lol@necro
Of course, I strongly feel that any governing body should be wholly secular. Don't really see this as being much of a debate aside from those clamouring for a theocracy of some sort.
But a couple arguments or justifications for atheism, or against the existence of Gods don't resonate so well with me.
Firstly, I see many, many folks denounce the possibility of existence of Gods/Deities (mostly within a monotheistic narrative, albeit) through the existence of human suffering. Mostly these arguments tend towards focusing on the most atrocious of human behavior; rape, murder, and violent malice, especially directed towards women, children, or other types of people perceived as vulnerable or precious.
However; a God is not obligated by anything to be benevolent! I find it fallacious to claim the inexistence of God(s) from the presence of suffering in life; no matter the degree of it.
Secondly, I find it fallacious that a God or Gods must be omnipotent (along with omniscient and all the other fun omnis) in order to retain Godhood.
I first read it in on of the only decent Dean Koontz books I've seen, when I was about 13. The theory goes something like this: Any being or entity possessing technology allowing for long-distance space travel, having existed and progressed for countless ages longer than us would appear magical in nature; the technology so very advanced and divergent from our own that it can only be properly explained, at first, through the narrative of magic or God-like power.
Take another sort of being in the Universe, capable of unspeakable feats purely through technology; powers so fantastic they only exist in fiction. This being does not take the role of the Abrahamic God, Yahweh, Alpha and Omega. The universe did not begin with an example of this God-like critter.
But given such God-like powers, how could we claim they are anything other than deities?
Maybe it is an issue with semantics; to many or most "God" absolutely denotes an omnipotent being above all others. I cannot abide by this definition.
