It seems to me that science accepts itself as a work in progress, while religion, it seems, says believe or be damned.

how can you truly believe though? ALmost every religion I've ever heard of, besides different branches of Buddhism, say that if you are not part of their religion, you are damned to hell. Now my question is, if nobody can agree on a religion then doesnt that mean logically since nobody is the same religion, every person is going to hell?

Absolutely.

And not only that ~ you have to belong to the right branch of that religion.

RCs think that they are the only ones going to heaven, for example.

That's a good point and why they're mutually exclusive. That is why it is so important to do research and actually find an answer. To me Christianity has provided the only authoritative response to the human condition. Hinduism teaches that if you follow certain rules you might become enlightened after several attempts to get it right. (I know that this is probably very quick and dirty approach, so forgive me if I missed the jist of it.) Islam teaches that if you follow the 5 pillars you might make it to heaven. All of these mights and maybes simply don't compare, in my book to Jesus' very authoritative teachings. Believe in me, accept me, and be saved from hell. Jesus never taught in maybe and possibilities, He taught in absolutes. To me it is more comforting to know rather than to take my chances at something.

As for Dante's Inferno, you do know that it was just a satire, and not really a religious teaching right?

yes of course I do, it is just my favorite piece of literature, along with the rest of the Divine Comedy. To me Dante was a very tortured man, the satire was his way of trying to understand the way to salvation through Divine and Human reasons. Since Human reason can only take you so far, at some point you must rely on Divine Aide. I just used it as an example of Sin, in response to PDM.

Or conversely, we're all going to heaven! What a party. I hope Lisa has a web forum up there too.

[quote]Originally posted by Believer: [b] I also know that there is a chance that we’re wrong. [/b] [/quote]There's hope for you! [quote]Originally posted by Believer: [b] I cannot stop saying it because to me it is truth. [/b][/quote]Tell you what, let's make a pact. When we both die, we'll try to contact each other so we'll have the definitive answer once and for all.

PDM has already spoken about believer's response to my post and i do not want to go into it again.

However i want to make a small comment on this :

Firlt, I have never given myself a stamp of being "agnostic" . . .

Secondly, i always say i am a Hindu. The fact that i (almost) do not believe in God has nothing to do with Hinduism. Several Hindu philosophies accept, that there may not be God . . .

Besides, one can be a Hindu (or for that matter Christian, Muslim, Buddhist) and search for the truth and say "i am still searching" - can they not ?

actually people christianity is about the only relion that says believe this or be damned. the q'ran tells us to respect alternate faiths, as do buddhism, judaism and hinduism. so, religions aren't mutually exclusive, its just christianity that wants to stand in exclusion of all else. no wonder christians are so dogmatic and dismissive of other faiths. somebody here is bound to bring up islami extremists here, but they are not representative of their faith as islam is actually very tolerant of peoples differences.

[quote]Originally posted by mbas400: [b] [quote]Originally posted by cherokee moon: [b] how can you truly believe though? ALmost every religion I've ever heard of, besides different branches of Buddhism, say that if you are not part of their religion, you are damned to hell. Now my question is, if nobody can agree on a religion then doesnt that mean logically since nobody is the same religion, every person is going to hell? [/b][/quote]Or conversely, we're all going to heaven! What a party. I hope Lisa has a web forum up there too. [/b][/quote]:) All religions cannot be right, but all can be wrong, this is a fundamental statement of the “Law of Non-contradiction”. You cannot have two differing or competing statements and they both are correct. Philosophy and beliefs MUST follow what we observe in our world. What would you say if one astronomer said the universe is infinite, and another astronomer stated it is finite? The answer is obvious. So we must then take all religions and test their statements against historical accuracy and what we observe in our world, those that can be proven wrong or false on just one point can not be true, for how could ANY religion be true if any of its statements or creeds are false. :)