God is a wizard and Jesus is a zombie. Don't you know?FatherTed wrote:
don't get the wizard one.
15 more years! 15 more years!
Bingo. +1Reciprocity wrote:
the insistence that i need to be open-minded when considering the vestigial spirituality of ancient, primitive people, that's what annoys me. these people didn't understand simple things like electrical storms or basic physiology and billions of humans stilll relegate themselves to these flocks, absolved of any critical thinking or new ideas. as an athiest, my biggest hope is that in another 2000 years, human being will have an even greater understanding of the universe and marvel at our own primitive, but passionate, curiosity.Flaming_Maniac wrote:
Manipulative editing aimed at a closed-minded audience. They managed to make a movie that solidified the positions of the religious and the areligious by editing the religious to look like pricks and giving head-douchenozzle Maher the mic.
This is kinda like the question asked on the day of Obama's inauguration; Which is better? Bush leaving or Obama coming in? In my opinion:Morpheus wrote:
You know, i think the better question is who is worse:
The religion itself,
or
the people who act in the name of the said religion?
Religulous is a great movie/doc./comedy whatever you want to call it. Some person on the first page is right. He's not saying those people are wrong. He just points out flaws/stupidity/hypocrisy/etc in peoples religions (of many religions) and his basic question throughout the whole movie is, "How do you know?"xBlackPantherx wrote:
Close thread now please before someone can say something stupid to dispute this. This is pretty much how I can generally sum up every debate I've been in about religion.konfusion wrote:
In my opinion, the bible is figurative, and has a lot of good messages. However, if you're literal when you read it, chances are you're going to be fucking a lot of people over.
-kon
Sorry flaming maniac, I quite disagree with your posts.
I felt very very embarrassed to live in the United States (and have family that, thankfully just moved from Arkansas) when he interviews the senator from AK and he says "You don't need an IQ test to be a US senator" and then shits his pants when it sinks in what he just said.
And holy shit (no pun intended) when they are at Jesus/Holy Land w/e in florida and the girl says "I'm gonna fly out of the Rapture, riding on a white stallion". It's just shit like this that I can't believe people say or think. Or the guy who said it was a miracle it rained when he was at a friends house because he was thirsty at the time.
Not to mention when Bill Maher points out like 3 religions 100-1000's of years before Christianity that are essentially the exact same thing in terms of 'miracles' and "virgin birth" (I quote because virgin, translated from latin, means young girl) and born on the 25th (which isnt a proven fact of christianity either) etc.
Basically, my point is that religion itself, at the root and in general, is not bad. Infact, it is usually good. But its the human (lack of) ability to translate it into what it was actually meant to be and the human trait of translating it to what suits them and the time they are in that makes it bad.
I didn't insist that you be open-minded, I only pointed out that the movie is aimed at the closed. It's one big piece of rhetoric aimed at people who have already made up their minds, to make them feel good about how they made up their minds and to tell them how right they are. Fucking retarded.Reciprocity wrote:
the insistence that i need to be open-minded when considering the vestigial spirituality of ancient, primitive people, that's what annoys me. these people didn't understand simple things like electrical storms or basic physiology and billions of humans stilll relegate themselves to these flocks, absolved of any critical thinking or new ideas. as an athiest, my biggest hope is that in another 2000 years, human being will have an even greater understanding of the universe and marvel at our own primitive, but passionate, curiosity.Flaming_Maniac wrote:
Manipulative editing aimed at a closed-minded audience. They managed to make a movie that solidified the positions of the religious and the areligious by editing the religious to look like pricks and giving head-douchenozzle Maher the mic.
Tell us what you find entertaining, Flaming, so we can critique your tastes. I want to make sure you're not "retarded."
Paying someone to tell you how right you are is not entertainment. My entertainment does stroke my ego for me.
The only thing more manipulative than the editing in the movie was the presentation of the idea that no one was right, so that everyone in the theater knew they were right.
The only thing more manipulative than the editing in the movie was the presentation of the idea that no one was right, so that everyone in the theater knew they were right.
Who said I paid for it?Flaming_Maniac wrote:
Paying someone to tell you how right you are is not entertainment. My entertainment does stroke my ego for me.
The only thing more manipulative than the editing in the movie was the presentation of the idea that no one was right, so that everyone in the theater knew they were right.
I'm an atheist and I wonder about the importance and role of religion.
Now as much as we all think major religion is holding us back in advancement, I really am afraid of the idea of a world without religion. If we have nothing to hold us back where would be end up? Playing with the genes of our children creating super hybrids or performing genetic cleansing? There is a lot of stupid and crazy people in this world, if there wasn't organized religion to hold people back just think of what all those people could do.
Now as much as we all think major religion is holding us back in advancement, I really am afraid of the idea of a world without religion. If we have nothing to hold us back where would be end up? Playing with the genes of our children creating super hybrids or performing genetic cleansing? There is a lot of stupid and crazy people in this world, if there wasn't organized religion to hold people back just think of what all those people could do.
tbh, atheist are a stupid sounding to me as Jerry Falwell types.Macbeth wrote:
I'm an atheist and I wonder about the importance and role of religion.
