I decided a long time ago to be agnostic because seriously.
One should not have the arrogance to declare that God does not exist.
o Umberto Eco, quoted in "Belief or Nonbelief? : A Confrontation By Umberto Eco and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini" in The Los Angeles Times (18 March 2000)
I always vote Umberto Eco for God.
My belief system could beat up your belief system
Someone else said this is some other thread. My glib reply was "Coles' notes Human history."
Anyway, as long as there things we don't know (and the species continues to be roughly similar biologically), some form of religion will continue to exist.
Debates about religion vs atheism just dance around the central issue though. The real practical problem isn't so much the existence of religion or faith itself, but the irrational acts such things often justify. In fairness, this isn't a one-way street; religion was a crucial constructive component of our early social evolution. Also, in the absence of faith-based justifications, people can always control and skew supposedly factual information instead.
I don't mind at all if people believe in something unproveable - however silly that belief may seem to me - just so long as they play well together.
Alternate comedy response: This thread is going to Hell in a handbasket!
guild hall
Hmmmm, maybe it
will go to Hell after all.