Ben Kaufman wrote:

On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:11:44 GMT, JaBrioL <Jabriol@mailinator.com> wrote:

Influenced by evolution? The Pope said he accepts evolution and he's still
praying.

I would guess that you are not an atheist because you miss the most obvious
reason, there is simply no evidence of supreme beings; it's just myths brain
washed into vulnerable and susceptible children of each generation.


Ben

And yet,the popular scientist Carl Sagan, for example, once stated in an
interview: “If you look into science you will find a sense of intricacy,
depth, and exquisite beauty which, I believe, is much more powerful than
the offerings of any bureaucratic religion.” Then he added: “I would not
even object to saying that the sense of awe before the grandeur of
nature is itself a religious experience.”

<SNIP>
Since you brought up Sagan,

"...
Sagan's outlook was clear: medical progress had made bone marrow transplants
possible and this development of science and technique was the sole factor
enabling him to live as long as he did. This affirmation of a materialist and
atheistic world view was a refreshing contrast to the frequent practice of
attributing a successful outcome of treatment, resulting from the application of
highly advanced medical procedures, to God's divine intervention, miracles or
the power of prayer.

I agree. God is not a baby sitter.

...
In a March 1996 essay in Parade Magazine, Sagan spoke of his illness. Referring
to friends and supporters who had prayed for his recovery and asked how he could
face death without a belief in God or an afterlife, Sagan concluded the essay
with the following comment: "Many of them have asked me how it is possible to
face death without the certainty of an afterlife. I can only say that it hasn't
been a problem. With reservations about 'feeble souls,' I share the view of a
hero of mine, Albert Einstein: 'I cannot conceive of a god who rewards and
punishes his creatures or has a will of the kind that we experience in
ourselves. Neither can I--nor would I want to--conceive of an individual that
survives his physical death. Let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egotism,
cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life
and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with
the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason
that manifests itself in nature.'"
..."

He was right there as well. There are many beliefs about a God who toss
people into a burning furnace. Not a Biblica teaching at all.

http://www.wsws.org/science/1997/jan1997/saga-j13.shtml

Ben