...and the debate goes on...
http://www.livevideo.com/video/88564E951F33485D9166B0FD22F6650A/god-delusion-by-richard-dawkin.aspx

I thought I heard him say evolution is such a stretch it would take a miracle too.

Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" was one of the most influential and powerful books I ever read. I would recommend this as a must read for believers, atheists and everyone else in between.

If you approach it with an open mind and don't write it off immediately, it is a great exercise in delving deep into questioning and solidifying your own belief system, be that Christian, atheist, or anything in between.

I found parts of the book very challenging material to digest.

Psytrancer, I appreciate you comments about “The God Delusion”. I have not yet read it but intend to. I’m just curious, if one reads it as you suggest, could it actually strengthen a Christian belief?

A couple of interesting points brought up in the video. There are questions about Biblical events which are either true or false, no in-between. For instance, either Jesus was born of a virgin or not. Either he contained DNA from an earthy father or he did not. Dawkins points out that the ability to answer such questions definitively lies in the realm of science, not religion. If the evidence were available, we would trust a DNA analysis to tell the truth, not spiritual discernment.

He also brings out the fact that many fundamentalist believers dismiss science when its results do not align with their beliefs, with statements like “Science cannot provide those answers, they are of a spiritual nature instead”. But he wonders what would happen if science were to find out from DNA evidence that Jesus had no earthly father. He wonders if the answer would still be the same, or would they suddenly do a 180 and become scientific converts?

How about it? Are believers guilty of accepting science when it does not contradict prior beliefs, but rejecting science when it does?

Both science and religion have to believe some things by faith. Science has proven many things we would be foolish to deny. On matters of faith I choose to believe God rather than science.

In the past , I have debated science and religion with individuals, on both sides of the question, dogmatically defending their opinions with fevor that would be the envy of any new convert.
The atheists always contend that there is no God because there is absolutely no empirical evidence of his existence therefore he must be a figment of a delusional mind. Then there are the zealots who claim science and its theories are of satanic origion therefore cannot be true.
Somewhere there must be a middle ground where we can find and hold to the truth as we experience it.
We know the earth is round regardless of the Flat-Earth-Society's claims. For some unfathomable reason, the majority of people know God exists regardless of the atheist's claims.
The Apostle Paul points to faith as evidence. Is the fact that in almost every people, place, and tongue throughout history, mankind expressing a belief in a Supreme Being(s) evidence that an Intelligence greater than our own exsists?