Sorry if this has been done before, just a question I was thinking about while sitting on the toilet this morning.

But....


Why has it become a dogma in society to have a lack of spiritual faith in something?

i.e. Using your own common sense and human logic you were given at birth.. to see things, evaluate and then decide on your own wtf is going on here..

I like to day dream and try to imagine a world where religion is viewed as EXACTLY what it is.. A bunch of superstitions and traditions that’s been passed down generation to generation and unfourtunaly snowballed in to perhaps the most damaging single entity humans have EVER created.. And retarded our intellectual evolution to a point that is depressing to even think about....

But back to the point... why is it that the logical, scientific way of explaining things (why we are even here etc) is not what we base our day to day life on..
and use this KNOWLEDGE to try to piece together what the story is.. Together.. as mankind..try to figure out a cosmic truth.
Religion has stepped in to explain all of this (the MOST important questions we are faced with as humans)
And it’s explained with a bunch of illogical nonsense that has to this day not supplied us with one shred of evidence.. no miracles.. nothing..yet millions of people base their life on this... ... this many people can not be wrong.......right?

wtf

of course they can.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!

why is it not RELIGION which has to step up, explain, prove and defend it self.. not get some special pass to make it unnecicary to have to answer for itself..becuase its put in a different ball park all together from REALITY?.,.... no fair..

sorry if some of this doesnt make sense.. Bit of a rough morning.. big night also... brains not quiet together yet.

also this post was alot longer.. i got carried away.. so alot was deleted.. Perhaps to come up in later discussion if needed.

Um....so is this merely a rant? Or is there a question to be answered?

sorry, both....

basicly... why is it the free thinkers... the people, scientists etc who are actually trying to figure out the origins of life by using WHAT WE HAVE.. our experiences... what we have learnt to further evolve intellectually even spiritually..
Why are these big questions dumped in a different realm all together.. in the religious one.. one that does not deal with anything realisticly at all... one that CAN NOT change... evolve... and does NOT help one learn AT ALL.

The way I look at it personaly is...religion is only still here because science hasnt got that far yet... (mostly becuase of religion) but it will eventually..
just like it already has broken boundries that years ago would have been ludacris to even discuss...perhaps not in our life time though.

Well you know, there is a school of thought that is not about unity or community or one-ness in spirit. It's the notion that human beings are largely egocentric beings. And everyone and everything, while occult philosophies may imagine are all invigorated by the same energetics within creation, are here strictly for our unique and individual amusements. And even in the realm of religion and faith, that is why our gods and goddesses have human characteristics and personalities. Anthropomorphism, as it were. Because it's easier to believe, even as a subconscious bonding to the notion of a higher power, if it is something we can relate to on a personal level, because we then trust it, that looks like us, has the same emotional personality as us, and has our best interests at heart. Because we simply don't trust ourselves to our own nature.

Such a statement is ignorant. It helps many people in many ways, and is always changing. People are entitled to their beliefs, you are entitled to get angry at people for believing. However, don't make ignorant statements if you cant' say for sure and undeniably that the statement is true. it only takes one thing to make something false. Religion has helped me learn plenty, therefore your statement is false.

That may have been well and good when the year began with the first two numbers being 17..

but seriously .. we are now in the year 2007.. and while i dont doubt that once upon a time a belief system such as you mention would have been an aid to mankind.. surely we at a point now were we can face our truths...stop living a lie.. and grow up... sure its a bold and scarey move to become honest with ones self.. 100% truthful and honest.. but im sure its a liberating one too.

I don't know about you, but to accept what your saying would mean convincing myself into a lie.

Would you care share your point of view on what you consider your level of personal evolution to being 100% truthful and honest with yourself!?

