Re: VPO/Mehta/Bruckner - Bell's a Daddy

mark wrote:
On Feb 27, 7:47 am, Bob Lombard <thorsteinnos...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The absolute denial of the existence of God is not rational; it is a
rationalization. <

Why is it less rational than an absolute denial that werewolves exist
or fairies, or any of the other gods that you yourself deny the
existence of every day of the week don't exist? Gods, werewolves and
fairies all enjoy the same level of proof for their existence, which
is to say, "no proof."

I'm getting the feeling that you are very bothered by the fact that
non-believers assign your god no more importance than they do fairies
or werewolves. You seem to think that the subject of god is some grand
subject, possibly THE subject, and you can't comprehend how others do
not share your belief. The fact that I consider god no heavier a
subject than zombies or the Invisible Man doesn't sit well with you.
Why?

A few other random thoughts in no particular order:

"Watch your blood pressure...you're angry."

My blood pressure is fine. A far as anger, I think that perhaps you
just aren't used to having your religious beliefs challenged,
especially in a public forum, and especially by people who see
religious belief as stupid, destructive and evil, rather than as life-
enriching or even benign. All I can say is, get used to it. Religion
is on the wane (at least in the civilized world), and as more and more
people loose religion's shackles and see their neighbors doing the
same, they will not hold back in expressing their negative feelings
about religion. Tacit assent of religious belief through confrontation-
avoiding silence is going the way of Osiris. Politeness never cured a
plague.

"The gift of faith."

Some would call it a curse. And why is willing ignorance to be
considered a gift in the first place? Faith seems to me to be the
cheapest commodity going. It requires no investment, it demands no
truth and it has no standards. It seems little more than the ability
to still believe in something IN SPITE OF EVIDENCE, rather than
because of the same. At its core, faith is at best an opinion and at
worst a delusion. And isn't it a bit self-serving and egotistical to
aver that a person's ability to compartmentalize the world and deny
facts is a gift from some supernatural being? Extolling faith as being
a virtue is something the world needs to get over, the sooner, the
better.

"Mark is saying nothing that hasn't been said a thousand times before;
neither are you."

A couple of things: 1) I always find it strange when people who base
their lives on a world view that has been lying around for 2,000-6,000
years accuse others of not having anything new to say; 2) that
considered, can we agree that arguments that have been made a thousand
times (ie: atheistic arguments) are at least newer on the scene than
the tired, bazillion-times-made arguments of Christianity, and that,
THAT considered, there's nothing wrong with an old argument if it was
and is a good argument.

The world is moving on from the fears that led us into the stupidity
and self-loathing that are religion, and the world will be a much,
much better place when religion is consigned to history's dust heap,
as it must and will be eventually. Human rights and dignity alone will
eventually put paid to the inhumane conceits that first exposed the
world to religion, man's blueprint for totalitarianism. I don't think
I'll be around to see it, but my hope is that faith will some day be
ridiculed as roundly as seances and other "truths" of the supernatural
are today.

In closing, can I say that I don't blame the writers of the Bible for
the stupidities and fears that they scribbled down centuries ago. They
were ignorant of the world, and they did the best they could. As
others have said, religion was man's first and - as it turns out -
worst attempt at science. It was an attempt to explain what was
inexplainable, and it failed. Miserably.

But modern man has no such excuse. We have moved on from these fears
and have acquired real knowledge of things. Not of everything, but
certainly of MOST of the things that religion so feebly and
erroneously tried to explain. We have discovered mysteries and
inspired awe about our planet and our universe that those who lived in
our species' childhood could never have imagined.

Today's man is a better man than the men who wrote the ancient holy
books. Why deny the obvious?

Stop it immediately Mark. At once. You are talking too much sense. It doesn't go down too well with some here.

Ray (Dawg) Hall, Taree
.

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