Atheism: Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods
Christian: Professing belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the teachings and life of Jesus

What is so hard to understand about either definition? What, exactly, is a spiritual atheist if, by definition, atheism does not believe in any type of spiritual reality?

If science is truly the answer to everything (as the New Atheists proudly declare) then why don’t these student atheists with their belief in science, logic, and reason have true inner peace?

Is that outburst rational, or just a chemical reaction?

“The goal,” said Andrew Severin, a post-doctoral researcher in bioinformatics, “should be to obtain inner peace for yourself and do random acts of kindness for strangers.”

I don’t think we should be heaping scorn on these poor deluded “souls.” For it is clear they are seeking “inner peace.” WHATEVER THAT IS!

Here’s what I propose:

: Inner Peace

The resolution of what one thinks and the way one acts with what one knows (or largely suspects) to be true.

What does this tell us about atheists who are seeking “inner peace”? It tells us that what they currently think and the way the currently act is inconsistent with what they actually believe to be the truth.

Religious experiences are nothing more than regular human emotions, and can be triggered by obviously biochemical factors.

I don’t understand why I don’t have religious experiences all the time then.

Or maybe I do. Maybe every experience I have is a religious experience.

How do I tell, since they both obviously emanate from the same phenomenon?

Science, logic and reason lead to the inescapable conclusion that the universe and living systems were designed by a super-intelligence for a purpose. In the case of the design of the universe, it is clear that this intelligence must transcend space and time.

The goal…should be to obtain inner peace for yourself…

This is impossible. One can’t obtain inner peace for himself, because the source of this “inner peace” would be an unpeaceful soul. We all have unpeaceful souls; admit it, get used to it, and stop engaging in fantasies about pulling yourself up by your own unpeaceful bootstraps.

So the group added movie and board-game nights and, more recently, twice-monthly Sunday brunches to the calendar.

Good luck with movies and board games as a substitute for soul searching and service.

In the meantime I’ll serve at my church, and make a real, meaningful difference in other people’s lives. Others did this for me, and I intend to return the gift, with interest.

Try this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19726030

Or mebbe this:
http://tinyurl.com/yz2xfqu

JomesBond got it one. It was a throw-away line from a college student. And whats so bad about random acts of kindness anyway ? Is he to be forever condemmed because his statement lacks theological purity ?

Give it a rest guys.

…it should be pretty obvious, unless you are a Christian Scientist or a Scientologist that biochemistry has a real effect on emotions.

Sure. But conversely, it’s also true that psychological factors have real effects on biochemistry.

I’m glad that antidepressant medications were helpful for your family members. You mentioned that they tried prayer and all sorts of self-help programs, but you didn’t mention that they tried psychotherapy. It’s a well-kept secret (but a well-established finding) that psychotherapy is also associated with specific changes in brain biochemistry. The most recent evidence of this I’m aware of may be found in the November issue of Biological Psychiatry at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1972603 .

Unlike medication, psychotherapy has no deleterious side effects. Also unlike medication, psychotherapy has no multi-billion-dollar industry to support it. That’s part of why it’s a well-kept secret.

In fact, a large proportion of the effects of antidepressant medication is explained by placebo, which is a psychological effect as you know. For a classic study of this which has been supported many times since, see http://journals.apa.org/pt/pre.....0002a.html .

JamesBond, you wrote:

Religious experiences are nothing more than regular human emotions, and can be triggered by obviously biochemical factors.

That, of course, is nothing more than an assertion.