You don't 'believe' in science, it's based on proof so belief doesn't come into it. I suppose people might believe in a couple of unproven theories, but the rest of it is just accepting whatever explanation sums up the situation most accurately. Which is why I still don't believe in the green teapot flying through space - it's scientifically proven to be there by that song.

I am an atheist and I am quite happy to say there is no god nor has there ever been a god.

Bertrand Russell's famous teapot describes a person who believes there is a teapot orbiting the earth. It's too small to see, but he knows it's there. If you met this person you wouldn't believe that the teapot is there. Do you respect his belief system? Do you think that his belief is valid, as valid as non belief in the teapot, that all opinions are equal. No, so why validate any other belief system that offers NO evidence.

Russell was trying to show that in ALL walks of life the burden of proof lies with the person claiming the extraordinary. Until they have met that burden their beliefs are not valid and should not be used in the public or private sphere. There is no god because the existence of a god is so unlikely as to make it pointless to consider. There is a slim probability of the Stay Puft Mashmallow man attacking NY but no one considers it as a real threat.

Belief in a personal god is like belief in a personal gravity system. It's a euphemism for "there are somethings I don't understand". Wouldn't it be better to just say there are something you don't understand and then to endeavor to explain it? Maybe that's too much like hard work.

I think Rik mentioned Atheism as an option for belief. Obviously this is incorrect as it's a "lack of belief". The reason this option is offered is because in order to be 'inclusive' there has to be an option for Atheists on forms and RELIGIONS want to define Atheism as a belief system because, as they well understand, belief systems are open to debate and stand ONLY on societies respect for them rather then evidence. This allows them to undermine Atheism by sowing doubt in the 'lack of evidence' for god trying to shift the burden of proof to the Atheist which as we know is an impossible position to be in.

My eldest daughter happens to not believe in a god (although she is free to do what she wants in this respect). The level of ignorance displayed by here classmates (she is 12) is simply amazing. They have no answer to anyone that questions there belief system. Remarkably they turn to the teacher falsely claiming that MY daughter isn't being respectful of their beliefs (quietly ignoring that they are, in return, being disrespectful of her opinion). The mass indoctrination of the next generation is brewing a generation of adults that are too frightened to ask critical questions thus guaranteeing another generation shackled by the homophobic, misogynistic luddite institutions we labour under.

Religions claim to be the morale guardians of society and that before them life was immoral. Many people believe this, even some atheists. There is however NO evidence that life before current the crop of the monotheistic religions was more or less moral then it is now. Current research in biology has shown many 'lesser' species also show morality and make morale decisions BEYOND reproduction. The implication being that there may be a genetic basis for our morality.

Evolution has been removed from the preteen schooling at the insistence of the curches/mosques/temples (who inexplicably have input into schooling) so they can control the 'life' debate during the early years. When teenagers are taught Evolution it is often too late and undoing the years of child abuse metered out by the 'elders' in the community is an impossible challenge. Some children are allowed to opt-out of Evolution lessons because it offends them (they will still face questions in their exams though)

I am a member of the National Secular Society and we work hard to stop the march of stupidity.

EPIC ANGSTGASM!!

It seems a bit harsh to expect a 12 year old to fully justify their belief systems, especially seeing most adults can't do that either. But the whole school evolution thing is absolute bollocks, you don't get people demanding that the periodic table is removed from the curriculum because there isn't a bit in the Bible which says something like 'and then God decreed that the element with 8 protons in its nucleus would be a grey solid at room temperature, and react vigorously with water to form an alkaline solution'. Although in some ways it'd be better if it did, because that's an even less defensible position than saying all life was created in its present form and hasn't progressed at all since.

It seems harsh but children should learn that you need to be able to justify your beliefs and that in order to do that you should understand them in the wider context of all philosophical thought. It's not surprising that people take offence so easily.... they grow up thinking that some ideas are too precious to be debated. Nothing should be beyond criticism.

... and Zurab: I'm too old for anything epic and angsty

In all honesty, even as a young and delicious small boy, I always questioned religion to some extent. Every time we got read a story in religion school (I used to go to a Jewish Sunday school thingybob), I always used to think to myself, 'how can this be true? This is bloody madness! Goodness me!' etc, to me they were just enjoyable fantasy stories. I also remember being taught about why we can't eat bacon and shellfish and what-not, it was all down to a passage in a bible where old Godders went off on one about pigs being unclean, which I thought was ridiculous, because you clean it before you eat it surely! And I was young indeed, I don't know, maybe around 7 or something - just shows that even if you're a kid you still have the capacity to question what people tell you; they're smarter than people give them credit for. Not all of them mind you, but a lot of them are. Basically, I always needed a reason to follow or believe these things, and no one could ever give me a good enough, plausible, realistic reason. And if my thought process was as such, I'm sure a lot of other kids were/are too.

i went to very religious schools, i was in a protestant school in belfast when i was about 5 years old and moved to a catholic one in surrey a couple of years later. We would sing songs and they would tell us all these bible stories and i never even questioned it at all.

Of course you didn't, you were five. It's all the same as the Tooth Fairy and Santa and the ruddy Easter Bugger before you have a big boy brain.

Yeah when I asked my parents if Father Christmas was real and they said no I thought "Hmm, this Jesus fellow you've been telling me about my whole life...maybe he isn't real either"

Im gonna give you my general opinion. The thing is, everything is opinion. everything that comes out of anyones mouth ever! if you don't believe anything unless you see proof then proof has to be with out a doubt. to see it with your own eyes, (even that could be an illusion) so all written documents ever are questionable because you didn't see for yourself how they came about and to your knowledge could be fabrication, be it the bible, or a dossier. everything you read could be a lie spun to you. its as possible as there being or not being a god. nothing is really concrete unless you experience it for yourself, its all only opinion. thats why everything i see, hear, or read, i take the bits that i feel have some lesson or value and apply it to MY life. i respect everyones choice to believe, or not! i respect everyones opinion. i respect everyones evidence but thats someone else's experience too, so to me its still an opinion, but im open minded to opinion. everything is also a possibility. its all about personal experience for me.

if i had to answer the question, what my religion? i would say i am religionless and if i had to give myself a label for their comfort i would say, i am on a journey.

The only reason pepole belive in God(s) is they want to feel like someone is watching them like when litte kids make their parents watch them do thing. Its all just a comfort thing really.