Stephen said
Suffering is inherent in the evolution of a social species. We intuit that since we don't like to suffer, others don't either. So we work together to alleviate it.  God, neither a cause nor a solution, is an unnecessary hypothesis. 
  

I agree that God is not the cause.

But for myself anyways, E is the solution.

E gives me love, love, love, love, amazing love. < that's another spin off of a song. . . & love ends all pain.

I, of course, can't go speaking for anyone else.

Stephen said
Here is an interview with Joe Schmid where he responds to what the host regards as chief arguments against belief in God. 
Answering 7 Arguments for Atheism
I can't help but find this rather sad.  Arguments that seem shallow rationalizations now seem compelling because Schmid has converted.
I wish him well on his path. He seems happy. 
Pro-life coffee?!? Who knew?
  

I haven't been able to watch the whole video yet, just the first argument: If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

I've been thinking lately that there is so much suffering because God is a choice. & being a good person is a choice.

God wouldn't be God if God isn't a choice.

Would God be God if God isn't a choice?

Idk, but probably not my God.

If we are so out of touch with what's good, what's positive, what's healthy, even what is really in our own best interest... and what one could say is God; Then bad things are going to happen, and suffering is going to happen.

. . . . . 

This is my very simplified version of the argument/perspective.

Those photos of Peter Li are absolutely mind-blowing.  

As you said, certain architecture can take you places without the help of drugs.

I was looking about for articles on how architecture expresses religious thought and although I found quite a few, I've only managed to skim through some of them.  Once I do read them, perhaps I'll start a thread on Architecture and the Sacred.  It's certainly a fascinating subject.

Robert said
"Architecture is an effective organ for the reflection of both cultural and religious thoughts." 
  

All I can say to that is...amen!

Ya'll reminded of some stuff I saw awhile back.

** you do not have permission to see this link **

** you do not have permission to see this link **

Allow me to recommend that if you're at all interested in art and photography, ancient and modern, you should bookmark the ** you do not have permission to see this link ** website.  

These are just a few:

** you do not have permission to see this link **

** you do not have permission to see this link **

** you do not have permission to see this link **

2380 said
Thanks Robert. For me the photos are enough.
  

Yeah, truly.  Those churches I saw in Amsterdam and Brussels when I was over there in 2015.  Man oh man, who needs drugs?  

ps: Not to mention the guild-halls in the ** you do not have permission to see this link **.  Just, wow!   

Masons were so confident of their place in the eternal order that they thought themselves custodians of a wisdom that dated back to the start of the world in 4000 BCE…anyone in history who built anything vaguely memorable was, by that very fact, a Freemason. The Emperor Augustus, for example, was ‘rationally believ’d’ to be ‘the Grand-Master of the Lodge at Rome’. Naturally enough, this invented Masonic tradition found its high point in the building of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, and has carried on virtually unbroken until the present day.

Stephen said
Well an obvious example of what I'm referring to is the widespread popularity in the US of SUVs and Pick-ups.  These vehicles are tremendously damaging to the environment because they burn more fuel and create more pollution than smaller cars.  A  little research illustrates the gravity of the situation.  SUVs emit roughly 14% to 20% more CO₂ than smaller, midsize passenger cars. The BBC notes that if global SUVs were their own country, they would rank as the world's fifth-largest emitter of CO₂!  The fuel-saving technology present in all modern engines gets canceled out simply because these vehicles are so heavy and large. 
Even their manufacture is a bigger drain on resources.  Building a massive pickup or SUV requires more steel, aluminum, and rubber than building a sedan.  Producing larger vehicles generates a heavier carbon footprint before the car even leaves the factory floor!  Because they weigh more, heavy vehicles shed more rubber and brake dust into our air, soil, and water.  And their manufacture allows producers to skate by environmental regulations.   These large vehicles are classified in the same way as commercial work vehicles so the fuel economy and emissions rules are much looser. 
Yet these vehicles are among the most popular.  They are advertised as quintessentially American demonstrations of financial success.  But they are perfect images of cultural denial.  Dig hole in the sand.  Insert head.   
Seventy Five years from now when cultural historians run SUV and pickup commercials, will it be any wonder that they think we were out of our frigging minds?   We're killing our great-grandchildren so we can haul our fat asses around in a living-room on wheels! 
  

I don't know about Pickups, but the thing about SUVs is that a lot of people buy & use them to protect their children. And people aren't gonna give that up for nothing.

I get what you're saying, but I see the other side's point in this as well.

-----------------------------

I'm short on time right now. I'd like to discuss these things more, but right now, I'm short on time.

Even their manufacture is a bigger drain on resources.  Building a massive pickup or SUV requires more steel, aluminum, and rubber than building a sedan.  Producing larger vehicles generates a heavier carbon footprint before the car even leaves the factory floor!  Because they weigh more, heavy vehicles shed more rubber and brake dust into our air, soil, and water.  And their manufacture allows producers to skate by environmental regulations.   These large vehicles are classified in the same way as commercial work vehicles so the fuel economy and emissions rules are much looser. 

Yet these vehicles are among the most popular.  They are advertised as quintessentially American demonstrations of financial success.  But they are perfect images of cultural denial.  Dig hole in the sand.  Insert head.   

Seventy Five years from now when cultural historians run SUV and pickup commercials, will it be any wonder that they think we were out of our frigging minds?   We're killing our great-grandchildren so we can haul our fat asses around in a living-room on wheels!