It definitely hasn't happened already. Happening maybe, but were long off. When our politics are completely undermined and bogged down by religious pandering, It's still exploited for use in war, and may even play a role in nuclear conflict (in the case of the theocracy of Iran) then you really can't say It's already happened. No way.

It wont be possible as long as humans are a factor imo. We ain't vulcan. Personally i think it will be a sad day if we get rid of all irrationality.

I think we are mis communicating. I was just saying reform has happened. Not that religion its perfect today or will be in the near future.

Religion isn't unique in being based on a sort of "all-accepting irrationality", but it is doubtlessly the most common and widespread form of such thinking.

What I mean by this is that you can argue pretty much anything. "A bush spoke, thus what this man did was wrong and thus you must not do so"

These kind of arguments make no sense whatsoever. Can other belief systems sometimes do the same? Sure. Can one with religion make sound arguments, sure... so what is the problem? The problem is that organized religion institutes large scale ethical systems that allow for completely arbitrary reasoning.

The well-being of yourself and others should be foundation for any ethical system used on a group basis, not metaphysical assumptions used towards untestable conclusions.

The annoying part is that in truth, almost everybody knows this. Nobody believes it is sinful to say no to a dentist who states he got his training from a dead man and who claims any adverse effects of the treatment is merely means towards your dental care improving after you die.

I am not saying that it is either possible or desirable to eradicate irrationality completely but I think it can be reduced a great deal. Religion is a roadblock to this goal because it institutionalizes irrationality.

I do not know what that is. It seems like a contradiction in terms. I assume you mean someone who doesn't know if God exists, but feels or intuits something more to the universe, and perhaps wavers back and forth.

What does religion have to do with this? The feelings are valid, but their linking to socially and religiously induced conceptions of the Abrahmic God or Jesus is not. Religion actually binds these valid feelings, and limits how they can be explored, by tying them to specific myths and words and commandments supposedly (and probably not) said by someone thousands of years ago with supposed (and very very likely not) Authority From God.

Perhaps you're right...irrationality does lead to a very rich tapestry of ideas, feelings, perspectives and lives.

But then, so did slavery, and colonies, geographic isolation, nasty ideologies, the subjugation of women, philosophical naivety, racism, vile dictators, scientific naivety, and so on. The world is far more boring now that we've lost these things. But it's safer and easier to live in, fewer people live lives of great horror or despair, and we are better at getting things done.

Like you I'm not sure if the loss is worth it, but I think most individuals would choose to live in this age rather than another. And I think most people would choose enlightenment over the comforts of irrationality if they could see the results of each.

It isn't. You can think of Agnosticism/Gnosticism and Atheism/Theism as two axises (sp?). One axis refers to knowledge, the other to belief.
Agnosticism/Gnosticism describes wether one thinks that the supernatural/god is knowable for humans. Atheism/Theism describes having or lacking a belief in a personal god.
An agnostic theist therefore believes that the existence of god is not and/or cannot be known but decides to belief anyway. In the same vein there can be agnostic atheists, gnostic atheists or gnostic theists.

That sounds like a dysfunctional form of doublethink or a cheap intellectual dodge. Who believes in Jesus unless you judge there to be a non trivial likelihood that he lived and substantially said what's attributed to him? Who believes in a personal God unless you judge that the things you feel toward him (or the holy spirit) have a non trivial likelihood of having some reality?

Where does a belief in God/Jesus/The Hole Spirit even come from unless you (a) feel something or (b) have at some point taken the God/Jesus stories of others to have some chance of truth?

You can't believe something you think is unknowable. You can get lost in it, like a form of daydreaming or suspension of disbelief, but you can't believe it.

You can believe it, but concede that you can't know it.

Typically I think such theists if they believed some sort of revealed religion would think it to be "inspired by" rather than "accurately describing" divinity.

For theists who in believe some sort of of unrevealed religion (for example deists) agnosticism is not problematic.

Ok fine eradicate them....

I think you may have misunderstood what I was trying to say. Let me try again. When I used the term "knowable" what I meant is a way to prove or measure god. Accordingly an gnostic believes that (at least theoretically) one day we will be able to prove without a shadow of a doubt there is a god. The agnostic on the other hand believes that we can never have that certainty. Both might still look at the evidence available so far and judge the likelyhood of the existence of a personal god and either form a belief or not.

Or do what many people who call themselves agnostics do and say "I don't know" or "I am undecided". This to me sounds like they lack a belief in god and makes them atheists even if they might reject that description.

The wikipedia article on Agnosticism explains it much better than I do.

Essentially, the whole agnostic/Gnostic paradigm is dumb because everyone in the world is agnostic. (No one KNOWS the nature of god)

imo that should be true...everyone should be agnostic, but there are many people that claim to know for certain, some can even be found in this forum...

And that assumption of certainty is what usually creates the worst aspects of any religious, political, or philosophical concept. I do not fear an agnostic but I tremble at being at the mercy of a true believer in any supernatural diety! I also steer clear of the Zealot Libertarians, Facists, Marxists, American Republicrats, and Gypsy Fortune tellers!

I find religion to be a very scary thing.

I'm beginning to seriously view it as some sort of virus. The way in which the people in power of these religions make so much $$ off the blind masses, to the extent that they actually delude themselves into believing the nonsense that they are preaching, or even worse are those that aren't deluded but are simply fraudulent, greedy pigs, hiding behind their veil of 'morality' and 'godliness'. Either way, the whole situation is despicable, but I think that more and more people are beginning to put the pieces together - particularly (although a tad extreme) in the Nordic countries (with the church burnings and a general sense of hatred for the catholic church).