Is religion still relevant in modern society?

[sapphi_snake]

Mr Khan said:

Runa216 said:

padib said:

Regarding italics, I appreciate you acknowledging my effort. I trust you understand this has been a painful process for me.
Regarding bold italics, I truly appreciate your clarity on the matter. That though you disagree, you see that at the very least the position is logically robust. You have no idea what this means to me.

With this said, in light of regarding underlined italics, I kindly urge you revise my example of substance abuse. Having used said example as a bridge between both our points of view, I hoped to find an area that you considered harmful due to science, but which I considered harmful both due to science, and due to the biblical moral standard, as stated in Ephesians 5:18:  Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

Your participation in this effort of respect is a huge light to me. You have my gratefulness.

the main issue I'm having with this logic is that Alcoholism and homosexuality are in no ways similar, unless you're making the grand assumption that homosexuality is as harmful to your spirit as alcoholism is to your body

And therein lies the key point of your debate. Is the physical world fundamentally bad or fundamentally neutral. Is it a sphere in which we should strive for as much pleasure as possible, or is it a sphere which we should shun because it is contrary to the spiritual life which is the only good?

And of course its impossible to disprove one of these views...

Which one?