Metal Reviews

Stein is a total douche in that vid, his 'argument' was pathetic. What he failed to notice was that the 'liberation/freedom' that atheists feel is one of the intellect, the mind not being bogged down by superstition. Also he completely ignored the statement Dawkins made about the old testament god being a sadistic, moronic and genocidal douche because if you actually read the bible there is no other consensus you can arrive at.

I'm pretty sure noodles was being ironic when posting that video. It's obviously one of the worst interviews ever. Almost worse than the Dawkins vs. Ted Haggard.

Am I the only person here who hates every religion or superstition coloured topic? Not to say you guys are douches but these discussions evolve into big open flamewars with namecalling in 90% of the time so I always stay out of it. I just tolerate other peoples beliefs, as longs as they don't bother me with it.

Define "bother you with it".

http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/GodProof.htm

I don't mind when somebody tells me how happy he or she is with his religion or why they are religious. Everybody has the right to believe in something and belief is a certain aspect in life which is essential to man, in whatever form it may be. But I just can't get along with people who try to convince others that they're right. This 'group' consists both of religious people as the ones why try to convince others that for example: ' there is no god!!!'.

I just can't get around the 'fact' that this is a discussion that has no end. Absolute truth is not compatible with something as subjective as belief. Ofcourse, not every person that participates in these debates is so radical that they claim to be one of the few that has finally discovered the truth. Personally, I don't want to be bothered with the meaning of life, or the existance of afterlife. The only thing that matters to me is this life. Let's just say I have my own personal beliefs which are, I admit that without shame, a mix of a lot of elements of different and often contradictory beliefs.

Now, I hope none of you took my last short post as a sign of hostility towards people who want to debate about religion or belief or everything related. I only wanted to point out that it is my opinion that the endless discussion often does nothing more that distract people from the very essence of life: living. Never have religion or its representatives truly helped my life. My mother died after a ten year during struggle against various types of cancer and one of the things that has shown me is that I find this life too short to try and constrict it to who is right and who is wrong. What is there more than to accept that the path to happiness is different for a lot of people? Not that I would accept somebody being happy by harming others but this goes without saying really.

Wow, I've put a lot more words in this discussion that I planned to originally

I love this one:
ARGUMENT FROM MULTIPLICITY (V) (recursive internet edition)
(1) There exists a web page (http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/GodProof.htm)
(2) That page has hundreds of purported proofs of the existence of God.
(3) They can't all be wrong.
(4) Therefore, God exists.

But what if...

Faith were a sort of memetic virus that generally harms your entire environment, hence "bothers you"? You don't have to take my word for it, and I don't feel like providing the arguments and examples to support this claim now, but would you consider something like that? For example, it can be said that faith is a counter-educational instinct, as it leads us to be content with what we don't know rather than with what we do now by assuming a pre-conceived "answer". Would you consider that "bothering you"?

Hmm, I'll start by saying that there is a relatively large chance that i'm interpreting your question wrong but here goes:

I'll try to explain what I wanted to express with "bothering me". As I said, I try (key focus on this word) to accept other people and their beliefs, whether they're religiously inspired or not. It's hard to give a solid global view on what bothers me. Mainly it's everything that harms me or others. It's naïve to think that there is good in anyone or what they believe in or stand for. Nor is it wise to assume that even if there's good in someone that this person will not do "evil". Faith (I use this word because you brought it up) can be both used for good as evil (however vague these two terms may be) but in the end, everything can.

I don't really see faith as counter-educational: I believe everything can teach me something, even if it's only the knowledge that people can be wrong. How can you dismiss for example religion, without studying it, learning from what others believe in? It would be very narrow minded to dismiss other people's beliefs since it would mean one side is guilty of what it accuses the other.

I hope this clarified my view, and if not, I'll try again.

It's not exactly what I meant, you interpreted the term "educational" differently, but I don't really have time to elaborate now. Got a bi-polar friend currently breaking down to go save. Good conversation though, I'll pick it up again later.

I can't believe that actually went into a documentary in favour of ID... made by Ben Stein...

Stein: Do you believe in Vishnu, then?
Dawkins: lolwtf?

I love how Dawkins' facial expression during the entire thing is basically "what the FUCK??"

arguing about religion is pointless and boring.

I find it stimulating and challenging.

yeah ted bundy found murdering people stimulating and challenging.

I'm considering renaming this thread "Fridge's Thread".

Fridge vs God thread

Can a fridge really defeat the almighty?, can goats really be flogged?

I work with a fellow who is deeply religious. Now the thing is he never talks about his faith unless asked, and he never chastises or takes a 'holier than thou' stance when we are in the staff room talking about titties and pig fisting. In fact, he even gets a laugh out of it. He also happens to be the most grounded, intelligent and confident person I have ever met. And this comes from his absolute faith in his religion.

Ever watch a puppy playing with a ball and they are the happiest creature in the world? And have you ever thought to yourself "wow, I wish I could for a moment strip away all my intellect and find true joy in something so simple"? That seems to be the payoff in religion. Does all the intellectualising matter if it brings this sense of peace and stability to individuals (ignoring for now the obvious horrors of state-sponsored religious fanaticism). I do and I don't. I do because in my view personal happiness is an ultimate goal, and I don't because I also view intellectual growth as an essential component in what it means to be human.

Having said all that, my personal views are not absolute. On one hand I am scientifically athiest, and on the other I am Taoist (which is not a religion anyway, but simply a perception of natural physical laws).