Alright, first off, we didn't come from monkeys. Monkeys evolved from the same anceistor as humans, like said previously. Yes, we are a form of ape. We share the same characteristics, except we lived in different climates from them, so we evolved differently. Again, look it up.

Killim, to counter all of your so called God sightings, I will begin with the first one. On the train. He could've been dreaming, or hallusinating, because he must've been very tired from travling. Or maybe it was a statue that they were passing. Second, again your dad could've been halusinating or hearing things. This is often cause by lack of sleep (you said you were a month old?). Or maybe he was just telling you that to make you believe in God more. Don't be surprised, people do that all the time, especailly to kids.  John 3:16 could've been anything. A guy telling someone named John to meet him at 3:16 'hey John, 3:16! Don't forget!' Or someone describing a landmark or a person, or setting up a date, really anything. And for the last one, there is such thing as being persuasive. Maybe devout Christans had an impact on him and he had one of those life questioning moments, or someone could've bribed him, or talked him into beliving by themselves, not God speaking through them. And if all the Atheists you know have had God speak to them, why haven't I? Where is my life compelling sign? And please don't say he's talking through you.

GreenMango, I have actually thought about it a lot. Some theories I've had are that maybe we're all connected, in some weird way, and when we die our 'soul' goes into the soil. I called it a soul cause I don't know what else to call it. Conscious? Brain? Life? Another theory is like the circle of life, that whatever eats us we become in the next life, like a worm, then a bird, then a fox, then a wolf, then maybe even a human again before we start back at grass or bacteria or worm or fungus. And a brain unlocks how much we think, yes, but I have a feeling that everything has, well, feelings and can sense those around them and enjoy the world and be gratefull. 

Leeli, if you want me to get sciency, i will. Excuse me while I pull out my science notebook. *finds backpack. Pulls it out. Flips throught it* Alright, says here Carbon dating measures how old a creature is by how much carbon is in it. The less carbon, the older it is. It can only be used in the rocks and fossils that are less then 50,000 years old. 

For everyone else, there are other methods we use to measure the absolute age of rock and earth. The farther down rock is, the older it is. It gets packed together over time. And we know that the rock is millions of years apart because there are things in there like fossils and eroding proof, and flooding, and other things. Things to look up for more proof: Erosion, Deposition, Varve. These are all ways scientists measure the age of the earth. 

Also, evolution doesn't happen in a 'trillionth of a second' Evolution takes time, especailly with such drastic changes. For more proof, the humans around the earth are all different. Some are white skinned, and this white skin was a genetic mutation for people who migrated to caves and darker areas to live. This happened because the skin color was not needed to keep in heat or reflect sunlight, so it faded to almost see-through. The black skinned or darker skinned lived in warmer climates, and their skin helped soak up the harmful rays of sun and reflect (or keep in) heat and harmful light. Some people who live in higher places have evolved bigger lungs and shorter lenghts (as in where I live). And others have adapted to deal with life on the sea, living off of fish and self-filtering salt water. Also, explain the skulls and ruins of civilizations who are distant relitives to humans? 

Maybe you weren't made from dust? (See, to me that doesn't make any sense, like, how could dust suddenly become a person? But I looked into it and saw what you were talking about, and now I want you to do the same.) I wish parents would let kids think for themselves, or have their own fantasies of why we exist. Once kids got older parents could give them the choice of believing in God and going to Church like my parents did.

@Leeli, where I live there is a Catholic private school and a regular public school. I live in a small town, too, so there might be plenty of schooling choices everywhere else, especially in big cities. But I could be wrong about that.

Also, I have a question; Why do you believe that God would only let in those who believe Jesus was a savoir? I really hope that did not come out as rude- I would really like to know about your beliefs!

@Leeli: Just about the school thing. I go to a public school, and they don't teach evolution as a fact. In fact, when my science teacher brought it up, she made a disclaimer that not all people believed in it, and it was only a theory. Schools allow children to believe what they want. They make changes in their curriculums (like the one above) to accomodate the religious and they make changes in their schedule to accomodate the athiest (like taking out the Pledge of Allegience in some places because it has "under God" in it).

-What do you believe?

I am agnostic, extremely agnostic. I know that's kind of a weird thing to say, but it fits me quite well. I have a lot of theories about God. I have a lot of questions. I think a lot about religion and whether I want to be religious. But I also have never seen any real proof that God exists. I know, I read through the whole thread, you don't need to tell me your proof. If God sends me a personal message, yes, I will believe in God. Sometimes I pray - just little things before I go to bed. I've been to church a few times, because many of my relatives are Christian. I've read parts of the Bible. I enjoy the stories. But, even if I was going to be religious, I think that that's really all they are: stories. I believe in science, if that's the right term to use. I think scientists have proven a lot of things that people used to need religion to explain for them. There are still things that need to be explained. And maybe God is the answer. Maybe he isn't. I don't know for sure.

Still, the issue with being religious, for me, is that if I was going to be, I want to give myself one hundred percent. I don't just want to put one foot in. And that's incredibly difficult because I've grown up being allowed to make my own decisions about the world, and they don't always line up with religious ones. I'm very pro-LGBT, for example. That will never change. So it would be tough to find a religion I could work with. But I've talked long enough, I think, so moving on.

-Can you prove your ideas, no matter what they are?

