Jim's Answers to Daniel's Questions

Is it ever okay to lie?

Well one good point that douche made in his video was of hiding people from certain death at the hands of the Nazis. Yes.

What should we think of terrible disasters or plights, natural or man-made?

What do you mean by this? Are you talking about man's ability to alter his environment spurring some environmental change aka global warming? Or are you meaning God letting it happen?

When does an alternative lifestyle go too far?

When it is forced upon you and in some way you lose the freedoms you were bestowed by birth

What happens after this life?

I think that life is waaay too complex for it to be by chance. But, again, this is me. I don't think many people take to to think that all this whole universe is (that we know) are carbon based life-forms with other elements mixed in. I'm made up of the same shit a frog is and that is mindblowing to me. When I die, I think my soul or whatever you want to call the thing that makes me uniquely me goes somewhere. Personally, I believe in heaven and hell- so I will probably wind up in hell with everyone else...except for chris and mike lawlace.

How should children be raised in terms of choosing a religion?

Personally, I am going to force my kids to go to church while they are in my house. I definitely will encourage them to ask questions about their forced faith. But I do think that when they get older they will really appreciate the values taught and the sort of structure religion offers. Once they are out of my house they are free to do whatever they want. But for me, part of being a good parent is sometimes making your kids do things they dont want to do for the betterment of them as a whole.

Does free will exist and can it coexist with a higher being?

This is a tough one. You always hear of predestination- you can even read in the Bible where it says God chooses his people beforehand. If that is true how can we have any form of free-will? So this is a big 'I dont know.' I would like to think I have the ability to choose. But then again if God is outside of time then He will ultimately know your decision before you even choose it....

Are actions more important than beliefs?

I think actions go hand in hand with beliefs. If a you believe that relational violence is wrong and then go to a restaurant and see some guy beating his girl and you do nothing how then can you say that you are against that sort of violence? You've done nothing to uphold your end of the bargain there. I think putting your beliefs into action is pivotal in any part of life.

My own question as I consider myself much more of a moderate after watching this guy's take on atheism (mostly because he makes a lot of assumptions about religious people and those who do not believe in a certain God per se):

How important should religion be in society? How important should science be to society? And How can they coexist?

The huge thing that pisses me off is this insane P.C. culture we live in now. There can be no talk of Christmas because somebody will get offended. HOW did this happen? Atheists get pissed because they can see a Nativity scene on a hill from a public road. Boom- lawsuit. Muslims can't build a church/rec center/ culinary school on a block near the towers- People go crazy over stupid shit. What's really behind it? I think part of it is that people want to see how far they can bend these rules- people can make money- get attention. I mean how many people are really offended if you say 'Merry Christmas' during Christmas? I mean if someone said 'Happy Chanukah' to me I would just be like thanks- or if I were bold say- oh I'm Christian. It's dumb.

Science does have a place in society- a very big place. I mean you can look how terrible the Dark Ages were when religion basically inhibited any human advances for a few centuries. Then we get people who can kind of push the boundaries a bit and make some huge scientific discovery. I will say that people are very fallible and that tons of things that were considered to be THE answer have been proven to be so so wrong by an ever succeeding scientific group. I mean how can we really be sure of anything when 100 years from now something could be invented that completely proves that we were wrong. But i love science- keep science in schools government.

I don't know how religion and science can coexist. I tend to think that God made everything and man has the task of discovering it all. We have been wrong and we have been right (for now) and I think He knows everything because I think everything has come from Him.

There it is