Root of all Evil
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- ********0
I am Jupiter!
- flagellum0
From a colleague:
"In order to be an atheist one must believe that nothing produced everything for no reason, that inert matter spontaneously generated life, that the personal came from the impersonal, that consciousness came from unconsciousness, that the equivalent of typographical errors turned rocks, atmospheric gasses and unspecified liquid concoctions into Chopin in 10^17 seconds (and the list could be expanded). It seems to me that this is “unscientific,” magical thinking if ever such a thing existed.
Frankly, I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist.
My thesis is not that atheism makes people bad, but that it is destructive (because it logically destroys any ultimate sense of purpose in life). Without a sense of self-sacrificial purpose, life loses meaning, and at that point untold miseries abound."
"Basically, Dawkins is promoting a certain epistemology that elevates science to scientism. Based on the promo, it appears that Dawkins wants us to accept that the only path true and reliable knowledge is what we know from the methods of science. If he were forced to put it as a premise it would be something like “only the scientific method can provide with true and reliable knowledge.” But how would he know that to be true? He can’t demonstrate it via the scientific method because the reliability of the deliverances of the method are what is at issue. He can’t rely on history and say something like “well, look at how much we’ve learned so far”, because there are many things we know that we didn’t learn from science. So what Dawkins wants is an intellectual world where A is “science is the only path to true and reliable knowledge” and non-A where in order to hold to that notion he must also accept that he has other avenues to true and reliable knowledge. In other words, it is all bluff and bluster. Just once I’d like some TV commentator force Dawkins and those of his ilk to explain how they can intellectually hold two contradictory ideas at the same time and say that they are the ones following logic and reason and those who disagree with them have abandon them. This show promises to be Dawkins at the height of his intellectual arrogance. The show should be placed in the comedy category."
- flagellum0
I would like to have seen this program, but I'm in the states. Somehow I think I know the approach Dawkins took, however.
For those interested in hearing the other side, check out... "Dawkin's God":
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product…
It's hard for me to take him seriously since he refuses to debate ID proponents (despite what the channel 4 overview said about his never shying away from debates). What I'm curious about is how Dawkins reconciles his faith with:
1. The evidence for DNA encoding & The Anthropic Principle.
2. The evil committed under Atheistic Materialist regimes in the 20th century alone. The unholy trinity (Stalin, Lenin, Mao) is conservatively estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of more that 100,000,000 people. This was done in the name of an explicitly atheistic philosophy - Marxism.
3. The hospitals, mission organizations, and altruism in general, which are rooted in religious organizations.
- ********0
Yay. God's little soldier just arrived.
- Baskerville0
under a new name?
- ********0
under a new name?
Baskerville
(Jan 10 06, 06:03)Learned that trick from God himself.
- flagellum0
Are my thoughts/comments unreasonable, skt?
- Baskerville0
yes, but discipler is now a ghost of his former self
- ********0
under a new name?
Baskerville
(Jan 10 06, 06:03)Learned that trick from God himself.
determinedmoth
(Jan 10 06, 06:05)Haha. Glad I didn't ignore you after all.
- flagellum0
heh, I post some thoughtful comments directly pertaining to the topic at hand... and the vitriol begins.
Telling.
- ********0
Is it too late to bring back the Olympian gods as a viable religion? I mean if I'm going to believe in gods I might as well have them hanging out looking like swans seducing nubile young women...
- ********0
Isn't Discipler Flagellate Me now or something like that? He sounds much sexier now...
- Bluejam0
heh, I post some thoughtful comments directly pertaining to the topic at hand... and the vitriol begins.
Telling.
flagellum
(Jan 10 06, 06:06)They know not what they do.
- poomoo0
it was a pathetic program that neither addressed the real cause of evil or do anything to seperate the human evil from religion.
his arguments were not laid out very well and didnt really do anything to show how religion was the root of evil while completly ignored the good that religion has achived.
- ********0
Are my thoughts/comments unreasonable, skt?
flagellum
(Jan 10 06, 06:05)If you read my first post, you would realise I did not see the show in question, so i'm not about to start debating the merits of it with you, who also didn't see it.
There would be no point anyway. Nothing could be said that would dent your belief in a christian god. You are blind to any other possibility.
- ********0
heh, I post some thoughtful comments directly pertaining to the topic at hand... and the vitriol begins.
Telling.
flagellum
(Jan 10 06, 06:06)hahha, exactly isn't NT great. Say something that disagrees with the popular opinion and watch people turn as shady as a back-alley abortionist
- flagellum0
Not true, skt. I'm not blind to other possibilities, I just haven't found an explanation that better fits the evidence. Don't hate me for that.
It's amazing how hateful people get when somebody shares an opposing viewpoint.
- ********0
heh, I post some thoughtful comments directly pertaining to the topic at hand... and the vitriol begins.
Telling.
flagellum
(Jan 10 06, 06:06)
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I said you're much sexier now with the nom de pixel of "Flegellum"..it suits you...
- Wolfboy0
I would like to have seen this program, but I'm in the states. Somehow I think I know the approach Dawkins took, however.
flagellum
(Jan 10 06, 06:01)i think you can stop at that really.
I'd call the you arrogant and hypocritical but I can't hear my self fromall the pots and pans calling them selves black on the religious side.
- ********0
hey flagellum, let's start a thread based upon science and watch Maximilien Robespierre and François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire show up