Nope. Not at all. I have a small grasp on science - go talk to a scientist if you want to learn some things. And my ideas about God are so fluctuating and uncertain I barely even have any at all.

-Will we ever find out what happened so long ago?

We already did. You see, the universe is unfathomably large. To think on a cosmic scale is literally impossible for every human. And even the fastest moving thing in this universe - light - can take billions of years to travel through it. Every night, when you look through a telescope, those aren't the stars burning right now. Those stars went out billions of years ago. It's only now that we can see them.

Because of this, scientists have been able to see parts of the Big Bang. They've seen how it happened. Yes, a lot of it is still theory, but the idea of the Bang in itself is concrete and solid. It did happen. We saw it with our very own eyes up in the sky.

-What happens when you die?

This question is very delicate. It terrifies me. As in sit-for-an-hour-with-my-parents-because-I'm-scared terrifies. I don't like thinking about it. I do have a few thoughts, though. I don't like the idea of reincarnation because it's a new life. What is you, is gone. Same with oblivion. Heaven and Hell might not work out too well for me. I hope that if they do exist, your entrance does not rely on believing in an uncertain being. I also like the ghost theory. If you could come back exactly as you were, as a ghost, that would be outstanding.

I also have a few theories of my own. One is that we have a soul, but it's trapped in our bodies. When we die, our consciousness remains intact, stuck in an inoperational body for eternity.

I also have another idea, a much nicer one. When you die, you enter a very long line of people. And as you stand in line, you begin to remember. You go backwards in time through your whole life: every meal, every dream, every birthday. And when it comes to your turn, you've remembered your birth. Then you sit down and tell your entire life story to another person, beginning to end, start to finish. When you're done, you become a listener. I'm not sure what happens when you have your fill of stories. Perhaps you choose for yourself.

-Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

The dinosaur.

-Do ideas hatch from eggs?

Oooh, now, that's an interesting question. I actually really like this question now that I think about it. My answer is yes. Every creature comes from an egg - because of biological stuff, you know. The idea of a creature comes from that egg. And every idea the creature has comes from an egg.

-Is the scientific universe in God's mind?

If God exists, everything he made follows the laws of science.

-How do we know that science is right?

Hundreds of years of toil.

-How do we know that the Bible/Torah/Etc. is right?

Faith, hope, and messages from above.

St.Owl, for your information, there are many churches that welcome LGBT people.

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Alright, first off, St. Owl, the Big Bang is a theiory. Sceintists never saw it happen, they couldn't have, because it happened before earth and created planets that way. I dont totally belive in the Big Bang, its affully simular to 'the Seven days of creation'. I do belive that everything comes from somewhere in the middle of the galixy, and the different galixys and planits and such, maybe it all didnt start with a bang, but maybe it all came from one lone univers who blew up and created other planits. 

How we see it today, though, are the smaller scale sighns. As in, everything is all moving away from each other. All of the same elements are in the univers and the planits. The stars and comets and planits are all shockingly simular. The gravitational pull to other planits. It is a lot to think about, and its making my head hurt, but thats probably because we aren't suposed to know. Its beyond our comprehention, and we shouldnt try to comprehend it. We should live our lives, happyly on Earth, AND INSTEAD OF DESTROYING IT AND CAUSING CLIMATE CHANGE WE SHOULD BE TAKING CARE OF IT AND NOT NEGLECTING IT WHILE TRYING TO FIND A DIFFERENT PLANIT TO DESTROY AFTER WE KILLED THIS ONE.

Also, if I could choose a relligon, I guess it would be Buddhism. They belive in reincarnation, and peace, and love and acceptance, and that everyone is equiall in the end. It is a very loving and peaceful relligon, and I think love and peace and acceptance for yourself and those around you is better then any God, am i right?

Leeli, I want you to try to see the world through an Atheists veiw. Killim, you too.  Try and comprehend everything without God in the picture. Evolution, the Big Bang, human and animal lives, daily lives, everything. Without God, or Jesus, or sins, or anything else. 

Also, America is a Free country. That means no relligons or cultures are forced on you, you can be whoever you want *coughcough* or whatever you want. There SHOULD be no discriminatory. So, it actually goes against the Constitution to have 'under God' in the Pledge, and make other kids who, mind you, are NOT under a God of any sorts, say it. And theer has been some Congress stuff about taking it out for a few years, probably cancelled by president, if can do that.  Also, schools dont FORCE atheist beliefs on ANY of you. Even if they did, it doesn't matter, because you go to church and have all of the stuff they teach you countered anyway. Which again, I think is more discrimitory. I think they should have an age limit to going to any relligous practices, or being taught any relligous things, because by being taught all this at such a younge age, (by your parents and relitives and other folks,)  makes you belive something that you might not want to belive if you had had a choice. I think people should choose and look into what they want to belive, and if everyone has the same belief in the end, it all works out because there are no more fights or wars because of religion.  

Also, Leeli, they just teach science in science class. Everything taught there are theories or laws descovered in sceince. ITS ALL SCIENCE BEING TAUGHT IN SCIENCE CLASS WHY IS IT DISSCRIMITORY TO CHRISTIANS?! 

Well, I got off topic. And im sure now everyone knows who I am.  

I don't think any US school makes anyone recite the pledge, at least not the under God phrase.

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