Your response is quite humorous. You really think there is a conspiracy here? What is your evidence? Josh McDowell is not a Bible Scholar, he is an apologist with a clear agenda to make you a believer, not to study the Bible and go where the evidence leads. If you want to read some good scholarship on the Bible, read some Bart Ehrman or Robert Price. It might open your eyes to how human a book the Bible is.

I don't need reasons, you faggot.

Then I guess I was correct, you are a troll.

I do not know that a god does NOT exist, but I also do not know that one does. The burden of proof rests in your court, since you are making the positive claim of existence. I make no claim, and am pursuing the only rational response, which is withholding belief until evidence has been provided that would justify belief in a god.

A couple thoughts. First, if your not going to act on your faith, then your not the person I'm concerned about. I'm worried about those that fly planes into buildings for their faith, and also the ones that deny human rights to others.

Secondly, I think you are very wrong, most people have a lot of skin in the game. A lot of people pay taxes, and the decisions made by our government affect all of us. People should stay more informed, and be good citizens.

Nothing you've said has shown religion is good for society. You haven't shown any evidence that we have ever been accountable to a deity, and that believing in a deity has made any difference in a society. As far as I'm concerned, you've just been rambling and not backing up your claims with evidence.

Without a higher power to answer to, it leaves u only the government to answer to, and history repeatedly tells us that option is deadly and never works.

That makes me think that your view of secular governments is pretty low, and deadly would seem to be evil.

but they are human, and any human can misuse or abuse power.

They can be evil, and humans can definitely abuse power. It's our job to be informed citizens and fight against evil and corruption.

By putting your faith into an intangible, that trust is not used against you. As for examples, that yet to be seen for you and I.

Please explain what intangible belief I should hold, and give evidence why I should. Unfortunately, if your faith is in one of the major religions of today, then when you act upon those beliefs, that can be held against you. For instance, a common belief is that homosexuality is a sin, and the common action religious people take is to deny rights to homosexuals. This can definitely be held against you.

Are you suggesting that a god exists to hear prayers? How do you know such things?

How do you know that a god exists? Please provide evidence before making such claims that a god knows the future.

Religion is a man-made institution, and can be corrupted like any other. The problem with religion is it teaches people to rely on a force that is higher then themselves, most times a god, and yet does not provide any good evidence that would justify the belief. It's dangerous when any institution does this, and religion has consistently done this.

Religion moves into the realm of evil when it starts to deny human rights/equality to others based on race, sexual orientation, and creed. Secular societies have had to drag religions kicking and screaming into the modern era, forcing them to accept that slavery was wrong. Today we attempt to do the same with granting rights to homosexuals, but religion seems to battle us at every turn.

Please show how society has ever been left to answer to a god? You try to show us how evil secular government is, but you don't contrast it with anytime where we've been accountable to a god. Please show us that religion is anything but a man-made institution.

If you are referring to a type of heaven or hell, no evidence has been provided. Though there are many that claim such places exist, no one has come back from the grave to tell us that such a place exists. The pattern we see is that when the brain dies, the individual is declared completely dead and begins to decompose.