Faith throughout atheism

The English Club at Belmont University, TN, interviews Anne Rice.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• annerice
• anne rice
• lestat
• witches
• vampire
• vampire chronicles
• mayfair witches
• witching hour
• queen of the damned
• akasha

[scn7471]

i love this one.. this PROVES that one does NOT need religion to have FAITH :-)

[Calucifer13]

Yes, THIS is what The vampire chronicles are about.

[gamesbok]

@NilDesperandum777 The transparent absurdity of your claim that superstition somehow advances science is so obvious that comment is unnecessary.

The counter arguement, that faith inhibits science, is easily illustrated by Newton's failure to account for the formation of the solar systen, and Laplace's success.

There can be no bigger enemy of science than 'faith', the claim to knowledge dishonestly won.

[NilDesperandum777]

@gamesbok Well, consensus disagrees with your summation. But we'll take it that the "Dark Ages" began the fall of Science, and to it, The Church contributed to it's continued demise as your posit, correct? You have a number of outstanding claims to follow up on, sir. At some point youre confronted with Bury and Drake and at another down the same winding road of nonsense you're confronted with scientists, too many to name, who in one way shape or form, began inquiries because of Faith. Big "F"

[NilDesperandum777]

@gamesbok Right...Virtually the entire discipline shares the same criticism. Ever the ecclesiastics, yes? As to your criteria, I guess we'll just have to filter through Dawkins, Hitchens, you and those like-minded to find genuine authoritative historicity on the last two thousand years. Sounds balanced.

[gamesbok]

@NilDesperandum777 Plutarch, who invented the phrase Dark Ages, meant a lack of intellectual development. Of the characters we can blame we have Arius, Odoacer and Justinian, all Christians. Neither of the first two had any effect whatso ever on the intellectual or cultural life of the empire. Justinian did. The real economic and social collapse of the city of Rome occured with Justinian's invasion. I'm sticking with 529.

[gamesbok]

@NilDesperandum777 Gibbon is only critisized by ecclesiastics and the petty, and the reverence in which Norwich (that’s how he signs himself) holds Gibbon verges on the idolatrous. Let’s see if we can find a well informed eye witness, without an ideological bias, who may confirm Christianity as a contribution to the decline of Rome. Oh yes, Emperor Julian.

[NilDesperandum777]

@gamesbok , So apart from Gibbons roundly denounced concentration (Passive as it was) on Christian contributions to Romes decline, your reasoning is based on...?

[NilDesperandum777]

@gamesbok And how many have since deflated Gibbons contribution to that specific claim as being far less esteemed than his development of the historical methodology hes most celebrated. And...Because Gibbon did, why would you? Again, frivolous isnt it? I can read Gibbon myself and contract the same gist...And if by Lord Norwich do you mean, John Julius Cooper? Who holds Gibbons work on Byzantine as flawed and - oh look - frivolous? That Lord Norwich, sir?

[NilDesperandum777]

@gamesbok , There's little urgency to argue the exact date of Rome's fall. If any number of dates and times suit you depending on the day, emotion, what have you, by all means, provide an additional couple of dates to those offered. You may arrive at a starting point and we may have an honest beginning. But it's put to you to add to Gibbon's commonly criticized justification as being vague that Constantine's adoption of Christianity had any real influence on Rome's decline. (i.e. Bury,Drake,etc)