We're supposed to believe, you who has an agenda? You have no credibility in terms of honesty.

I don't believe sufficient data exists on "belief", but it would not surprise me that those with more education have less belief in organized religion than those with less. So we are supposed to believe you for summarizing, correlating and compiling all data on what scientists believe? Hmm. Thanks, no, I'll do my own research. And I'm not certain it's relevant any way.

This is getting silly. Woot's original response to Chino was essentially correct. Woot did emphasize the most extreme survey of disbelief among scientist. Yes, NAS is an elite reseach society so I don't have a problem with him emphasizing that. Other surveys of research scientist at elite universities do not produce such extreme results. Typically surveys find that about 60% either "do not believe in God" or "or don't know if there is a God and there is no way to find out." So the NAS are an extreme sample. Some of this could be related to the survey question given to the NAS sample which I think defined a very active God: "a God in intellectual and affective communication with humankind." Clearly one could believe in God in a general sense and disagree with the preceding statement.

Second, there is a rather large difference between the beliefs of scientists in God and the general population. The percentage for the US general population hovers around 10% (disbelief).

Third, these surveys are a long way from empirically providing evidence of the secularizing effect of education on measures of both religious activity and belief. You need a much more careful empirical design to answer that question.

Finally, woot you do have a tendency to display "intellectual contempt" towards other board members. This may be entirely unintended but at these point in your cougarguard life people are starting to respond to this perception instead of your arguments. My suggestion is to start give your opponent's argument the most charitable possible reading instead of trying to attack their weakest link. You are essentially a non-believer on a "faithful" (despite its liberal leanings) board. As such you need to negotiate the board with a thick skin and a great deal charity towards the faithful or you will find yourself marginalized.

Dang. The church isn't true. SU was right. :(

No no, the Church just needs to listen to Adam and Waters to get back on track.

Their suggestions would save us all.

It'd be a decent start.

That's a fair assessment and I appreciate the advice. I actually try to do what you recommended on a daily basis, but allowed myself to contribute to a type of thread that I generally try to stay away from, as these threads do tend to not go very well when I get involved.

The mortal life of Jesus is not in the Old Testament.