Mr. Saturday

Simply put, according to your respective faiths, is earth the only planet home to creation, or do you think there are others out there in this grand ol' universe? Why or why not?

There's a lot of them, with their own special brand of awesome. No obligation to believe in them required - you've already got your thing, of course. But of the old religions - ancient Greek, Egyptian, Norse, etc. - do you have a favorite? If so, please say why.

Let's try a question that could perhaps be a bit more challenging. Atheists and theists are only different in religious beliefs. Besides that, you have more in common than you think. And doubtless, there's something you've found in someone with different beliefs that you like about them.

There's more to atheists than non-belief. Some of the most notable have written and said many other things regarding all the myriad facets of life. Look up a notable atheist or two on Wikiquote, and find something you agree with.

Oh, and pantheists, deists, and agnostics count as well.

As an experiment in curiosity, I'd like to ask atheists to find a passage from any religious text that you can wholeheartedly agree with in terms of personal principle.

Speaking as an atheist who has seen enough internet religious debate to establish his own take on things, one thing that's always bugged me is the tendency for atheists to ascribe atrocities committed by those with faith to the faith itself and not to the actions or disposition of the person committing them.

I play a lot of video games, and the most common (and logical) defense used when people claim that video games cause violence is that there are millions of people who play them, and not all of them turn into murderous psychopaths.

Wouldn't the same hold true for religion? The majority of the world has a religion of some sort, but only a minority throughout history have had the stones to justify acts of evil with the ideologies claiming to be the ultimate good. Isn't it reasonable to believe that religion cannot be inherently bad because of how infrequently the religious start wars or commit atrocities like the Inquisition? It seems to make a lot more sense to ascribe such actions to genuinely evil people than to the religions they believe in.

Your average little old lady, or the guy who barbecues and watches football next door, or the soccer mom with two kids - who all go to the same church - are not inherently genocidal. Neither is the Muslim who prays facing Mecca halfway around the world. Neither is anyone with any faith whatsoever.

Would you agree that it's reasonable to believe that any atrocity or war that can be related to religion is not the fault of religion, but the fault of the people who commit them?

A family of three move into a new apartment. The mother works, the daughter also works and is a legal adult, and the son is a minor who is not gainfully employed. The mother puts down the initial deposit on the apartment and pays rent and utilities for some time. The mother eventually becomes unemployed, which leaves the daughter as the sole provider of the home, including paying for utilities and rent for the family. Who is the legal owner of the apartment? (I use "owner" for lack of a better word, since technically, the superintendent [or whoever owns the building] would be the true legal owner of the apartment. But my question is basically, whose home is it, in the legal sense?)

I've been considering writing a last will and testament for a while after the whole Terry Schiavo thing, but never got around to it. I know I could die if fate happens to put me in the path of a drunk driver, or under a collapsing bridge, but what will be done if I die without a will? How are my posessions and monetary assets distributed post mortem if I don't specify it?

I've never cleaned my flatscreen computer monitor in the whole time I've had it (over a year), and it's beginning to get a bit grody. To avoid damaging it, how should I go about cleaning it?

Atheist question. Hoping someone can clear this up for me.

According to the Bible, Isaiah prophecized that a virgin would concieve a son, and his name would be Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). Why then was he named Jesus instead?

I'm an atheist, but I firmly believe in the notion that if praying to a higher power makes someone happy, I have to right to try to convince them to stop. However, there are a lot of atheists who outright bash theists for beliving in a higher power. Same for theists bashing atheists for not believing in a god or gods, even though it makes us happy. Even between two different religions, or two different sects of the same religion, people are killed in attempts to prove a point. What exactly do you think it is about religion that makes it so hard for people to accept the opinions of others, as opposed to other areas of life like politics, films, or food, where differing opinions are not met with nearly as much hostility?

I live in Youngstown, OH, and something is wrong with my internet conncetion. (I'm typing this up at work.) I looked them up in the phone book and could only find an 866 number, which did not help. No matter how many times I asked, they did not give the number for the local provider for my area. How can I find out what the number is so I can ask if they're experiencing technical difficulties?

I just got one, and it's probably not a problem, but I was curious as to approximately what percentage of 360 users have reported getting the red halo of death.

A couple of friends and I are planning a trip to Toronto this coming summer, and I heard from my stepdad that you don't need a passport to drive into Canada until 2008. Is this true? Provide a link to a government site that says this if possible.

I have a vague idea of what it does, and all I know is that it's a neurotransmitter. But what specific effects does it have on humans?

I use headphones, and not speakers, so a subwoofer or something like that is out of the question. I want to know if there's some form of equalizer within the computer's sound system that is applied to everything that produces sound.

I know it has something to do with the speed of light, curved space, weird physics stuff like that, but I'm not entirely sure what it all means. I'm not looking for a lot of detail in the answers, by the way...I know next to nothing about physics.

What happens when a soldier is killed in action? Are there autopsy measures taken, are his or her weapons recovered...?

I'm thinking of getting an Xbox 360 at some point in the near future, and I want to know what payment options are available, as in pre-paid cards, tri-monthly billing, etc.