Im not saying on a personal level... like i said in the previous post.. it has been an aid to mankind... but perhaps in a era where IT was needed.. IT is no longer needed in my opinion.. (or perhaps i give humans too much credit)

but for exaple.. the words of the bible DO NOT CHANGE.. DO NOT EVOLVE... they stay the same.. of course depending on which version you belive in.. which inmy opinion is a joke in itself...

the only thing that changes.. IS THE WAY PEOPLE INTERPERATE THESE WORDS....even tho the bible for exaple quotes "god" to say not to change the harshness of the penalties he suggests for breaking his laws.. and says infact its an amazingly bad sin in itself to do... the christians just change the way these words are interpreted to move with the times..... wtf... thats no religion... thats just a cult which stays relevant with the times... and changes rules just to maintain its popularity.

by asking questions... a hunger for learning.. not just taking what you are told as truth... a personal journey of truth... not accepting someone elses rules and discoveries AS YOUR OWN...and the biggest problem.. do not convince yourself something is true.. for the convenience... which i think is the biggest problem our planet has.

In my opinion fact could not explain a lot until quite recently (in the scope of history), so where no factual actual answer could be found, answers of fantasy took their place, as it seems that some need answers regardless of whether they are fact or based purely on the illogical. Over time these beliefs became tradition and as they spread religion became a habit of man (or at least most men).

I also think a lot of people will cling to something purely because it gives them an illusion of a purpose of existence.

yeah i agree.. but look at the monster its mutated in to.

im sure who ever was behind it all had nothing but good intentions... at the time.

Not everybody has your faith in scientists.

As most people on these threads know I find the whole concept of God and religion a ridiculous waste of time and energy and have better things to do with my life and time than to follow it. It does seem to give believers a purpose in life but why I don't know. God saved us from our sins, what does that even mean? Actually I don't even want to know. It creates disharmony everywhere, you only have to look on these boards.
I do however want to understand how we came to be here on Earth and have always followed evolution but recently it also seems to have much that doesn't make sense. This has lead me to explore other avenues of thought and after reading some Raelian texts I am almost convinced it is the true story of why we are here on earth.

I edited this because I felt I was being too negative towards Christians and I don't want to be like that.

Could it be because.........


check the toilet mate..you might find your answers LMAO


Sorry about that, couldn't resist..but I have no idea what you are trying to ask...can you explain a lil more??

Well, to be quite honest, because religion is the only thing that puts logical purpose to anything that goes on in the universe. A physics major is more likely to believe in God than an evolutionists because a physics major can see the order of things and believe that there is a purpose to each order and an order giver. An evolutionists looks at where we came from and where we are now and takes notes. He may not even care as to what purpose all things exist, only that they exist; this making him more animal than man. The scientific way of explaining things is to glorify mankind in its 'ist' state of just existing with no purpose other than the one it sets for itself. Purpose is why all the questions of 'WHY' are placed on religion. Because science cannot explain WHY everything exists, WHY we can't all get along, Why have things gotten so bad. A cosmic purpose is outside the analysis of science. Science explains WHAT is going on and HOW it happened, but WHY is an answer based on logic and purpose; which are subject to reason moreso than evolution.

Ummm.... wrong.



Again, Extremely wrong.



wrong wrong wrong, this is my exact point, why put it outside of the realms of science....

science can not explain why everything exsists NOW... but that does not automaticly mean YOUR god is responsible...
why cant we get along? look at the reason most wars are fought....christians being responsible for a large chunk of them too...
not hard to figure out why most of the world doesnt get along.... religion.
why have things gotten so bad?? lol... im pretty sure i know the answer to that also.

no.. a cosmic purpose is not outside the analysis of science...the more we discover the broader the spectrum of science becomes.

i find it insulting that humans even dare just make this stuff up as they go... and thats exactly what they have done.. and its snowballed into a monser.

Whoa, Dude! Has it occured to you, just once, that maybe spirituality and religion are two completely different issues here? Religion is taught, & corrupt. It is NOT of GOd, but spirit is the very essense of your being... it's the YOU in you. It is what connects you with your maker..

when we die, there is NO religion, NO rituals... nothing associated... only your spirit with your creator...


Just felt better to get that off my chest--

i dont disagree with you at all.

but im not saying its right either...but yes.. i think perhaps one day science will be capable of tapping into this "spirituality"

Ding, Ding, Ding..... Give that man the prize. Your answer is correct!

