It's dissapointing to see youngsters put so much effort into something that can easily be done in the privacy of their own home. I hope they aren't spending money for the tickets. Maybe they should take the money they would spend on the planes and use it for environmental concerns since they'll be polluting it by flying around to to "save souls".

I try to be kind to youngsters in these types of evangelical publicity stunts because they are usually under brain washing by weird white guys. After they get to their 20s, more than half will realize how ridiculous they used to be.

blue,

I hope you're right about the more than half. But, it doesn't explain why more than half of American adults believe in a personal god to whom one can pray for a temporary suspension of the laws of physics.

Nearly half believe the world to be less than 10,000 years old and that humans were personally created by god in our present state. I love the idea that the world was created after we domesticated the dog and invented agriculture. It really shows our current level of intelligence as a society.

As for praying for everyone in the region, I hope they stay away from my area. God blessed New York City on 9/11. Now I just hope s/he'll leave us the f___ alone.

I'm far from Athiest, but I'm also very, very far away from Christian-Judaic-Muslim (or any other, for that matter). Being an agnostic is fun, because most people don't know what that word means.

But I still can't understand, Scott, how you think that whatever deity(ies) is out there blessed NYC on 9/11. Can you elaborate? Or were you being sarcastic. I have trouble picking up on that. ;)

I agree with the first guy, it's a shame that we waste valuable resources and pollute the world even further with crap like this. What the hell can be achieved in air that can't be achieved on the ground? If Heaven really were where these kids think it is, the difference between airplane height and Earth-height's not gonna make much difference.

And I used to be one of them. God almighty!

These kids are useful idiots - they are being manipulated by the adults in their life. It seems to be a pretty common occurrence in teenagers that they feel attracted to organized groups, since their psychology is geared to that. Add to that the feeling of powerlessness in the face of the many grave disasters facing our world and their future and the influence of some adults they consider "super" and you get the brain-washing.

I am a complete atheist, almost anti-theist, and so was my father and my mother is an agnostic. When I was a child around 12 I wanted to go to church (my best friends were going and talked about all the fun they had on week-ends) and asked permission to do so. My father basically laughed and completely prohibited it, which probably saved my soul - thanks dad, thanks mom for teaching me to think for myself!

Mar

Sorry I wasn't clear Austin.

On 9/11 a bunch of well-educated middle-class people with everything to live for flew planes into the twin towers because of their idea of what god wanted. The motive was purely religious. We don't have to wonder why Osama bin Forgetten does what he does. He tells us in no uncertain terms. He is following the literal text of the Koran.

Islam is not the only religion to promote violence. I do not mean to single out any flavor of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religion. Some strains are more virulent than others. However, a fundamentalist reading of any of these texts will make one violent.

Sometimes god blesses doctors in the U.S. Sometimes god blesses Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. Sometimes Jews and Moslems in Israel and Palestine. Sometimes Hindus and Moslems in Kashmir. Going back in history only makes religion look even worse than it does today.

As I have been fond of saying in blog posts these days, religion has had a huge deleterious effect on humanity as evidenced by its large number of deletions of humans.

And, yes, I know what agnostic means. I only crossed the line to atheism about 6 or 8 years ago myself. I only learned the word antitheist this year though.