>>Claudio, with all due respect, I think the mistake you make in your argument, which all fervent believers of any religion make, is that you want to defend the Truth of your religion by using your religion, for example by quoting your bible. But this source of "truth" is the very thing which is being questioned in the first place by the non-religous people. You cannot measure a stick with the stick that is being measured. You cannot quote the scripture as proof of the scripture. Catch-22.
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>>Religion is ultimately based on faith, the will to believe without proof. A religious man believes in God without proof and an atheist believes in a no-God propositon also without proof. They are mirror image positions and it comes down to the simple human tendency that people believe what they want to believe. Then they find ways to "prove" their belief, at least to themselves.
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>>You cannot base a position on faith and then try to justify that belief with proof. Either you have proof, in which case faith is not necessary, or you have faith, either because you have no proof or no need of it.
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>Jos,
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>That was very well said, and I agree with most of it, except your statement that "it comes down to the simple human tendency that people believe what they want to believe". I think there's much more to it than that. Surely it is no coincidence that religious beliefs tend to be passed on early in life, strongly influenced by immediate family and community environment.

Yes you are of course correct that our environment plays a part in shaping our thinking, our viewpoint, and so on. But that is also part of the reason contributing to the human tendency to believe what we want to believe. We believe what "works for us", what we feel comfortable with, what appeals to us. And what works for us, what makes us feel comfortable, are in turn influenced by various factors including our upbringing.


>The other human tendency at work is the need for people to have answers to fundamental questions. They will spend the rest of their lives building upon this foundation. In time, surprisingly little, the concrete sets, and nothing can shake that foundation without crumbling the whole structure.


This is also true. I think any intelligent thinking person who has the time to ponder the universe and their place in it must ask themselves fundamental questions. People have done so for all time. And as you say people will tend to close their minds once an answer is found that appears to work for them. To continue the search requires a lot of work.


>This is why religious arguments tend to be futile. Thank God for atheists!

FWIW I dont think that the commerical religions or the scientists have the right answers. Religion requires belief in an unprovable God while science claims to explain everything at a big picture level but glosses over fundamental steps when pressed for details.