Science is in the same class as religions, therefore just a different form of religion.

Think about it!

Um, excuse me? Christianity is not the cause of most wars, regardless of whether or not a Christian is the leader that goes to war or not. You've gotten it twisted, see? Do you think that islam is responsible for the wars or the abuse of the religious on part of authoritative position. You've definately gotten it wrong and shows the bias in your answers. You have no proof that anything is made up. You can't prove that God doesn't exists any more than we can prove He does exist; which leaves it up to faith. If you think religion is the problem, then I don't think you're being as insightful as I thought you were.

and what if religion is the big lie ? just because you 'feel ' something doesn't make it real. you can read a work of fiction and feel alot about it but it would still be a work of fiction.

really ? your wrong. these are labled wars - where it was christians , not just the leader. this was concidered being a good christian.

15th century: Crusades against Hussites, thousands slain. [DO30]
1538 pope Paul III declared Crusade against apostate England and all English as slaves of Church (fortunately had not power to go into action). [DO31]
1568 Spanish Inquisition Tribunal ordered extermination of 3 million rebels in (then Spanish) Netherlands. Thousands were actually slain. [DO31]
1572 In France about 20,000 Huguenots were killed on command of pope Pius V. Until 17th century 200,000 flee. [DO31]
17th century: Catholics slay Gaspard de Coligny, a Protestant leader. After murdering him, the Catholic mob mutilated his body, "cutting off his head, his hands, and his genitals... and then dumped him into the river [...but] then, deciding that it was not worthy of being food for the fish, they hauled it out again [... and] dragged what was left ... to the gallows of Montfaulcon, 'to be meat and carrion for maggots and crows'." [SH191]
17th century: Catholics sack the city of Magdeburg/Germany: roughly 30,000 Protestants were slain. "In a single church fifty women were found beheaded," reported poet Friedrich Schiller, "and infants still sucking the breasts of their lifeless mothers." [SH191]
17th century 30 years' war (Catholic vs. Protestant): at least 40% of population decimated, mostly in Germany. [DO31-32]

Crusades (1095-1291)

First Crusade: 1095 on command of pope Urban II. [WW11-41]
Semlin/Hungary 6/24/96 thousands slain. Wieselburg/Hungary 6/12/96 thousands. [WW23]
9/9/96-9/26/96 Nikaia, Xerigordon (then turkish), thousands respectively. [WW25-27]
Until Jan 1098 a total of 40 capital cities and 200 castles conquered (number of slain unknown) [WW30]
after 6/3/98 Antiochia (then turkish) conquered, between 10,000 and 60,000 slain. 6/28/98 100,000 Turks (incl. women & children) killed. [WW32-35]
Here the Christians "did no other harm to the women found in [the enemy's] tents - save that they ran their lances through their bellies," according to Christian chronicler Fulcher of Chartres. [EC60]
Marra (Maraat an-numan) 12/11/98 thousands killed. Because of the subsequent famine "the already stinking corpses of the enemies were eaten by the Christians" said chronicler Albert Aquensis. [WW36]
Jerusalem conquered 7/15/1099 more than 60,000 victims (jewish, muslim, men, women, children). [WW37-40]
(In the words of one witness: "there [in front of Solomon's temple] was such a carnage that our people were wading ankle-deep in the blood of our foes", and after that "happily and crying for joy our people marched to our Saviour's tomb, to honour it and to pay off our debt of gratitude")
The Archbishop of Tyre, eye-witness, wrote: "It was impossible to look upon the vast numbers of the slain without horror; everywhere lay fragments of human bodies, and the very ground was covered with the blood of the slain. It was not alone the spectacle of headless bodies and mutilated limbs strewn in all directions that roused the horror of all who looked upon them. Still more dreadful was it to gaze upon the victors themselves, dripping with blood from head to foot, an ominous sight which brought terror to all who met them. It is reported that within the Temple enclosure alone about ten thousand infidels perished." [TG79]
Christian chronicler Eckehard of Aura noted that "even the following summer in all of palestine the air was polluted by the stench of decomposition". One million victims of the first crusade alone. [WW41]
Battle of Askalon, 8/12/1099. 200,000 heathens slaughtered "in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ". [WW45]
Fourth crusade: 4/12/1204 Constantinople sacked, number of victims unknown, numerous thousands, many of them Christian. [WW141-148]
Rest of Crusades in less detail: until the fall of Akkon 1291 probably 20 million victims (in the Holy land and Arab/Turkish areas alone). [WW224]

