Every existing person is biased. I am making that claim because my life's experience as taught (= biased) me from the neutral perspective (= no perspective at all) to the belief that no person is objective. Maybe I am actually wrong - maybe there are one or more persons in the world that actually are truely objective - but to apply knowledge/belief on the world, one cannot strive for true allknowingness because it's impractical. Somehow, we all have faith all the time. But what we have faith in makes sense and touches our lives significantly.

I have faith not to be killed by a person that walks past me even though I can't know that for sure till I am past it. Practical knowledge. True knowledge... I know that I am writing this right now. I know that I have eyes. I could doubt that, but that would lead me to a point where I become disfunctional, and the mere energy of my will to exist/live impossibilifies too much doubt.

The human mind - as the animal mind - is a bit like a rechargeable battery. It can be loaded, only we're not talking electrical energy but really beliefs. Some beliefs are incompatible with one another, and when the mind has made enough experiences, the contradiction effect (just like the evolution of the species - actually it's the exact same effect) kicks out everything that's not viable, that does not belong.

Religion is also upheld by an evolutionary effect. If you're born into a society that beliefs in religion X v3.4beta, you are likely to be pushed into joining it because of three causes: (1) Religion [has become over time|is designed to be] an assimilator. We are Borg. (2) Social structures (parents, groups, public view) pressures people to give in. (3) People are in need for truth, and religion is fast to replace the truth-seeking-mechanisms of the mind with a cosy warm blindfold that stops all progress of truthfinding. Like a drug that feels good enough to take a part of your life away.

In a society that is mainly into religion X v3.4beta, it is an advantage to join the club. Religion kinda proves the theory of evolution.

What religious people really manage to ignore is the fact that a society that is mainly into religion Y v2.7rc1 mainly spawns members of *that* club. And both clubs (X and Y) claim to be the right one. And the believer doesn't realize that he only got into X because he wasn't born over there in Y-country. A real truth-seeker *must* reject his religion over such an obvious contratiction: It *can't* just be the truth. The other guys are claiming the same for their club!

But the believer used the power of will, and in the mind, this power is really mighty. It is able to create the rock that cannot be lifted by its own creator, the owner of the mind. The rock keeps influencing the mind not to undo it, under no circumstances. Whenever you touch that system/problem at its core, the user (mind-owner) is shaken, but his mere will combined with the rock-bias will strengthen his "belief" (which is really a considerable mind-sickness) so that in the future, said touch won't shake the user any more.

They willingly gave their mind away. Many if not most of them are lost. And that's not just sad, that is even a problem. Because they are convinced of this philosophy of theirs, and this philosophy includes to convince (assimilate) as many people as possible (for example one's own children) into this philosophy.

That's really the funny/dark part there. They collect more and more people, and the mass-effect, guess what, strenghtens their belief. The rock-effect is even in outer reality! No wonder. I mean, people who see God in a gust of wind that shakes a treetop in a "certain" moment are externalizing their belief, they are falling for a mind disease that is close to schizophrenia: The confusion of outer and inner reality.

There is an objective reality. Science is the best way mankind has to deliver true information about that reality to the experiencer(s).

There is virtually a core in the head: The person. Between the outer reality and this perceiving/experiencing/deciding core, there is a thick layer of senses (eyes, ears etc.), the interpretation apparatus/structure and finally all the experiences (memories) that the person made.

This shell between the objective reality and the experiencer is to be kept as clean as possible. To have religious beliefs and uphold them, one has to distort this shell very much.

Science is a tool we use to simulate as good as possible a *perfect* shell (mind). No wonder religious people dislike science. It's so... sane.

Quote: "Every existing person is biased. I am making that claim because my life's experience as taught"...

A person who questions and raises doubts about claims is not the one who is biased; it's those who don't. If the decision is made that something is factual without first questioning it in every way possible then belief in it is based on propagandizing. Why would anything be accepted without the same scrutiny that would be applied to any subject? There are built in protections in all of the religious dogmas to prevent the indoctrinated followers from even listening to a contrasting point of view. They are not trained to appreciate contrasting points of view, and some are not even aware that there are contrasting points of view. As a matter of fact the religious hierarchy always deals with questions by making accusations of an evil predisposition. The skeptic is a "doubting Thomas," which is a transgression. The skeptic needs to read the bible over and over, even though it's a very repetitious book. There is a reason for that. Most brainwashing is done by repetition. Few people in America haven't had the bible shoved down their throats. However, there are very few who have openly questioned the bible's validity or importance, because if they did they would immediately be on the drop-dead list of every hypocrite and phony institution in America.

Quote: "I have faith not to be killed by a person that walks past me even though I can't know that for sure till I am past it."

It may not be likely that someone will kill me, but it is a fact that it can happen, so it is possible. Lots of people are told that they have a (guardian angel) that always watches out for them, and it always made me wonder what they told themselves when some good, kind and totally innocent person was murdered. Their guardian angel was sleeping on the job?

Quote: "The human mind - as the animal mind - is a bit like a rechargeable battery. It can be loaded, only we're not talking electrical energy but really beliefs. Some beliefs are incompatible with one another, and when the mind has made enough experiences, the contradiction effect (just like the evolution of the species - actually it's the exact same effect) kicks out everything that's not viable, that does not belong."

If the human mind is being loaded with information that has no basis in fact, experience, knowledge or evidence, and is not based on any available evidence, it cannot be concluded to be usable information. It's just not possible. People should find out what the answers are for themselves, instead of just being told what the answers are. There is currently a great deal of censorship on many subjects including science. Much of this censorship is based on the fact that it clashes with dogma. Most Biblical scholars changed their stance on the belief that life on this planet was created instantly as described in Genesis. Fundamentalists dispute evolution and do believe in instantaneous creation as described in Genesis, but it is unauthenticated by the scientific study of how life evolved on this planet. Astrobiology comprises the disciplines involved in the study of the living universe, including the search for extraterrestrial life through the use of spectroscopy of solar and extra solar planetary atmospheres, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The presence of complex organic compounds has been observed in many bodies in space, linking the search for life on other planets to the search for understanding of the origins of all life. Within our own Solar System the focus of the search has been on Mars, Venus and a number of planetary moons, such as Europa.

Quote: "Religion is also upheld by an evolutionary effect"...

There are various reasons for continuing to promote religion; it's awash with secret societies, and it's political as well as religious networking. I have concluded that religion and patriotism are promoted in many societies to get soldiers to die for their beliefs and for their country, when most often they are only dying because of someone's greed.

Religion has much more to offer some people than anything with a basis in fact. Actually, our society promotes the idea that unbelief is a reason to hold people in contempt. Although, many people who have contributed the most were not believers. Carl Sagan the astronomer was a skeptic who pioneered exobiology and promoted the search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. He was the co-author of a paper that warned of nuclear winter. He also warned that global warming and greenhouse gases were a growing man-made danger. He suggested that Titan and Jupiter's moon Europa may contain oceans (a subsurface ocean in the case of Europa) or lakes that provide the foundations of life. He suggested that the seasonal changes on Mars were due to windblown dust. He believed that the Drake Equation suggested that a large number of extraterrestrial civilizations would form, but that the lack of evidence of such civilizations suggests that technological civilizations tend to destroy themselves rather quickly. This stimulated his interest in identifying ways that humanity could destroy itself, with the hope of avoiding such destruction and eventually becoming a space-faring species.

If after JFK got us to the moon and back, the space program had as much technology and money put into it as the unnecessary wars, we'd be way ahead. But, it looks like were heading for the next quagmire.. Iran.