Religion, Chapter I

I am agnostic, strongly leaning towards atheism. All the holy books - the bible, koran, book of mormon, torah, etc., are largely a collection of fables and fairy tales. These publications are created by man; works of fiction that have been misleading the masses for centuries.

900 year old man, an ark containing all known species, resurrections, virgin births, archangels dispensing the word of god, winged chariot rides to the heavens, buried gold tablets that take a special seer stone to translate, murder, rape, degradation of women, 40 yr sojourns through the desert replete with talking, burning bushes and food falling from the heavens, etc.

How about Santa Claus, the tooth fairy and the Loch Ness monster?

Are you getting the picture?

Extraordinary claims -- i.e., an invisible, magic deity that lives in the sky (heaven) or in another dimension that has created the universe, is all knowing, all powerful and controls everything -- requires extraordinary proof.

Having "faith" (belief without evidence) that god exists based on any holy book or teaching cannot be justified by objective analysis.