Ancient Pagans
As soon as Christianity was legal (315), more and more pagan temples were destroyed by Christian mob. Pagan priests were killed.
Between 315 and 6th century thousands of pagan believers were slain.
Examples of destroyed Temples: the Sanctuary of Aesculap in Aegaea, the Temple of Aphrodite in Golgatha, Aphaka in Lebanon, the Heliopolis.
Christian priests such as Mark of Arethusa or Cyrill of Heliopolis were famous as "temple destroyer." [DA468]
Pagan services became punishable by death in 356. [DA468]
Christian Emperor Theodosius (408-450) even had children executed, because they had been playing with remains of pagan statues. [DA469]
According to Christian chroniclers he "followed meticulously all Christian teachings..."
In 6th century pagans were declared void of all rights.
In the early fourth century the philosopher Sopatros was executed on demand of Christian authorities. [DA466]
The world famous female philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria was torn to pieces with glass fragments by a hysterical Christian mob led by a Christian minister named Peter, in a church, in 415.
[DO19-25]


the list goes on --------
http://www.truthbeknown.com/victims.htm

Ignoring countless wars of history which WERE fought for religious reasons... just take todays war situation.

If you can not see how christianity is the single biggest weapon the US has at the moment then perhaps you are not being as insightful as you think you are... not just this war.. but religion i think is still is so present in todays society becuase it is such a valuable political tool.. it gets a mass amount of people on the same side/level as a leader... you think the best prime minister/president ever.. in the history of humans.. hes able to back flip over cars etc is going to be elected if he is atheist... or even god forbid.. open minded to our spiritual side at all.. NO.... not a chance....

excellent point ! I'm glad you got it off your chest.

And how many of these were for conquest? And these don't even compare to the entire history of warfare. And these, a big majority, were abuses of authority more than the teachings of the religion itself. The teachings teach to avoid bloodshed and war, and not fight in the name of Christ. How many were following Christ during these dark ages as opposed to those that followed the Church of Rome or Eastern Church, who followed their emperor? Just because wars are carried out 'in the name of God' it doesn't mean that they are following God. Like I said, you've got it twisted.

I ran out of bamboo shoots to jam under my fingernails so I thought I would read this thread instead..........b




halfhandshuffle:Slayer - Jihad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv3TudB5J10

how many were for conquest ? all of them. whether the conquest was the conversion of people or land. it's still conquest. they killed what they couldn't take over.
All of those claiming to be christian were fighting for christ. how many ? the majority. hence the disappearance of the smaller sects . like those killed in southern France.


Heretics
Already in 385 C.E. the first Christians, the Spanish Priscillianus and six followers, were beheaded for heresy in Trier/Germany [DO26]
Manichaean heresy: a crypto-Christian sect decent enough to practice birth control (and thus not as irresponsible as faithful Catholics) was exterminated in huge campaigns all over the Roman empire between 372 C.E. and 444 C.E. Numerous thousands of victims. [NC]
Albigensians: the first Crusade intended to slay other Christians. [DO29]
The Albigensians (cathars = Christians allegedly that have all rarely sucked) viewed themselves as good Christians, but would not accept roman Catholic rule, and taxes, and prohibition of birth control. [NC]
Begin of violence: on command of pope Innocent III (greatest single pre-nazi mass murderer) in 1209. Bezirs (today France) 7/22/1209 destroyed, all the inhabitants were slaughtered. Victims (including Catholics refusing to turn over their heretic neighbours and friends) 20,000-70,000. [WW179-181]
Carcassonne 8/15/1209, thousands slain. Other cities followed. [WW181]
subsequent 20 years of war until nearly all Cathars (probably half the population of the Languedoc, today southern France) were exterminated. [WW183]
After the war ended (1229) the Inquisition was founded 1232 to search and destroy surviving/hiding heretics. Last Cathars burned at the stake 1324. [WW183]
Estimated one million victims (cathar heresy alone), [WW183]
Other heresies: Waldensians, Paulikians, Runcarians, Josephites, and many others. Most of these sects exterminated, (I believe some Waldensians live today, yet they had to endure 600 years of persecution) I estimate at least hundred thousand victims (including the Spanish inquisition but excluding victims in the New World).
Spanish Inquisitor Torquemada alone allegedly responsible for 10,220 burnings. [DO28]
John Huss, a critic of papal infallibility and indulgences, was burned at the stake in 1415. [LI475-522]
University professor B.Hubmaier burned at the stake 1538 in Vienna. [DO59]
Giordano Bruno, Dominican monk, after having been incarcerated for seven years, was burned at the stake for heresy on the Campo dei Fiori (Rome) on 2/17/1600.

