<p>As an indolent adolescent still in the hold of my asian, odd parents, I'm forced to go to a Christian church almost every Sunday. I'm forced to intently listen to the uncompetent pastor's sermon for an hour or so. The reason why I say "uncompetent" is since the message of his sermon can literally be summarized into one statement; he simply adds "fluff" to his message, so to speak, to make himself appear as if he didn't procrastinate that saturday night. Anyway, my parents tell me religion is not a personal choice; they say that I'm indoctrinated with atheism (hahahhaha). I say, "dad, isn't the onus on you since you're the one who believes in something out of faith?" He responds, "Son, the holy spirit will touch you; don't be indoctrinated." (hahahahahaa) </p>
<p>Oh God, this is amusing. The most ironic thing about this matter is the fact that he has a Biology major.</p>
<p>So you indirectly insult your ethnicity (and your parents), you don't understand the meaning of rhetoric, your grammar is abysmal and yet you believe you are in a position to decide whether or not personal religious beliefs correlate with intelligence.</p>
<p>Expose'im to the first 20 minutes of Zeitgeist (most of the rest is utter nonsense or sheer opinion or both). Start with TjGkRFFBd0A on Youtube. More academically, there's a link in the "More Info" to the transcript, and, beautifully, the sourcelist.</p>
<p>Its downfall is its aggression and what lies after the first twenty minutes. I'm re-writing the transcript and sourcelist as a toned-down sensible talk. I haven't checked all the sources yet, though.</p>
<p>I don't see how people don't realize that religion is just a substitute for the unknown. Throughout history at the edge of science there has been religious belief, since the processes at work weren't understood well enough and it was assumed to be too mystical and therefore was "god"'s work. As science's collective knowledge expands, religion's primary beliefs shrink further and further back, with the common excuse that they we shouldn't take the bible literally.</p>
<p>Religion is a convenient way for humans to make themselves feel better in a universe in which they are much much smaller than a spec of sand in a desert and explain away not yet fully understood phenomena.</p>
<p>Curious that in the Bible, faith actually doesn't make many people feel better, and characters in the narratives rarely think that this is what God or their faith is about.</p>
<p>"Its downfall is its aggression and what lies after the first twenty minutes. I'm re-writing the transcript and sourcelist as a toned-down sensible talk. I haven't checked all the sources yet, though."</p>
<p>You should probably do this before you rewrite it to save yourself the work of rewriting it.</p>