It isn't religion that cures your illness. It's SCIENCE. This is for the Christians?

I think you missed it. With science you still die.. without God you perish.. with God you live... forever.. death is more than physical.

There is often too much trust in any religion, not just Christianity. Some tribal cultures have religions that require all sorts of obscene things and rituals that would make those Christians look like a Peptobismol commercial. I disagree with any sort of relying on faith for serious matters such as health or believing "God will provide". He may do that, he may not. He might cure your mental illness, but probabaly not. Either way, serious issues like that need to be dealt with seriously and professionally, not by a priest or minister from any religion. But realize that some people don't have access to treatment for serious illnesses, either because of the country they live in or their finacial situation. Either way, resorting to religion is sometimes the only hope for people, even if it is a hope in vain.

This is not a question and not even a factual statement it is simply your personal opinion.Unfortunately you make no claims to any qualification either in religion or science or anything else. How on Earth you can quote Adolph Hitler to support your view only shows the depths to which you will trawl to give you an ounce of credibility.

As you see others have different opinions.

The fact that you dismiss all other opinions is clear evidence of bigotry or at least a pretty heavy dose of prejudice. All of which you so glibly accuse others.

So we put it to you that you offer no evidence ,not even a smidgeon of intelligent reasoning and ,as you so rightly claim absolutely no faith whatsoever.

Without faith the foremost scientists ,of which religious ones have led the field in every branch of learning ,would still be in the dark ages.Most certainly in the field of medicine and astro physics..despite all the naysayers and cynics.

This is what I always say when people ask why atheists care about religion. Beliefs are not necessarily things that you believe on Sunday morning and then forget about for the rest of the week. If someone believes something, it can change the way they think and act, and it can have actual consequences. If someone believes that God will heal them if they pray, there's a possibility that they'll make real-world decisions based on that belief, like not seeking actual medical treatment when they're sick. When people are making decisions like that, the question of "does prayer work" suddenly becomes an *incredibly* important one. Like I said, people are always asking why atheists care about what others believe -- this is one reason why.

I am at best an agnositc, so I really don't believe in God and such, but I firmly believe in the power of the mind and of mutual thought. Some people like to call that the 'hand of God,' and I can't say it is or isn't, but clearly, there is something besides medicine that can cure ills.

Again, I am not a believer in an omnipotent spirit, but I cannot deny that my friend, who refused any type of medical treatment when diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, is alive and well today and totally free of cancer with NO medical treatment, merely a 'prayer chain' that went out to nearly a thousand people, intense will power, and an extreme change of diet.

And, who can say it wasn't God that lead the way to vaccines and treatments to cure illnesses?

Just playing devil's advocate.

OH YEAH? Well, what about all those miraculous cures in Lourdes that have been certified by leading scientists from the Vatican? Huh?

Roman Catholic Christianity can provide gazillions of evidence of countless cures from sicknesses ranging from epilepsy to testicular cancer (okay, so I'll admit we have a bit of a problem regrowing amputated limbs). The Vatican has all the evidence hidden in its vaults, and all you have to do is pay the Pope a visit and ask to see them. He's a really good guy.

Science, smience...only GOD can make a tree!

@ Auntie Anne - An "extreme change of diet" and no other medical treatment has been proven to cure cancer. If it were prayer alone your friend would have died. Your gullibility is showing.

I agree that it is medicine that cures you but I also have to add that when my cousin had cancer, the doctor told her to believe she would get better because thinking positively does effect you, as does thinking negatively. Nothing to do with god, just the power of your own mind.

The Bible never makes the claim to heal all disease today by prayer. That is not in the Bible anywhere. The Bible does say that some sickness is the result of sin, and can be healed by repentence from that sin and prayer. There are many examples where science could not heal people and yet they were healed in some "unknown" means, so don't be too quick to say that only science can help. You really don't havwe all the facts to make that determination.

If a god existed, he wouldn't have created the disease in the first place.

LOL. I love how some of these people say God put the cures there for science to discover. That's hilarious. Religions spent thousands of years trying to stop science. Do these people have any concept of how many doctors and scientists were tortured, imprisoned, and killed for trying to discover the truth?

This world would be centuries ahead of where it is if religions hadn't spent all their time dragging our greatest minds to the stake to burn. That's the real legacy of religions.

People who have a positive attitude have a greater chance of recovering from some physical trauma or disease then those who don't. If having a religious faith gives a person that positive attitude, then that is a contributing factor to their recovery.

EDIT: Nope, didn't admit that at all. Simply pointed out one aspect of being religious which directly affects a person's health, which you failed to take into account. My not mentioning anything else doesn't preclude any other religious aspect from applying, either.

BTW science is not "truthful knowledge that can be backed up with supportive information". Any scientific theory (and they all are theories) is based on accepting something else to be true. And so it goes such and such supposedly is true because this and that supposedly is true. And this and that supposedly is true because so and so supposedly is true. And so and so supposedly is true because something else supposedly is true. And on and on until you come down to one final thing which is taken on FAITH to be true because you can't actually prove it to be true. For Einstein it was light and for Hawking it is gravity. But this is what all science has as its foundation. And just because it seems more valid to you to take one thing on faith rather than another thing doesn't necessarily make it more valid. Occam's Razor can't effectively be used in this case.

EDIT2: Wrong. All of science is theoretical for the reason I stated above. And none of it is supported by information which backs it up if that information relies on theory itself at its core, which it does. What you are giving is circular reasoning (your conclusion depends on suppositions you make which in turn rely on your conclusion being true), and that is why Occam's Razor cannot be applied effectively.

And why don't you try looking at the Bible for what it is, which is a collection of works. The Bible wasn't written as a single book but rather is a gathering of writings placed into a single source. That is why those Books of the Bible are called Books. Expecting that they will tell the same thing in exactly the same way is somewhat nonsensical, so naturally you should expect some degree of conflict and controversy. Add to that the Bible's Books being translated from their original writings and different societies viewing the written translations from their perspective throughout the ages, and you bring in even more diversity to the meaning of the writings.

Any decently educated and unbiased individual would actually bother to research their subject before passing judgment on it.

BTW I am not arguing this as a Christian or as subscribing to any religious belief, although it might appear otherwise. I simply believe in the notion "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing", and that too many people are eager to jump on a bandwagon because they feel the little knowledge they've garnered is sufficient. They then tend to become arrogant in their presumed expertise and attempt to inflict themselves upon others. It is funny how so many Atheists claim religious people do this, yet they are completely guilty of doing it themselves.

You don't know what your saying. First of all try explaining what you just said to people that have been healed and medicine had nothing to do with it. Second Faith does not lack evidence at all. There are Christians that can mop the floor with your evidence and "facts". You absolutely have the right to believe in God or not to believe. However, know their is intelligent people behind both sides who have done research and use logic and reason to defend what they believe.

Tiss Tiss