in the past, notably Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein, there appears to be this skeptism within our modern western society that it is somehow 'icky' and wrong. Where do these ideas come from and are these feelings justified or are they just irrational? I am also aware of that there have been studies on this and that it has been determined that cousin marriages result in an increase in the likelihood of birth defects in offspring compared to those of regular marriages involving more unrelated individuals. However, what are the exact statistics? Is it recommended that humans mate with those they are most genetically different from? And I understand in many countries/cultures cousin marriages are seen to be morally acceptable. But what does everyone think? Would you marry one of your cousins? What about your sisters/brothers? What's stopping people from doing this?

For psychological reasons, I think people need to believe in more than what they just see in this busy capitalistic/materialistic world. I mean what is the purpose of this life we’re living now? Is it to gain financial wealth as to survive and continue living, as it is better for most than the alternative (which is death)? I believe that every individual has to believe in something spiritual and things which they cannot see or explain adequately themselves to others or else their life would be very bleak and unmeaningful whether they are aware of this or not, this includes people from a variety of backgrounds including both the financially rich and poor and as most religions are things that transcends race or gender (at least they should) those things too. I don’t believe its something that’s only restricted to the poor and stupid. People like to believe that they’re living their lives now as to avoid something much worse later on (e.g. Hell). It motivates people to strive to become morally better people according to what their religion teaches them as being right or wrong. It gives satisfaction, a peace of mind and spiritual fulfilment. It gives them stronger reasons to give charity, to help the poor and needy, which is something I really admire about religion (at least the ones which encourage/commands this). Many don’t like the idea of not knowing how humans came to be, our very existence. There are too many things which science can’t explain or hasn’t determined yet fully and people are not content with this and they don’t like the idea. The world is full of questions and many injustices, religion offers many of these answers and it provides the idea that something/someone (God) is carrying out justice for all the evil that people do during their lifetime on Earth as well as be rewarded for those who do good. There’s also this idea that there is a hidden purpose in our existence, whether it be that this life is really a test for the Afterlife, our ability to distinguish between what is good and what is not as well as resist temptations which cause people to become misguided and attract them towards evil. Maybe this life we’re living now is just practice for the Afterlife or maybe it’s some sick video game I’m playing right now in Heaven. It’s all an experience. And even if religion were to die, we’d probably see the same sorts of spiritual worshipping type behaviour in different forms in different activities, for example, in rock concerts where people do get very emotional and “spiritually high”. But I think overall religion does make this world a better place or at the very least it could. In fact, I think if the very foundations of religion were destroyed it would cause a lot of havoc, people would engage in activities they normally wouldn’t do had they been religious. Overpopulation, thievery, violence, STDs, injustices and poverty would all increase if the very foundations of the world’s major religions were destroyed without a better system in place to replace these religions. The major problem that we have today is probably religious extremism to the point where people have chosen and made the decision to intentionally kill people, particularly those outside their faith, in order to protect their very own belief system which they consider very dear and sacred. Those questions, that people don’t ask, philosophical questions I presume you mean aren’t so popular nowadays among our youths because they never really go anywhere. I mean you can debate a variety of things but in the end people are just going to have to agree to disagree, everyone always sticks to the same stance at the end of debates and this just wastes time and doesn’t lead anyone anywhere. I am only posting this to express my own views however I am not trying to persuade anyone anything. Science has lead humanity to some great feats, particularly within the last century; it has significantly improved human life, our quality of living as well as increased our understanding of a lot of things in the world around us. I would argue that most people (practically the entire global human population) would agree on this too, even religious people from a variety of faiths. I would also contend that religious people are not blind to the achievements made by science and at the same time I’m not saying that you’re implying this too. In fact, many religious people often claim that science is on their side, that it’s compatible with their religion (e.g. Islam, Buddhism etc) and if I remember correctly even physics had it’s roots back with Christianity but somehow with time it leapt free and the two became separated. I haven’t really looked at the science in religion, so it could be that science is being corrupted by religion but I think the fact that people are trying to mix the two together shows that religious people seem to want to think more rationally about their faith but this comes with a compromise and arguably a grey area on both sides. Furthermore, it’s not like religious people are incapable of rational thought, there are many scientists and doctors who have strong religious views, some in fact to the point of undertaking extreme religious actions which many would call terrorism. I agree, religion is pretty inflexible and rigid and will probably never adapt properly due to changing conditions. I think this will become an increasingly serious problem for many as we head into the future and is something we need to seriously watch out for so that society’s way of living does not adapt to the extent as to further exclude religious people from participating in various activities that would go against their religion or way of life (e.g. think about the Amish) as this would just cause more segregation and segregation is not good within a society.

