Fifty renowned academics speaking about god

I find it difficult to argue against the claims of any these 50 brilliant people.

As always the wonderful Carl Sagan puts it beautifully:

"What is faith? It is belief in the absence of evidence. Now I don't propose to tell anybody what to believe, but for me, believing when there is no compelling evidence is a mistake. The idea is to withhold belief until there is compelling evidence. And if the universe does not comply with our predispositions, OK then we have the wrenching obligation to accommodate to the way the Universe really is."

To slightly change Darwin's quote: there is a grandeur in this view of the Universe, but I would only add one thought to those of those in the video. Although reason and evidence compels us to a non-religious world view there is still a sense of loss when we reject religious belief. Consequently my feelings are most closely aligned to the great 19^th century poet, Matthew Arnold when he wrote in Dover Beach:

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.