Now as much as we all think major religion is holding us back in advancement, I really am afraid of the idea of a world without religion. If we have nothing to hold us back where would be end up? Playing with the genes of our children creating super hybrids or performing genetic cleansing? There is a lot of stupid and crazy people in this world, if there wasn't organized religion to hold people back just think of what all those people could do.
Anybody who claims to know what happens to us when we die is made of failure.
Same old shit, different day. Ironically enough one of the only universal traits of human beings is our ability to blame some other group for things going wrong.
So far as the ''Religulous'' I thought the trailer was the best part.........
So far as the ''Religulous'' I thought the trailer was the best part.........
We don't. Nobody is sure. Some people, like me refuse to accept the theory said by a man who may or may not have existed some 2009 years ago. We could be wrong but we're not going to hedge our bets on a region thought up by someones who had a brain no larger then our own.ATG wrote:
tbh, atheist are a stupid sounding to me as Jerry Falwell types.Macbeth wrote:
I'm an atheist and I wonder about the importance and role of religion.
Now as much as we all think major religion is holding us back in advancement, I really am afraid of the idea of a world without religion. If we have nothing to hold us back where would be end up? Playing with the genes of our children creating super hybrids or performing genetic cleansing? There is a lot of stupid and crazy people in this world, if there wasn't organized religion to hold people back just think of what all those people could do.
Anybody who claims to know what happens to us when we die is made of failure.
Now keep in mind, Atheism does not exactly mean no afterlife. It means no god, I've met some people who don't believe in a god but do believe something after their death awaits them.
#1 You decayATG wrote:
tbh, atheist are a stupid sounding to me as Jerry Falwell types.
Anybody who claims to know what happens to us when we die is made of failure.
#2 Soul??? God??? Before you tell me there is a god, at least prove to me we have a soul. It is supposedly here on earth in everyone, so where is proof? God made a soul like he made everything else, right? But a soul he decided to not let us be able to prove its existance, just like he decided to hide himself all the sudden. Sure he used to talk to people, send his son to earth, give people powers to turn rivers to blood, flood our planet...... but now with the advent of media he just can't bring himself to blot out the sun or do any other defacto god crap.
So either you believe #1, or god is a royal fuck up that at one time gave a shit about us but is now too damn bored to even turn a person to salt. He hides his existance from us just to play mind fuck because as we all know (from all religions) that it would just make to damn much sense to let people know that you do exist if you are god.
#3 Bigfoot hides from us too, is claimed to exist, but logic tells me no. Faith is faith. People have Faith that Bigfoot exists in the same manner that people have faith that god exists in the same matter that a child has Faith that Santa Claus exists. It is all stupid to people that are capable of rational thought.
I was watching a show that said that the universe was 11 billion light years in every direction from the earth and that if you could be at that outter most rim of what you could see it probably extends another 11 billion lights years in every direction. That this continues on and on. Meaning that the universe is infinite and because it is infinite that all possibilities exist. including that there is another earth with duplicate copies of every one. Kind of like the 10000 monkeys typing and eventually one of them will write war and peace.
So if the universe is infinite then all possibliteies exist. That there is a god. That there isn't a god, that there is an after life etc etc etc. I guess what I am saying is that all things are possible.
As far as religion, its good for teaching morality and how to live with one another. But you really need to internalize your own moral code that you live by 24/7. IMO everything that is wrong with religion stems from the externalization of a moral code and a church building is the physical manifestation of an external moral code. Externalization permits manipulation and the creation of power bases for immoral people.
So you really don't need churches and in fact the externalization of a moral code is what gets us into trouble, you get religious wars, bigotry etc. In fact some of the sorriest SOBs I've met are people who run around and screw people over 6 days a week and then run to church on the 7th and act pious and believe that what they did the other 6 days is ok. These people fail to realize that there is a prime moral on which all other morals are derived and it is respect. If you don't have respect for other people and things then you are following a false morality.
Internalize your moral code and live by your principles and most of all don't be so proud that you think that you can stop learning, there is always something that you don't know, remember, just like the universe, the possiblities are infinite.
So if the universe is infinite then all possibliteies exist. That there is a god. That there isn't a god, that there is an after life etc etc etc. I guess what I am saying is that all things are possible.
As far as religion, its good for teaching morality and how to live with one another. But you really need to internalize your own moral code that you live by 24/7. IMO everything that is wrong with religion stems from the externalization of a moral code and a church building is the physical manifestation of an external moral code. Externalization permits manipulation and the creation of power bases for immoral people.
So you really don't need churches and in fact the externalization of a moral code is what gets us into trouble, you get religious wars, bigotry etc. In fact some of the sorriest SOBs I've met are people who run around and screw people over 6 days a week and then run to church on the 7th and act pious and believe that what they did the other 6 days is ok. These people fail to realize that there is a prime moral on which all other morals are derived and it is respect. If you don't have respect for other people and things then you are following a false morality.