how about lately ?

Catholic extermination camps
Surpisingly few know that Nazi extermination camps in World War II were by no means the only ones in Europe at the time. In the years 1942-1943 also in Croatia existed numerous extermination camps, run by Catholic Ustasha under their dictator Ante Paveli, a practising Catholic and regular visitor to the then pope. There were even concentration camps exclusively for children!
In these camps - the most notorious was Jasenovac, headed by a Franciscan friar - orthodox-Christian serbians (and a substantial number of Jews) were murdered. Like the Nazis the Catholic Ustasha burned their victims in kilns, alive (the Nazis were decent enough to have their victims gassed first). But most of the victims were simply stabbed, slain or shot to death, the number of them being estimated between 300,000 and 600,000, in a rather tiny country. Many of the killers were Franciscan friars. The atrocities were appalling enough to induce bystanders of the Nazi "Sicherheitsdient der SS", watching, to complain about them to Hitler (who did not listen). The pope knew about these events and did nothing to prevent them. [MV]

Catholic terror in Vietnam

In 1954 Vietnamese freedom fighters - the Viet Minh - had finally defeated the French colonial government in North Vietnam, which by then had been supported by U.S. funds amounting to more than $2 billion. Although the victorious assured religious freedom to all (most non-buddhist Vietnamese were Catholics), due to huge anticommunist propaganda campaigns many Catholics fled to the South. With the help of Catholic lobbies in Washington and Cardinal Spellman, the Vatican's spokesman in U.S. politics, who later on would call the U.S. forces in Vietnam "Soldiers of Christ", a scheme was concocted to prevent democratic elections which could have brought the communist Viet Minh to power in the South as well, and the fanatic Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem was made president of South Vietnam. [MW16ff]
Diem saw to it that U.S. aid, food, technical and general assistance was given to Catholics alone, Buddhist individuals and villages were ignored or had to pay for the food aids which were given to Catholics for free. The only religious denomination to be supported was Roman Catholicism.
The Vietnamese McCarthyism turned even more vicious than its American counterpart. By 1956 Diem promulgated a presidential order which read:
"Individuals considered dangerous to the national defense and common security may be confined by executive order, to a concentration camp."
Supposedly to fight communism, thousands of buddhist protesters and monks were imprisoned in "detention camps." Out of protest dozens of buddhist teachers - male and female - and monks poured gasoline over themselves and burned themselves. (Note that Buddhists burned themselves: in comparison Christians tend to burn others). Meanwhile some of the prison camps, which in the meantime were filled with Protestant and even Catholic protesters as well, had turned into no-nonsense death camps. It is estimated that during this period of terror (1955-1960) at least 24,000 were wounded - mostly in street riots - 80,000 people were executed, 275,000 had been detained or tortured, and about 500,000 were sent to concentration or detention camps. [MW76-89].
To support this kind of government in the next decade thousands of American GI's lost their life.


