Did God make us after we made him?

Only 2 things exist . .
1 - Mass (physical things. Wood, Steel, pencils, cars computers, fruit, fish, mountains, clouds, rain etc)

2 - Energy (heat, light, electromagnetic energy, potential energy, radiation etc)

EVERYTHING is one of these 2 things.

There is however a 3rd thing . . . 'abstract concepts'.
Abstract Concepts exist ONLY within an 'operating system' . . the human mind, an animals mind, a computer maybe?

Abstract Concepts include all emotion, love, hate, fear, jealously, language, writing (eg. this post), works of fiction, philosophy and religion. There is no love on the moon. There is no fear on the moon. there is no hatred on the moon. There is no God on the moon. There are no humans on the moon.

Science = Reality
Religion = Relative concept . . . . . . FICTION.

Little children believe in Santa Claus, baby jesus and the tooth fairy.
Any intelligent adult who seriously shapes and bases their daily life around any work of fiction (be it Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter or 'the bible') is simply trying to escape the pressures and stresses of 'reality'. It is their right to do so . . . . . . . . . . . they may be weak and find comfort and safety with like-minded others.

It is my right to choose not to be a sheep. The lord is NOT my shepherd. I recognise the heirarchichal 'power-pyramid' structure of every church. I see that the churches are wealthy and that those in poverty are more inclined to be religious. I see through all of it so clearly and I think freely and live outwith the artificial rules and constraints that all religions impose. To be religious is immediately to be a hypocrite.

When you understand why you dismiss all gods other than your own, you will understand why I dismiss yours (with apologies).

Clearly I am in agreement with MTSGSD. There seems to be 2 kinds of people . . . 'scientists' (for want of a better word) and 'believers'.

Hey isn't the earth still flat!

I consider myself an atheist, but technically I'm more of an agnostic. I have core beliefs of how I should live my life, and the existence or non-existence of god is sort of irrelevent unless there is one and he starts speaking directly to me. With or without a god, we're left to muddle through life as best as we can. I'm an engineer, and I don't see any reason or proof of the existence of god, which makes me believe there isn't one, but who knows. I certainly don't think less of anyone who does believe.

The place where I work makes rocket engines (including the ones on the shuttle), lasers, and space power systems. Some of the people here are amazingly smart. Lots of actual rocket scientists. Many of them are also deeply religious. I don't see a conflict there unless you start going into biblical literalism, which most of them don't.

Well I do not believe in god at all. Not even a little bit. But like Podmore I respect anyone elses right to make their own minds up about what life means . . . that is my core belief. Raytheon podmore? I live in Scotland and thats the only US company I know so I apologise if I am wrong! Anyway, I have often been intrigued by extremely smart scientists who are also religious . . . . . it does seem incongruous . . . I certainly dont think you are suggesting that smart people 'validate' religion . . . . .I guess you will find some of these same 'smart people' have marital problems, drink problems, social problems etc etc just like every other human being? perhaps the truth of the need for a faith lies in that direction?

I bet you know the company I work for too, ducknutz, it's Boeing. It was Rockwell International when I started, but Boeing bought out my site. (Rocketdyne).

A lot of the great thinkers though the years have been very religious. I think there are a lot of stupid things done in the name of religion, but that doesn't make religion inherently stupid.

A lot of scientists are led to science because they love the joys and mysteries of the universe. Religion, I think, can appeal to the same sort of people.

Just an interesting side note. I read this somewhere, but I forget who it was. I'm gonna paraphrase cuz I'm not exactly sure how he wrote it. It was written manly to the atheist crowd, I think.

"If I'm wrong about religion, I may look like a fool in this lifetime and, after we die, nobody's going to care.

However, if you're wrong about religion............."

I think he was trying to say that it's an awful risk for someone to not believe in anything--a risk where the reward isn't fully justifiable. Though, on another aside note, I also believe that, in a way, atheists do have their own religion:

from dictionary.com

Religion:

A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.