Oops, miscommunication! I'm not searching any more. I'm just keeping an open mind in case something happens to make the existence of God a more natural assumption. My searching didn't find any religions that didn't set off a Human-Invented Baloney warning. Of course that doesn't mean I claim there isn't a God. I just want to leave the subject, same as I left What Is Reality, and get on with my life. Hmm, isn't that how Candide ended?

It's a little harder here, in the Southern US, which is very religious. People will ask you what church you go to. I used to say I hadn't found the right one yet, but now, in order to be honest, I'll have to say that I don't go to church. That might be a good thing-- "Agnostic Awareness."

Have you seen the latest Pew Research figures on religion in the US? There are still few people who declare themselves to be atheist or agnostic, but a lot who say they're "nothing in particular." The atheists, agnostics, and nothing-in-particular people are up to 29% in the latest figures I found. So maybe saying you don't go to church is no longer such a problem socially. Everybody probably knows one, maybe even here.
 
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Honest-ism said (in post #5):

Well, I've been off looking at religions, looking for one I could follow, and keep hitting brick walls. They all (the major ones anyway) say something that makes me think they haven't really been talking to God. So I guess it's back to agnosticism for me.
Darn it.
That doesn't in any way prove that there's no God, though. It just indicates to me that He/She/It/They was or were probably not talking to the founders of those religions. Or if He, etc. , was, it's not for me to know right now.
So I'm back to respectful agnosticism. I still keep a place, a hope, for God if He, etc., ever wants to contact me in a way that I can believe isn't just a human invention.



AgnosticBoy said (in post #6):

I also don't believe that science is enough or good to search for God, however, I do believe we need a way to verify that it is God, even if it's not through scientific means. Just reading about God in a book won't do it for me. Perhaps a spiritual experience that points me to something extraordinary would do the trick (something that applies to the real world)!



AB: Science never is or was about God! Comparing God and Science is like comparing the twi-light zone to enjoying your morning coffee – you take them at face value.

H-i: Why is it that so many people are searching for the “One true religion?”

Religion is really just a sub-phylum to Philosophy, not the other way round. I know, I know, philosophy has given ground to the bullying of religion, agitated by its warmongering departments (at least the ones I’m familiar with).

It took millenniums to get the number of gods down to one. Why is it so difficult to cull the last one standing? Especially when there are two attitudes (maybe more) beseeching the same god, fighting and maiming each other – please discount the Trinity.

Philosophy is so much more peaceful – almost sedentary. Personally, I find it tranquil to live and let live.
 
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The problem with spiritual experiences is that you can never be certain what caused them. We humans have a highly developed temporal lobe which provides us with having deep empathy with others. In ancient times, this was very useful for the unspoken synchronization of hunting packs, and ancients with a high capacity for empathy tended to have higher survival rates than those with less.

When neural emf excites the temporal lobe, it can generate a feeling of empathy. And if you are on your own, the only thing to empathize with is an invisible super being.

Sources of neural emf include drugs, excitement, randomness, illness and, to complete the list, supernatural stimulation by one or more gods.

Indeed, people suffering from temporal epilepsy are treated as being "blessed" in some cultures, because of the high incidence of Religious Experience they undergo.
 
Bill writes:
When neural emf excites the temporal lobe, it can generate a feeling of empathy. And if you are on your own, the only thing to empathize with is an invisible super being.

Sources of neural emf include drugs, excitement, randomness, illness and, to complete the list, supernatural stimulation by one or more gods.

My answer:
Bill, when I'm alone, the remotest thing I have empathy for is a supernatural entity or thing! Though it may be disputed that I am short of the quality, I do feel that I have empathy for many things, either when I'm alone or not.

There was a time in my youth when I was convinced I was stimulated by the supernatural -- but not now, or for the last sixty years. Would you say I lack empathy when my conservative friends call me a "bleeding heart liberal?" I see a lot of mind and heart rending actions in the world today and am torn that I can do so little to rectify them. But I don't drink to world peace anymore (or pray for that matter) -- I do what I can on my putin-trumpdogshow.com or other forums, to empathize with the downtrodden and confused of the world.
 
For empathy to occur, neural stimulation of the temporal lobe is required. When you are alone, maybe you are sheltered from any such stimulation.

There was once a device called the God Helmet which could trigger neural emf in the temporal lobe, Experimenters reported experiences akin to Religious Experience so often, that is how the device acquired its name.
 
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For empathy to occur, neural stimulation of the temporal lobe is required. When you are alone, maybe you are sheltered from any such stimulation.

There was once a device called the God Helmet which could trigger neural emf in the temporal lobe, Experimenters reported experiences akin to Religious Experience so often, that is how the device acquired its name.

Hi Bill,

There is a reason that you refer to the God Helmet in the past tense. The study's results have yet to be replicated by independent entities (scientific press - Nature, academics and documentarists). Those trying to replicate Persinger's experiments say that "... pschological factors must have played an important role in prior experiments." -Wikipedia

You said in post #13
Sources of neural emf include drugs, excitement, randomness, illness and, to complete the list, supernatural stimulation by one or more gods.
That is an-all inclusive statement - not predicated on any conditions such as being "sheltered." What, pray tell, shelter are you talking about?