If the universe requires a creator then the creator should require a creator = religion is made-up

The thread is very likely a waste of time because it is rare for anyone to change their stance on this issue.

However, at times people do change their minds and begin believing there is a God, and there are even instances in which someone believed in God but decided it's rubbish, even those who were very heavily involved in religion. 

There is a former nun name Karen Armstrong, she was a nun for a long time, but eventually through her heavy religious history studies it began to appear to her that religions are made up and that there is unlikely to be a God. She wrote a big detailed book titled A History of God to show how strong indication is it's made up stuff by man.   

A preacher for 15 years was adamant about there being a God and Jesus the way to salvation, but as he learned more and more he came to the realisation there is not a God. His name is Dan Barker and he wrote a book titled Godless. Today he is one of the leading atheists in the United States. 

The authors of those two books were extremely studious but instead of it Istrengthening their beliefs it weakened them. 

A matter of faith. Would be interesting to know what civilizations light years away and much more advance than us would have to say about religion:)

Religions contain elements of truth and false opinions. This is because religions are a creation of mankind. God on the other hand exists independently of religous beliefs.

There are so many illogical points in the OP's starting argument. Our existence is a puzzle. Our sense of spirit too. Can't see any answers to that in this thread

That's because there are no answers. It's like trying to describe a blue sky to some one that has been blind from birth. Science proposes such things as dark matter and energy but they can't see it or detect it. They just need to have it to explain observations they have made. They might just as well propose God as the answer.

What is mind?

It doesn't matter.

What is matter?

Never mind.

--Homer Simpson

Jesus is Lord... all the slander of all the unbelievers of all time is merely self deluded ramblings...Jesus is still Lord!

This is false logic. 

Most religions have a coherent creation myth. The Judeo-Christian-Islamic faith states that God existed before everything else and was not created. 

This is an axiom of faith that can be accepted or rejected. Your statement is false logic that is rejected by Jews, Christians and Muslims and irrelevant to non-believers.

There was this big bang see. A big wild hot explosion of gasses. And out of total and complete chaos, order magically appeared. (contrary to even the most basic laws of physics)

Then apparently one sunny day some primitive ameoba were swimming around in primordial soup, and they decided they needed to evolve into more intellegent creatures so they could play chess. So over the next millenia they grew arms, legs, lungs, hearts, eyes, noses, ears, greatly enlarged thier brains and whittled some chess sets. (never mind that they would have no idea what it meant to smell, taste, hear, see, etc. - they just somehow knew they had to generate those body parts to play chess) 

Once they did all that, they started to play chess. After that was not enough, they decided to have inane debates that any of this would even be possible without a creator. 

quantumlee - God, not god. 

Chessterd5 - yes, I have read the bible carefully. it stands up to the test of science, logic and time. 

Yes, I agree with what you said. People do not like the answers they read. They want to create thier own reality. They want to think they are in charge of themselves and can create their own explaination for everything. Pretty arrogant to think that - since by their "science' the solar system has been around for millions of years, and mankind as we know it, relatively recently. Considering the average lifespan is say 85 years, we are truly a puff of smoke as the bible so eloquently states. 

I am not some unthinking bible thumping ignoramous. The media loves to portray people of faith as such. I don't take anything at face value. I like to study, read, really dig in. I think people who have any faith at all are typically attacked as though they are unthinking, blindly accepting back water billy-bob idiots. 

I don't say this to brag. I have advance degrees in mathematics and economics. I took a large number of science classes in University. I am a member of Mensa. Supposedely means my IQ is in at least the top 2%. I always joke and say all it means is that I am a good test taker. And that I can arrive at the wrong conclusion faster than anyone in the room, and be more convinced than anyone in the room that I am right. 

My only point in all that, is that I dont live in a trailer, wear a stained wife beater T-shirt, a "who farted" ball cap, eating curly doodles drinking cheap beer and I have all my teeth.

I am a very intelligent and successful thinking person AND I believe there is a creator.