XPost: talk.atheism, alt.atheism, alt.agnosticism   
   XPost: alt.recovery.catholicism   
   From: peter@pfjames.co.uk   
      
    wrote:   
      
   >   
   > Whatever it is, and whether God and Satan exist or not,   
   > atheists ARE evidence of Satan's existence and influence on   
   > human minds. The fact that they desperately want to believe   
   >otherwise, amusingly, is evidence as well.   
   Let us consider history.   
      
   Since the dawn of mankind there have been religions, and priests, and   
   shamans etc.  All catering to the one question that has been in men and   
   womens minds since the dawn of time.  Why am I here and why?  And   
   each and every religion has claimed to possess the answers to these   
   questions, and each has promised to teach and educate those   
   members of its faith that obeyed the "rules" set by this particular   
   faith.   
      
   Consider the number of religions that preceded christianity.  Some of   
   which lasted for a lot longer than christianity and some of which are   
   still with us.   
      
   And with the exception of one major faith, they've all gone and   
   disappeared into history.  And christianity, I'm glad to say shows every   
   sign of doing the same thing.   
      
   Church attendance is dropping, churches closing, the priesthood   
   declining and major scandals shaking the very foundations of faith.   
   And the thing that really cheers me up is the attitude that is gaining   
   ground in the minds of people, and that is the belief that "faith and   
   belief" are looked upon as superstition.   
      
   And that great question, "why are we here and why" has been   
   answered by science with greater and greater precision and with   
   greater and greater acceptance as time goes on.   
      
   Personally, I am hoping that within 100 years Christianity will go the   
   same way as the religion of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the   
   belief in Amun and Osiris and the Great `mother Goddess .   
      
   And what will civilization be left with but a sense of rationality, a   
   belief in ones own abilities and without the stupid superstitions of our   
   ancestors.   
      
   Peter   
      
   --   
   -   
   The e-mail address obviously doesn't exist.  If it's essential   
   that you contact me then try peterATpfjamesDOTcoDOTuk   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)