I'll let RP speak for himself if he chooses to even read this stupid thread, but I'm pretty sure he has stated that he came here looking for religion, and you drove him to atheism, Bill. Go ahead and pretend that it doesn't fit your criteria.
Hmm... Well actually, Crusty...my mind was pretty much made up already before I ever came to this forum. Heh. Methinks ya give ol' BeeG too much credit. 
Don't want his head to swell up too much. I dunno the pressure rating onnat sucker and I'd hate to hafta clean up one helluva mess should it burst. 
For BeeG to be able to influence me to change any of my beliefs or principles that I stand on-he'd hafta matter to me a great deal. His thoughts and words would have to hold some significance or importance to me. Since they don't and he really doesn't matter to me one bit-He cannot affect me in any way, shape, or form. BeeG is all noise and I've already stated many times why I believe he is constantly making that noise as often and as loudly as he can.
I reached my own conclusion regarding the existence of any kind of god-using my own experiences and logic and knowledge of the way things are and the way things work gained through self-education out of sheer curiosity.
However-I had never-EVER seen a 'religion' forum at a newspaper site before (Where I'm from there's lots of believers-but nobody gives a s#!&(Not even OTHER BELIEVERS! THE HORRORS!!!!!1) and leaves everybody else alone about it. Lot more atheists, too. Nobody cares one way or the other and we nawthunuhs don't shoot each other because we believe different things. Y'know.... Live and let live and all...)
Anyway, Like any good scientist would do-(OK, so I'm a simple scientist but I experiment nonetheless sometimes cause, hey..I could be wrong, but I figure I'm not..) I decided to drop in and ask some questions regarding the belief in a god. Like I've said before-I figure that if I could figure out WHY people believe in a god-then I could use that information to try and figure out which particular flavor of Kool-Aid (belief) might make some sense.
BIIIIIG disappointment on that score. None of it still makes any sense to me-people have proven to me that they believe what they believe because they were taught to-and then they spend the rest of their lives trying to justify believing in what they were taught to believe until it all becomes rote and so 'normal' to them that 'it just IS and always was' and they no longer question it. (People remember best what they hear last and if they hear it ALL THE TIME, (every Sunday!/Wednesday!/Whatever!) relentlessly-it becomes truth because they can't remember anything else anymore. Bless their lil' hearts...)
It hasn't been a total loss hanging out here, though. I've furthered my knowledge of human nature through experiences here. What makes you people tick and how you keep ticking.
I must say that with a few exceptions-the southern version of human nature is very different than the northern version of it I've lived most of my life with. Reading (listening, and yes...to me, reading posts in a forum is the same as standing in front of someone listening because there's real people behind those screen names who come back often and interact with me. I'm the exact same way in real life as I am here in this forum. You can b'lee dat s#!t. Ask Jank or A. Rob. They'll tell ya.).
Met some cool people in person because of this forum. Good folks-believers and non. Folks who don't judge me because of who I am or what my views or beliefs are.
Then again there are the Bill Grays and other automatons that just spewed at me-and then judged me harshly (and if you think condemning somebody to eternal dangnation (The "first blood" I keep mentioning) isn't harsh-whether ya believe in it or not-it's harsh to those who do it. Even though I don't believe it-I KNOW what they MEANT. Those folks just re-affirmed my belief that religion is just another crock of crap designed to control crowds and make money and make people who would otherwise go unnoticed in this world feel validated and powerful and knowledgeable by preaching it. (Up nawth-I have to actively LOOK for a preacher.....Here I can't turn around without tripping over at least four of them. When I look at the Shoals on Googley Earth-I hafta turn off all the churches on the map so I can frikkin' see something else besides all the #$%*in' churches.)
I've learned a lot here. Probably not what you might think I've learned, but I have learned a lot.
I like it here. I think I'll stick around. (for as long as the mod who probably shoulda banned me a long time ago keeps laughing at what I write. *grins and crosses fingers*)
Now, having said that-I'm hungry and I have a couple dollars in ma pocket, so I do believe I'm gonna go worship briefly at The Church Of The One True Clown. (Dollar menu ROCKS!)
First bolded part....I kept wondering what the heck a religion forum was doing at a paper's site and couldn't figure out why, and you helped me realize it. Thanks! I'm not used to religion and sports being the news and everything else used as filler..lol.
Second bolded part...I think this is the answer as to whether the "in your face and I am right" style of spreading beliefs works or not. I said already if I hadn't heard of God and read this forum...well, some of the posts...I would run the other way and not want a relationship with anyone who treated people that way. Reading some of the posts here has totally reinforced to me why I don't follow that system of beliefs and why I stayed away from church for years. So you have two there right out of the gate who say it didn't convince us of anything and actually turned us off to it.
And you are so right on the number of churches..lol. That is interesting, but I already commented on how much sense it makes to say there is only one right way to believe while having a zillion different churches to choose from in even a few square blocks. I have had visitors from other areas of the country who were horrified to see people standing on the edge of highways in the Tenn Valley leaning out in the road or coming up to cars waiting in traffic yelling and waving signs about going to hell or coming in to the revival and asking them what church they go to before saying hello.
Some of these people are Christians, too, so it isn't just the "non-believers" who commented that they would never attend a church where people thought it wasn't rude and over the line to come up to cars and stick signs in face while yelling about burning in hell or insisting they get saved immediately. So yes, there is proof all around that people like to be left to choose their paths themselves and to have their beliefs respected. It is all around, actually, if one wants to see it.