This a continuation of a previous thread. Are you now equating faith with insanity and people of faith with madness. Is that what your more "enlightened" world view teaches you? Is that what your self styled secular prophets have to contribute to the advancement of the world? Seems to me they are no better than the ones they rail against. So people like Dawkins and others like him are held up as enlightened examples that will lead people to a new world?

Get used to it. It is a theme on this board and it drives me nuts and I am not even religious.

For polyandry hotel, I am familiar with Lennon, thank you very much. I have all of his music and most of the books about him. I adore the guy, but quoting him about religion is silly since he was no expert.I stand by that.His opinions are no more insightful than any other guy on the street.Neither are Dawkins.

This was my response to the prior thread, which began with this quote:

"One of the truly bad effect of religion is that it teaches us that it is a virtue to be satisfied with not understanding." -- Dawkins

*****************************

The heart of much religious and spiritual belief is wondering if there are realities that go beyond the physical world. Religion purports to give firm answers to what is now and may always be unknowable. But the questioning itself can show curiousity and a desire to understand.

Some religions and denominations encourage and/or tolerate such questioning.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2012 11:59PM by summer.

And people, without actually *understanding* that the answers are not really answers accept the fiction without an real curious inquiry as to the validity of what they are being told. In short, many, if not most, are not curious, many, if not most, just accept whatever answers are handed to them without question.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2012 12:09AM by MJ.

Yes.

"Faith" is a tool utilized by Religions to USE its followers. Most of us are on this board because of the mindf*cking Faith non-sense drilled into us as children. I WILL NOT LIE to my children and tell them things I have no way of knowing to be true or false ie Where we go when we die. Religion would have me do this ALL DAY. Screw that delusion.

“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” -Steven Weinberg

+ 1000 I like you when you get like that.

Fine, don't lie to your kids or take them to church, but don't assume all religions and all religious people are the same because that is nopnsense and don't take Dawkins and his fellow atheiss as the fianl authority on religion or history because quite often they are full of it. You need to educate yourself. If you are not interested in doing that, I would suggest you stop making blanket statements about religion.

The moment a religious person steps up and give humanity something more than "guesses" about the future, I'll be interested.

Until then, believing a lie is the essence of religion and people who defend it are morons.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2012 11:58PM by Brian-the-Christus.

Bah- someone beat me to te punch of Weinberg's quote :(



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2012 11:02PM by ragingphoenix.

Thanks for the advice.

Religion does three things quite effectively: divides people, controls people, deludes people.” -Carlespie Mary Alice McKinney

Kind of like what communism did with with its poor victims? the countless millions who lived, suffered and died for an ideology? Dare I call it a religion of the atheist faithful?

Communism probably gave America and the Western World more motivation to create than any idiot claiming to speak with god.

I guess Dante, Michelangelo, Da VInci, and on and on and on don't count.

We didn't do much with their knowledge until we began to fear the big red menace.

But trying to get you to think has always been impossible...

They were paid and probably not believers. There's a few clues in Mike's paintings that he hated the church.

Oh really. He was a devout Catholic and admirer of Savonarola.He also wrote religious poetry. You are thinking of Da Vinci and that is questionable.

Those artists were pretty much confined to painting religious material. Painting what one is TOLD to paint then claiming that as some great inspiration is hardly intellectually honest. One has to wonder, well one without an apologist's agenda, what those artists would have painted if they were free to paint what TRULY inspired them, not just what they were limited to.

but now that you made the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9UZSJ8eVSk

In short, communism created a religious cult, not around god, but around their leader. The model used by communism was that of religion. Both suffer from putting ideology above reason.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2012 12:13AM by MJ.

Exactly.

Look at North Korea...one of the MOST religious nations on earth.

Dawkins can be extreme. There are many things I find him arrogant in. Sometimes the way he comes across is similar to a Mormon. "I'm persecuted because of what I am, so I'm going to persecute everyone else back" is the vibe I get from him a lot.

That being said, I do think there are a bit of good things he says also. I enjoy reading some of his writings.

He makes some good points, but he is extreme and his view of history is off.

For once would you open your mind to the alternative? Dawkins gives his opinion in a very decided manner and he has an opinion about what things mean that is different than yours, live with it.

He also gets facts wrong you know, stuff about history. He has a right to his opinion, but he doesn't get to make stuff up. Maybe you need to open your mind.Some of you guys act like he the prophet. How about checking out some of the stuff he claims/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2012 11:37PM by bona dea.

You of all people should understand that history is the reconstruction of what we thing happened according to our limited understanding. Dawkins has the wrong opinion about many things, but he doesn't get the facts wrong very often.

Oh, really?

You've gotten things wrong before, bona, yet you opine here.

Getting stuff wrong doesn't negate his ability to cut through the crap of mindless robots.

Good bye, Brian. It was so pleasant here when you were gone.

I haven't really looked into his history claims so I won't claim to know anything about it.

When it comes down to it, he's just human like the rest of us and that means definitely not perfect.

He's not MY guru. Sometimes I think people mention his name and a quote just to be thought of as intelligent by others and get a plus 1. I'm onto it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2012 11:26PM by suckafoo.

Polyandry Hotel,

Did you used to have a different moniker?

Why do you ask?

Your writing style seems very familiar, and blueorchid stated "I like it when you get like that", implying she is familiar with you on here, but your name is new to me.

I just upgraded from "Lost Mystic" and I wouldn't want to lose a poster that I know in a name change...lol

Dawkins was speaking as a man.

Hahahaha that's awesome!

LOL

By the way, Mordecai, someone else pointed out that your statement is a strawman argument.

You make the claim, not I, although so far he's expressed himself FAR MORE eloquently than you have here.

I have seen him speak to a single idea being madness, but that is far from labeling a class of people.

Come on ! knock down that strawman !!

Dawkins isn't trying to lead people. He wants to snap people out of their need to be led.

These high profile secular humanists and atheists are trying to get people to think. Faith inhibits thinking

Amen, Brother...Amen

For an enlightened person, Dawkins has a bit of work to do on women's issues. There are appears to have a blind spot when women's issues seem to threaten his "movement."

http://skepchick.org/2011/07/the-privilege-delusion/

He is a top notched biologist, but he needs to bone up on history and religion and stop with the stereotypes.He is a lot better when he sticks with his field.I think his celebrity has gone to his head.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2012 12:23AM by bona dea.

OK, I'm gonna need you to give some examples of history he got wrong, and please don't tell me it's his ridiculing a planet wide flood.

The stuff about the causes of 'religious wars' for starters.He also misrepresents the beliefs of many religions.