Faith is the excuse we give ourselves to believe things without good reason

[eqfan592]

125. OK, the first draft of this was much harsher.

I'm toning it down now. I honestly do not know how anything you just typed pertains to the discussion we were having. Your implication of choice in matters of belief is one I see promoted by fundies every single day, and it is one that neither you nor they have yet been able to prove. So far, your primary argument has been "Because I believe it is a choice, it is a choice," which fails to address the construction of beliefs entirely.

I can't chose to believe in god, OK? I find the evidence so far provided to be far less than compelling, and there is literally nothing on a conscious level I can do to change that. It's not some sort of light switch that can just be toggled. And to be perfectly honest, I find the implication that somehow I COULD just up and choose to believe in god again "if I really wanted to" to be completely insulting.

I know your intent was not to give insult, and I fully admit that I'm tired and cranky after our fridge decided to go out tonight after work, leaving my wife and I to scramble to try and save our food while our apartment maintenance man replaced it with a different broken fridge, but broken in a way that at least still cools the food, until we get a new one. I see no further gain to be had in continuing this discussion, as it is beyond obvious we will NOT see eye to eye. So, as you yourself said you wished to do, I suggest we "quit squabbling" on this particular issue.