Billy wrote:
Doug Freyburger wrote:

And most atheists claim that certainty based on the errors of one
specific religion without even looking at others. That's letting the
opposition define the rules in your game. The rest of the religions
out there are dismissed out of hand on the false assumption they all
make the same mistakes - They don't. As if all other religions address
deity at all -They don't. As if all other religions expect their
members to believe in the existance of deity - They don't.

In this case we have a person who was exposed to toxic religion when
young who has rejected religion based on that. Rather like hating all
fruit because of being forced to eat brussel sprouts as a child.

What religion doesn't believe in a divine being that can act in the
world?

Buddhism at least. Number three in the list of the big 4 based on
worldwide population.

There are also plenty of religions where the individual's belief in
deity is irrelevant even though the written scripture describes deity as
existing. Judaism for exmple. Also Hindu, number four in the list of
the big 4 based on worldwide population.

Spirituality is just sensing the interconnectedness of everything.

Among other aspects. Note that science is a spiritual method in that
meaning so the spiritual means more than the religious.

To base one's atheism on these points is like dismissing the
existence of mountains because you happened to grow up in a flat region
with no visible mountains ...

Faith isn't proof.

Correct. Reading a map and seeing Greenland and thinking that Greenland
exists is an act of faith. Reading reports of deity written by others
and thinking that deity exists is an act of faith. The difference is in
how to convert that faith into conviction. Anyone can take someone else
to Greenland. No one can take anyone else to an experience of deity.
It's always only real to the individual - Subjective.

Correct me, if I'm wrong, but there has been no
metric which proves the existence of God, although atheist have taken
LSD and/or psilocybin, and have had spiritual experiences, not
Christian, but spiritual none the less.

There are metrics which disprove the existance of specific gods, none
that prove the existance of them. That part of religion is always
subjective. There are necessary and sufficient aspects to religion.
Belief in deity is sufficient without being necessary.

Need some definitions here. An atheistic religion?

Buddhism is an entire faith which does not require any address to deity.
There are Buddhist sects that do address deity but it is always
optional. There are also religions that are theistic in their writings
that do not require it of their members. Once you're past Christianity
and Islam, numbers one and two in world population, few of the remaining
religions make such a requirement even in theory.

A question for climate geologists - As climate has changed across the
last several tens of millions of years, how much has the amount of
arable land changed? As the glaciers receded towards the poles the
deserts near the equator grew. How close to parity was that change?

The food supply would have to reflect the more tropical nature of the
world.

Only if the world population does not migrate to reflect the changing
location of arable land. Static humanity has never been true and can
not be expected to be true now. As the arable land shifts away from the
equator so does the human population. Such migrations across history
have triggered sigificant social change.

The discussion never does seem to address the net change in arable land
as the glaciers recede and the deserts grow. Until you start reading
Billy's material about building up new soil and that's an indirect
reference.

High CO2 levels have led to several mass extinctions. Global warming
could be more than just inconvenient.

Could. Agreed. Human hunting has already triggered a mass extinction.
We do need the environmentalist movement. We do need to continue solar
cells on their exponential growth until they replace much of the fossil
fuel use. We do need to build soil as a part of our farming methods.
We do need to plant more trees and slow/stop the net cutting of trees.