griz,
Are you stating your opinions, or known facts? You are completely wrong with your comments on the gun control debate, but I am not sure where to start. (Am I being presumptuos again?) On both sides of the issue, we certainly believe that our opinion is the correct one. That is, we believe that our opinion is the truth. Therefore, we certainly do state as a fact that gun control will or will not reduce crime rates. We do it all the time. Why shouldn't we? Think you can prove that gun control is bad? Well, you can to some people, but some will never be convinced. This is very similar to saying "Islam is a false religion." I can't strictly prove it, but I can certainly give any number of reasons why I think it is so; reasons that might convince a "reasonable observer".
Let's back up a little bit, though.
In the same, way saying another's religion is wrong without being able to prove it is wrong to a reasonable observer, also strikes me as presumptuous.
As I said earlier, this is not the case. How many of us have counted the votes in Florida, from 2000? Very few. Yet if we really care about it, we have probably looked to one or more sources to tell us who won. Have we proven it? No, but we can't prove everything we believe in. We cannot even prove which pistol cartridge is the best for self-defense. Yet, if your neighbor were buying a gun, and asked both of us which was the best, we would certainly make some recommendation. If I say .357 Magnum, and you don't agree with me, can I blame you for saying I am wrong? There are lives at stake. At some point, you have to decide what you're going to believe. One cannot even act, as a conscious human being, without having some set of beliefs to act from.
Further, I don't buy the idea that it is intrinsically mean or evil to say that a person's religious views are wrong. Again, I have to go back to gun control. Don't we rejoice when we convert one to our side? Don't we feel much better for them? It is the same with religion. In fact, what Christians believe is called the Gospel, the Good News. Which is this:
You don't have to earn God's forgiveness, He gives it freely. Christ payed for every bad thing you've done. You don't have to sin, you can be freed from it.
I guess some of us just treat religion like a game to play, and some find it very important.
Does the fact that He is also the author of bad negate those desires?
1. What do you mean about negating desires?
2. Christians do not believe that God creates evil, even if He uses it for His purposes. He created beings capable of love, but that means we are also capable of hatred.