Overall, does the belief in religion make this world a better place? What does everyone think?

If homosexuality is something that is genetically passed on, which culture/race will have the highest concentration of homosexuals within their population? I understand in Iran, they say that there's no homosexuals there. Could it be the case that in the Middle-East, that all the people who carried the genes for homosexuality got prosecuted to well ehm, extinction? I know in religious countries there's a fair bit of pressure to marry and make babies, but would homosexuals males in the Middle-East be able to pull of the idea that they're really straight and pull an erection when required (and a similar case for females)? If homosexuality is passed on genetically, will the number of homosexuals decrease as time goes on? ...and has it been decreasing?

But you don't know this for sure, do you? Two of my friends who were completely unreligious (agnostic/atheist) converted to two different religions. One to Islam and the other to Buddhism. They're living much more fulfilling lives now (at least that's what they say). I call them religious fanatics but they laugh at me when I say this and they say that they are not really that religious. So, yeah there are a bunch of religions out there searching/wanting for new people to join. Some people like to view religions, particularly the Abrahamic religions as being book clubs, nothing wrong with book clubs, right? ...Literary fanatics....and I see in your profile you say you like studying, so maybe religion is indeed for you even though you don't believe in god(s)/God/G-d at the moment.

I disagree! Heaven is a beautiful place, a better environment, way better than the hell-hole we humans call planet Earth. In fact it's probably so beautiful that it's beyond our level of comprehension. Try to visualize it. The most beautiful place ever created, can you do it? A place where there's no poverty or injustice. It's quite difficult to completely visualize but I'm sure there are people who can understand the associated emotions from living in such a place even if they have never been/lived there. This is all part of the process of being open-minded to different ideas.

jadef7 I am 19 now and I understand completely with what you're saying and I'm sure most people my age can empathize with you too! The problems seems to be that you're lacking mental stimulation, you are bored with your constant predictable routines in life and you are sick of the current decadent society you are living in. And you mentioned even the promiscuous life-style you have adopted bores you now, when you thought it once to be exciting. This is likely to be the case because the relationships you formed probably didn't really mean that much to you, they were instinctual desires you were responding too. However, you are hungry for commitment + responsibilities + a change in your current life-style. You want to get away from where you are heading now as the destination seems increasingly bleak as time passes by and it will only get worse if you don't do something quick about this. You lack direction and need a purpose. Religion offers a purpose. Do you believe in god(s)/God? Many of my highschool friends suffered long-term depression whilst they were doing their final year. So, straight after they decided to travel overseas, understood a variety of cultures and became conversational in a few foreign languages. They were cured! However, yes I do believe if you continue to neglect this problem or ignore it you will keep thinking everything as being more unimportant. Search for a purpose in life. Solve world poverty/global injustices, strive to make this world a better place!

I was just curious what people think when they look objectively at this issue. Stripping away the fixed moral values one is presented with religion, there's no real way to distinguish between what is a perversion and what is not. Something that we regard as being a perversion in human behaviour may become quite normal in the distant future. I know people today, who update their Facebooks to just include things like "Hobbies: Wanking" and people who when I ask the ethics of pornography they reply "I see nothing wrong with it". Most of these people, if not all, are atheists. I also hang around some religious fanatics from various religions so sometimes their ideas of right and wrong rub against mine and then I begin to understand where their various feelings come from. Perhaps stricter rules would be a good thing to put in place. We have too much freedom nowadays, which encourages people to become ever more perverted.

If two people are married and have children, is it ethical for them to have sex with each other in front of your their kids? And, what if the kids are too young to understand what sex is? What do you think as an SFN forum member? What's the scientific/atheistic viewpoint regarding this matter?