Similar to the "Life After Death" thread but I would agree, ritualized religion is, for the most part, a bunch of superstitious horseshit. Today, it's big business (especially Christianity). I also agree about the Bible....it's the word of men pretending to speak for God IMO. As I stated in the other thread, the term "afterlife" is simply a different state of our spirit, essence, soul....whatever you want to call it....than the existing state of life we are experiencing in our present form. This is what I choose to believe and remains quite subjective.
However, the question as to whether there is a higher power is not up for conjecture. It can be scientifically proven to exist via the laws of physics. Jesus may or may not be the redeemer of our sins but there can be no debate that the speed of light is 186,000 miles/second or that water will boil at 212 degees F. There obviously is some governing force in the universe that dictates these givens. Therefore, the belief in this governing force could be construed as a belief in a deity of some sort I suppose. It could also be simply a belief in a higher force, limited in scope (i.e. it can govern the speed of light but holds no sway over what I say or do in my individual life outside of those physical boundaries, nor does it care). It's this....the concept of free will....that leads me to doubt the existence of an omniscient and omnipresent God who affects the minute details of each of our lives. Unfortunately for most of the ritualized religions, it is a fervent belief in God's involvement in every facet of our lives that is the centerpiece of the very rituals (prayer, sacrifice, confession etc) that define them. It's a lot of pomp and ceremony but means little else other than to draw a measure of comfort for those who choose to blindly accept it. Those of us who do not can absolutely be spiritual without being considered "religious" in the commonly-held meaning of the the term.
