In this lens, I share my own energy reading and information on what will be happening as we head toward 2012 and global transformation.

I called Miss Cleo and even she thinks you're batshit crazy; takes some of the sting out of the downvote.

Name a theocratic country with an acceptable human rights track record.

According to the calendar in my kitchen the world is going to end in 2011 since that's where it stops.

Don't worry, the calendars on our computers don't end until 2100. Well, one less thing to worry about. I think I'll put some coffee on.

Are you suggesting they're lacking in these things?

----------------------------------------------------------------The minimum length for an argument is 50 characters. The purpose of this restriction is to cut down on the amount of dumb jokes, so we can keep the quality of debate and discourse as high as possible.

Oh, I've read the Bible. What most atheists don't realize is that the old testament pertains to the Jews, not the Christians. That is why you will find many a contradiction betwixt the Old and New Testaments.

So what you're saying is that your God is a murderous women-hating slave-trading baby-killing lunatic, but only when providing counsel to the Jews. I don't see how that should excuse him of anything, but even if somehow it would, I think your Bible is missing some pages. I hate to get all Biblical, but allow me to direct you to some choice parts of the new testament you don't seem to be aware of (remember that google thing I mentioned earlier?):

1) “For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18-19 RSV) Clearly the Old Testament is to be abided by until the end of human existence itself. None other then Jesus said so.

2) All of the vicious Old Testament laws will be binding forever. "It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become invalid." (Luke 16:17 NAB)

3) Jesus strongly approves of the law and the prophets. He hasn’t the slightest objection to the cruelties of the Old Testament. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest part or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place." (Matthew 5:17 NAB)

3b) "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness..." (2 Timothy 3:16 NAB)

3c) "Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God." (2 Peter 20-21 NAB)

4) Jesus criticizes the Jews for not killing their disobedient children according to Old Testament law. Mark.7:9-13 "Whoever curses father or mother shall die" (Mark 7:10 NAB)

5) Jesus is criticized by the Pharisees for not washing his hands before eating. He defends himself by attacking them for not killing disobedient children according to the commandment: “He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” (Matthew 15:4-7)

6) Jesus has a punishment even worse than his father concerning adultery: God said the act of adultery was punishable by death. Jesus says looking with lust is the same thing and you should gouge your eye out, better a part, than the whole. The punishment under Jesus is an eternity in Hell. (Matthew 5:27)

7) Peter says that all slaves should “be subject to [their] masters with all fear,” to the bad and cruel as well as the “good and gentle.” This is merely an echo of the same slavery commands in the Old Testament. 1 Peter 2:18

8) “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law" (John7:19) and “For the law was given by Moses,..." (John 1:17).

9) “...the scripture cannot be broken.” --Jesus Christ, John 10:35

In a democracy, the majority rules. If you, one of say 20%, don't want religion, and the other 80% want religion... I'm sure you can guess who will win.

That's not how it works. In a true democracy, the rights of the minority are protected to prevent tyranny from the majority.

Public schools have libraries - why can't religious texts be included in those libraries?

In a civilized society, Children must be protected from obscenity, be it religious in nature or otherwise.

Because you are an atheist, freedom from religion is extremely important to you. If you were a Christian or a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist or a Daoist or an Animist or a Shamanist or a Pagan, freedom of religion would be important.

I will concede that I should have said freedom from religion is equally as important as freedom of religion, but when you consider what we're really dealing with here is freedom of ignorance vs freedom from ignorance, you should be able to forgive an obvious Freudian slip on my part.

Your desire for freedom from religion is irrelevant.

Thankfully for the both of us, we live in Canada, and not Iran, making your egregious statement incorrect.

There are more religious people in American than non-religious.

Democracy is a wonderful thing isn't it? In some shit-hole theocracy, that might mean something. Have you heard of separation of church and state?

Do religious books really condone all those things? Why don't you try reading one.

I realize that most Christians either have no idea what's written in the Bible or simply choose to ignore it and cling to the fairy tales they were indoctrinated with at Sunday school as a child, but you're not a child and with the advent of Google, you have no excuse.

More important than freedom of religion is freedom from religion. If children are going to read a book that justifies infanticide, misogyny, murder, incest, rape, slavery, racism and torture, it should happen as a result of poor parenting at home, not a lack of judgment in an institution of learning funded with tax dollars.

What a ridiculous topic. How about a book about why pedophilia, drug use and murder is ok. Those would all be excellent ideas to put into the minds of impressionable children.

Sounds like a book that should be banned from public schools doesn't it...oh wait, that would be a bad thing.

So, if religion does help even ONE person in leading a better and happier life, it has served it's purpose.

While destroying countless others in the process?

The idea that a depraved book of primitive savagery for the deluded should serve as some sort of moral compass is a tired idea that belongs in the dark ages.

Morality is just another part of evolution. Behaviours that are considered "moral" have been adopted simply because they are beneficial for survival.

There is the ten commandment, the koran, laws of manu, etc. These are edicts of different religions, meant to prevent chaos, murder, mayhem.

If you take the Bible for example, you can clearly see that morality exists in spite of it, not because of it.

If we were to look to the Bible for moral guidance, we'd be forbidding women to speak (the Bible says they are to remain silent and are not to teach, or have authority over any man), killing our children for being disobedient, stoning our daughters to death for losing their virginity, forcing them to marry men who rape them and sending them out to be gang raped by angry mobs to protect our male dinner guests; not to mention keeping slaves and beating them to death (condoned in the Bible so long as they don't die right away) and "dashing babies to death on rocks" because they happen to be the children of our enemies.

Does this really sound to you like a book to be consulted by anyone in search of morality?

Of course it has. I can't imagine how many millions of people have suffered at the hands of those who have committed crimes in the name of this or that god.

I will wait for the typical responses from religious apologists before saying anything else.