What God is...

Sooo... Mr Wide Brush.... you think John F Kennedy was insane? How bout the Supreme Commander at DDay: D. Eisenhower? Lincoln? How bout Einstine? 

Insane?

How bout the vast majority of our American for fathers? The fathers of our country... the United States... all insane?

Say it aint so....

:)

You just might be right about that.

And this is what happens when you mix things up. Yes, all of these people you mention believed in a kind of "god", but the god of Kennedy or Eisenhower were very, very different from the god of Einstein, Thomas Paine or John Adams. There's all the reason in the world to point out that Einstein was talking about a "metaphoric god", and there's good evidence that Paine was not a religious person at all.
Granted, they maybe believed in some kind of god, but they were no theist at all. 

So i would slightly change the statement to say "Religion is just another word for magic or superstition"

I am leaving this forum post because it has left the topic.

I am not tracking it any more. Bye.

  But bob bunches them all together.

The the concept of the spherical earth first appeared in 6th century BC...nevertheless, the belief that the Earth was flat dominated well through the Middle Ages...but one thing everyone agreed upon, no matter where they stood on the planet, was that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and that the sky was littered with stars...

I think it is as natural as breathing for humans to believe in "God"....it's just one of those things they all seem to agree upon, no matter where they stand on the planet. it's an interesting phenomenon that needs to be scientifically explored beyond philosophical/metaphysical discussion.

Well, not everyone believes in god.
I for one can't of course show any evidence that god doesn't exist, as i can't show any evidence that unicorns, or a flying teapot orbiting mars doesn't exist, but the existence or non existence of god is utterly irrelevant for me, i just act and conduce my life as if there was no god.

Exactly. All of these examples are of those who belief in a "creator"... from Roman Catholic JFK to Eistine who was a deist. To bobbyyy though... they all are members of the God soaked...

and... according to bobbyyy...are (were) insane (he has also said they were all: cowards and child abusers).

And thats fine with me. Some of my best friends have been agnostics and atheists including a few in the medical profession and a number here on chess.com. One thing we all have in common is that we respect each others beliefs. :)

You do belong to the approx. 2.3% of the world's population of atheists. For westerners it is a recent movement that began during the Age of Enlightement in late 17th century....

It is outside of the above population that I refer to --- around the world - the belief in God everywhere is a phenomenon.

Between the ages of 12-42, I "forced" myself to be atheist...I say forced in the sense that I had always felt something more transcendental - beyond the mundane that pushed me to see the world a certain way, yet I rejected it.

The point of the thread is to ask what God is to people...on a personal level...

Perhaps I should use a different word other than God...

Among all the spectrums of life....I see two things very clearly - the energies of benevolence and malevolence -- and they are conscious energies....humans are receptacles of these energies...of good and evil

what I have observed is that "conscious" acts of benevolence inhabits animals as well....but animals have not been vessels for acts of malevolence

  Might we call those angels?

Well, I enjoy a good film about angels and demons :)

It is comforting to pin things down to names and nouns...I don't mean to offend believers -

But at this point - I am merely questioning things...my atheistic foundation is shattered that is all I can say...and that I believe in a benevolent universal entity/energy/being/God - call it what you will...and that evil exists

Jesus,and the Devil work. Everyone will understand what you're reffering too.

Well...someone left alot of Apollo Mission junk AND footprints up there lol.

I, too, never believed man ever walked on the moon.

Well, you are a man who sees through everything right to it's bare truth.

LOL..... seriously? 

seriously, yup

So the Apollo Mission space junk AND foot prints on the moon are fake too? LOL