Internalize your moral code and live by your principles and most of all don't be so proud that you think that you can stop learning, there is always something that you don't know, remember, just like the universe, the possiblities are infinite.
Well, I'm a passive atheist. I believe in Occam's Razor.ATG wrote:
tbh, atheist are a stupid sounding to me as Jerry Falwell types.Macbeth wrote:
I'm an atheist and I wonder about the importance and role of religion.
Now as much as we all think major religion is holding us back in advancement, I really am afraid of the idea of a world without religion. If we have nothing to hold us back where would be end up? Playing with the genes of our children creating super hybrids or performing genetic cleansing? There is a lot of stupid and crazy people in this world, if there wasn't organized religion to hold people back just think of what all those people could do.
Anybody who claims to know what happens to us when we die is made of failure.
The simplest logical explanation that requires the fewest assumptions without evidence is the most appropriate to live by. In the case of religion, I don't believe in a god because there is no evidence of one.
Now, I realize that there is a possibility of there being a god, but until I have proof, I can't assume there is one.
It's not a matter of knowing... it's a matter of not knowing.
For Ethics, Philosophy, and Morality - I'll read various philosophers. Aristotle, Plato, etc.
For Science & Mathematics - I'll read chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology textbooks. Einstein, Newton, Feynman, etc.
Religion holds no answers for me, regarding any of the above topics.
My only interest in the Bible, Koran, or other religious texts is simply to understand what the other guy has stuffed into his head as the answer.
For Science & Mathematics - I'll read chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology textbooks. Einstein, Newton, Feynman, etc.
Religion holds no answers for me, regarding any of the above topics.
My only interest in the Bible, Koran, or other religious texts is simply to understand what the other guy has stuffed into his head as the answer.
I'll grant that Jesus, Mohamed, Moses, John, and the rest of the cast were interesting philosophers, with a good many bits of useful advice and wisdom for their followers, in their era. But their claims of divine inspiration give me cause to suspect the intentions & integrity of everything else they claim.
Sell me on the wisdom, insight, and reasoning of your arguments - not divine right, not farcical aquatic ceremonies, not talking burning bushes, not claims to ancient hidden wisdom.
Sell me on the wisdom, insight, and reasoning of your arguments - not divine right, not farcical aquatic ceremonies, not talking burning bushes, not claims to ancient hidden wisdom.
So what keeps the other group from thinking they are better than the other because they don't believe in any god ...Dilbert_X wrote:
The separation of church and state is very important, as is preventing bigots foisting their views on others, or letting one group think they are better than another because 'their god said so'.
Anyone studying the subject of mankind history (Sumerian civilisation/bible etc.) will learn how things really happend.
It's very interesting.
It's very interesting.
@ Spittle
Doc Manhattan wrote:
A live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Structurally, there's no discernible difference. Life and death are unquantifiable abstracts.
Whoa... Can't believe these forums are still kicking.
Silly ATG, we atheists don't know what happens to us when we die, and don't claim that we do, either.ATG wrote:
tbh, atheist are a stupid sounding to me as Jerry Falwell types.
Anybody who claims to know what happens to us when we die is made of failure.
Wrong. That's an agnostic.AussieReaper wrote:
Silly ATG, we atheists don't know what happens to us when we die, and don't claim that we do, either.ATG wrote:
tbh, atheist are a stupid sounding to me as Jerry Falwell types.
Anybody who claims to know what happens to us when we die is made of failure.
Atheists, to my knowledge, claim that there's nothing after death. You just die. No God. No soul. No mysterious dimension of the dead.
Whoa... Can't believe these forums are still kicking.
what happens after we die and the existence of god(s) are two separate questions.Flecco wrote:
Wrong. That's an agnostic.AussieReaper wrote:
Silly ATG, we atheists don't know what happens to us when we die, and don't claim that we do, either.ATG wrote:
tbh, atheist are a stupid sounding to me as Jerry Falwell types.
Anybody who claims to know what happens to us when we die is made of failure.
Atheists, to my knowledge, claim that there's nothing after death. You just die. No God. No soul. No mysterious dimension of the dead.
They aren't, they are equal, thats the point.Stingray24 wrote:
So what keeps the other group from thinking they are better than the other because they don't believe in any god ...
When the supremacist religious nutballs get in power we are generally in trouble.
Fuck Israel
please indulge us thenFlaming_Maniac wrote:
Paying someone to tell you how right you are is not entertainment. My entertainment does stroke my ego for me.
Perhaps before claiming to be something you should be more knowledgeable about it.AussieReaper wrote:
Silly ATG, we atheists don't know what happens to us when we die, and don't claim that we do, either.ATG wrote:
tbh, atheist are a stupid sounding to me as Jerry Falwell types.
Anybody who claims to know what happens to us when we die is made of failure.
Kind of sad really, how being an atheist became something trendy for young people to say they are.