No problem, we generally don't censor anything on this website.

That's exactly what I'm getting at! If God created it, then who created God? If natural causes is the reason then what created the environment that allowed the natural causes to take place? All these theories, at the root of them, are as irrational as each other and therefore there is no point arguing because no one has the more sensible theory in the big picture.

I'm talking about the root of all these theories... who/what created the environment that allowed the big bang to happen, what created that environment. It's something that we will never be able to answer hence the introduction of God, some would say the fact we can't answer these questions means that there has to be something greater than us that can comprehend eternal existence or how it all started, if there is a beginning.

That's where I strongly disagree with you, I think they are both equally plausible.

Can I just say... is it really sensible for someone who believes in the big bang to argue with someone who believes in God? Surely both theories can perfectly coexist - the big bang happened but God instigated it. I'm not talking about God in relation to a specific religion btw.

Aren't you being a little immature? That's obviously what she meant, it hardly needed to be said like that.

Essentially it's an infinite regression for both so that doesn't really matter.

No, it's not.  I'm not stipulating that an entity had to create the big bang.  In fact, it's a known fact that the big bang was not created by an entity.  It was as a result of the universe expanding.

My position is that I believe, until evidence says otherwise, that the universe has always been.  It's infinite, in my opinion.

I saw a film in class, I believe it was called 'Zeitgeist', and it showed several proofs that the Christian faith is entirely based on the Egyptian astrology and therefore doesn't have any link towards the existence of a real God.

However, I think many of those documentaries search for far-fetched proof, but some points were very well made and not completely made up. Of course, I remain sceptical on any theory.

What I also find annoying is when people who believe in God laugh when somebody says they believe in fairies and elves. I think there's more proof for their existence than the existence of God.

That aside, for me religion is the cause of many problems in the world. It would be a far more peaceful place without extreme believers, or even believers in general. I think people believe because they were educated or raised that way and ended up in the environment of religion.

Very good post.

But what would we believe in if we didn't have religion? Whether you believe in it or not, it serves a socially calming purpose for the vast majority of people, calming their fears, tempering the pain of loss and grief and explaining inexplicable events. It's human nature that we look to allay our fears through spiritual or supernatural means - if they were removed, what then? Surely we'd turn to individuals to fulfil the same function, raising up humans to demi-god status and giving them great and terrible power to act on our behalf? This, surely, would end up with the same result as we have now, with extremist movements looking to seek power through violent means in order to prove their belief is right.