Is there a god?

[sieanr]

bugmenot said:
I believe in systems.

In either case I believe that life has no meaning beyond what we choose for it.

Either the universe is ordered (follows deterministic rules) in which case our destiny is predefined in which case we have no free will and nothing we decide makes an actual difference,

or

the universe is chaotic (does not follow any physical rules) in which case the universe is a pointless exercise and my free will has no purpose.

Combinations invariably result in a chaotic universe.

Either way it's depressing, so I work towards achieving some sort of immortality in hopes of having the time to find satisfying answers.

Personally I have a particularly negative opinion of concepts of Heaven and Hell: Either God (should it exist) hasn't given us free will in which case there's no point in punishing puppets, or we have free will, in which case punishing a sinner after giving him the ability to sin is cruel, unusual and a bit of a joke.

But hey, that's just me. If I'm wrong, I guess that means I'll have to pay for it.

 Thank God for existentialism, lol

And Hitler, like many Nazis, was very involved with the occult. Besides, the only difference between modern muderers(Stalin), and the earlier, religiously driven killers is the effectivness of their weapons. Imagine the Spanish Inquisition if the Christians had gas chambers and machine guns. However, I think its folly to assign religion or atheism as the root of genocide and the like. People are responsible for such actions, and thats the real source of the problem, wether it be religion as a justification or anti-religion as the same.

BTW, no one has mentioned the religious justifcations for slavery and the colonization of Africa