[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('onlooker', 'I') do not like religion, I do like spirituality.

[JV153]

Really poorly understood (even by this poster)- there's a metaphorical aspect to the bible, i.e, "the reapers are the angels" linked to other statements. The Koran also contains very similar lines and many are double-edged or even containing multiple interpretations. You won't find any designs or clever descriptions of mechanical devices or electronics in the bible (except the wheel)- it's all about the heart. Clearly, wrath (anger) is associated with evil angels,Psalms 78:49.

[Pops]

I think consciousness is just a story we tell ourselves that corresponds roughly with "reality" as our senses report it. The story is a tool, it helps us predict the future and make plans and invent stuff and blather on the net. It's the key to our success.

Religion is a story we tell ourselves about things we can't sense or otherwise explain. Because it is completely made up it can be whatever the founder wants it to be and of course whatever he can sell.

Because religion has no basis in reality, it is the ultimate tribal badge.


Life is just a dream.

[JV153]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I') think consciousness is just a story we tell ourselves that corresponds roughly with "reality" as our senses report it. The story is a tool, it helps us predict the future and make plans and invent stuff and blather on the net. It's the key to our success.

Religion is a story we tell ourselves about things we can't sense or otherwise explain. Because it is completely made up it can be whatever the founder wants it to be and of course whatever he can sell.

Because religion has no basis in reality, it is the ultimate tribal badge.


Life is just a dream.

[Pops]

moral conduct and modern law have no basis in reality either
they are made up by certain humans to control other humans
not good or bad, just are, just how we do it
just a way to organize
better than the alternative of the wolf pack or chicken house

[Subjectivist]

I have a deeply held conviction that God is the author and finisher of my faith. That doesn't mean people who believe differently than I do are immoral. I would rather have a contract with a moral atheist than an amoral Christian who behaves badly because they believe God will not punish their bad behaviour. You don't have to believe in punishment to behave morally, just following the golden rule will do in nearly all situations.

[Cog]

Wow. a whole thread devoted to bashing Christians. What a unique surprise

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'W')ow. a whole thread devoted to bashing Christians. What a unique surprise

[Cog]

does bashing Christianity somehow make you feel intellectually superior? because that is how it seems that these threads go

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'I') have a deeply held conviction that God is the author and finisher of my faith. That doesn't mean people who believe differently than I do are immoral. I would rather have a contract with a moral atheist than an amoral Christian who behaves badly because they believe God will not punish their bad behaviour. You don't have to believe in punishment to behave morally, just following the golden rule will do in nearly all situations.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'W')ow. a whole thread devoted to bashing Christians. What a unique surprise

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'W')ow. a whole thread devoted to bashing Christians. What a unique surprise

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'W')ow. a whole thread devoted to bashing Christians. What a unique surprise

[Tanada]

Defense should not be conflated with attack, though those doing the defending often fall into the trap of attacking their opponents. Jihadist thinkers believe is attack as the first line of defense, not the last resort.

[KaiserJeep]

A small diversion if you will.

I believe that a few hundred thousand years of evolution have created a spot in our minds which must be filled with something. When we were dressing in smelly uncured animal hides and shivering in caves during the last Glacial, the tribal shaman would frighten us by ascribing lighting/thunder, floods, wildfires and like things to the rest of the tribe failing to give that shaman enough food, warm hides, or females. The point being, that those ape troops with a Shaman, Tribal Chief, or Witch Doctor were more suited to the harsh environment of the last Glacial in the Pleistocene Age. They prospered and even preyed upon those less advanced ape tribes where the basic rule was "every ape for himself, or at most his immediate family". The most successful ape tribes had a hierarchical organization of extended families - clans and tribe, all under the control of what would eventually become the "religious leader".

Later on, organized religions were still an advantage to a society, especially when they preserved knowledge, and even added to the existing knowledge with original research - such as the Catholic monks who illuminated those gorgeous manuscripts during the Dark Ages in Europe, or the Friars who developed Genetics, Astronomy, Biology, etc. by documenting repeatable experiments.

Nowadays, most people have turned away from organized religion - my own decision to do so being driven by my Mother's decision to force her kids into "Bible School" all Summer long for three consecutive years (while she worked to afford a down payment on a home). This amounted to me being confined in a small room on the second floor of a stuffy church building, coloring illustrations of Biblical scenes and trying to figure out what it all really meant. I was not familiar with figures of speech when I was age 6-8, so I was on the lookout and intended to escape before (it seemed inevitable) they decided I was ready to be "Washed in the blood of the lamb...." - which I found to be a completely revolting idea.

That spot in the Psyche of modern humans is mostly filled by the new religion called "Science". Believe me, few people have performed the basic experiments of Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, Biology, etc. They accept the principles of Science pretty much on Faith alone, secure in the knowledge (communicated by authority figures such as parents or teachers) that such experiments have occurred and are repeatable and in fact - work.

Most people don't really care - believing in Science lets you sleep in on Sunday, and spend all day in your robe watching sports on TV, without guilt. That is enough advantage for almost everybody to prefer Science over a more conventional religion.

Then there are the Laymen, the Deacons and Elders of Science, whose Faith demands more of them. They must stamp out the sinners, those suspicious and degenerate deviants who have the wrong political opinions, the wrong positions on social issues, and - yes indeed - those "Deniers" of the orthodox positions on AGW/CC.

Such as a great many PO.com members. In 8000 BC, they would have been the "Toadies" of the Shaman or Witch Doctor. In the world of Today, they are the "Toadies" of the priests in white lab coats. Either way, they must scratch that mysterious place in the mind that Evolution created.

End Detour.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'D')efense should not be conflated with attack, though those doing the defending often fall into the trap of attacking their opponents. Jihadist thinkers believe is attack as the first line of defense, not the last resort.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', '
')Most people don't really care - believing in Science lets you sleep in on Sunday, and spend all day in your robe watching sports on TV, without guilt. That is enough advantage for almost everybody to prefer Science over a more conventional religion.

[onlooker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserJeep', '
')Most people don't really care - believing in Science lets you sleep in on Sunday, and spend all day in your robe watching sports on TV, without guilt. That is enough advantage for almost everybody to prefer Science over a more conventional religion.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'W')ow. a whole thread devoted to bashing Christians. What a unique surprise