In Rwanda - in Ireland- the natives of America - the war we are in now labled by Bush

Bush said God told him to invade Iraq, Arab leaders say
Palestinian officials confirm comments from documentary
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Friday, October 7, 2005


(10-07) 04:00 PDT Jerusalem -- President Bush told two high-ranking Palestinian officials that he had been told by God to invade Afghanistan and Iraq and then create a Palestinian state to bring peace to the Middle East, they recall during a documentary on Middle East peace that airs next week in Britain.

"President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God,' " said Nabil Shaath, who was the Palestinian foreign minister at the time of a top-level meeting with Bush in June 2003. Mahmoud Abbas, then Palestinian prime minister and now the Palestinian Authority president, was also present for the conversation with Bush.

"God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq ...' And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.' And by God I'm gonna do it," Shaath quotes the president as saying in the three-part series.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNGNVF3SFM1.DTL

"We are in a conflict between good and evil. And America will call evil by its name," Mr Bush told West Point graduates in a speech last year.

neocons tend to avoid the truth at all costs huh?

then we shouldn't be at war now according to your point. so you march in peace rallies ? I hope so.

lol blue finger

you just making MY point again...

on how religion is a powerful political tool... to have masses DIE for their country.. its complete BS

and that along with people who need emotional crutches is the reason religion is even still taken seriously.

Then you have seen two wrongful representations of Jesus Christ. You know full well that Christ's teachings do not support conquest and bloodshed. You seem apt to speek against Christians, but completely unwilling to recognize the truth of Christ's teachings and the truth that people back then didn't know it because they were not shown it. And now, any man who comes calling himself a Christian and does something wrong, you point your finger at Christ instead. Very illogical.

definitely needed to be said......you should read "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins

Bit hard not to when hes produced so many humans that leave ALOT to be desired....It would be illogical to IGNORE the damage that his teachings have done to this planet.

take off the blinkers.

Read anyone of Christ's teachings and show me which of His teachings tell us, as His followers, to kill in His name or to persecute others for what they believe (or don't believe)?

how about his dad

meh

like father like son

is this your OP? and would you explain that statement?........B

Mr Halfhand

Matthew 10:34
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Luke 12:51
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

Luke 22:36
He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

Revelation 19:11
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.


and you are supposed to follow OT law - jesus said so.

“For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.� (Matthew 5:18-19 RSV) Clearly the Old Testament is to be abided by until the end of human existence itself. None other then Jesus said so.
2) All of the vicious Old Testament laws will be binding forever. "It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become invalid." (Luke 16:17 NAB)

3) Jesus strongly approves of the law and the prophets. He hasn’t the slightest objection to the cruelties of the Old Testament. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest part or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place." (Matthew 5:17 NAB)

3b) "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness..." (2 Timothy 3:16 NAB)



so all you christians that claim the old testament doesn't apply to you are wrong. . and murder was rampant for religion in the OT - as it was for christians through history.

why is it both sides have to be proven one way or another?? WTF?? if you dont believe then chuckle to your self and know that you have it all figured out and as a believer dont argue with the athiest let them believe as they do and just feel bad for them..
like the title of this thread says "why must we prove ourself" it applys to both sides LIVE AND LET LIVE would apply well here

I disagree with you on this one. Generally speaking science helps explain how things work, religion helps explain why things are. These are subtly different questions.

Its a little hard to sit there and chuckle about it..when religion christianity, in our case.. is so deeply rooted into our society, socialy and most dangerously.. politicly..its nothing to laugh about.. infact.. its very depresing when you sit there and really think about the damage that it has caused us.. and how it has retarted our growth mentally..it has created this mess we live in today.. whole bunch of ignorant people.





religion THINKS it can explain why things are here.. its a few peoples made up stories of why we are here..

science takes an actual EDUCATED guess based on physical evidence that is around us...

too early in the day for this.

Ok, so science explains 'how' things work, through empirical evidence, trial and error. Maybe we became the creature we are through evolution, starting from a single cell that arrived on an ice meteor or what have you...

It still doesn't answer 'why' though, and I've never heard even a theory from science on this, just "We simply are, go with it". This is enough for some people, others find religion helps them find direction and purpose.

So my point isn't that religion is necessary, but that science isn't a replacement for religion.