Arguing with ghosts

A brief look at the pointless exercise of telling people, rather than asking them, what they believe.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• communication
• prejudice
• listening
• skills
• assumptions

[gmsherry1953]

I'd say yes to "life has no meaning" (inherent in it); that life (not just people) IS a biochemical accident (it happens because it CAN happen); that being an atheist makes one superior (rationality IS superior to superstition; facing facts is superior to comforting self-delusion); that we reject theism because we hate and are angry with theism's god -- a cruel, arbitrary, immoral, insecure, vain god who values obedience over virtue. So those arrows may miss you but a few of them hit me.

[QualiaSoup]

@gmsherry1953 In terms of 'deeper, intrinsic' meaning, I agree that's an incoherent concept.

Other things I'd dispute. 'Accident' implies 'chance' and we know life involves non-random factors. Also, I've known several deeply superstitious atheists. I think saying rationality is superior is a different claim, even if rationality often leads to atheism. Lastly, I'd clarify that I despise the qualities/deeds attributed to Yahweh, not Yahweh itself (which I don't believe exists).

[gmsherry1953]

@QualiaSoup I agree religion is only one of many possible non-rational belief systems, and it's the qualities Western religion attributes to god that are hateful. If there's a god (we can't prove there's not), it may be likable. I recognize that evolution is not random, but I still think the origin of life is. Put elements together under certain conditions and wait long enough, and some will self-replicate, merely because it's one of the things that can happen. Accidental? Inevitable? Both?

[QualiaSoup]

@gmsherry1953 I'd agree there's a strong element of chance. But even with abiogenesis, I find the word 'accident' misleading: it seems reasonable that whatever the actual mechanism(s) of abiogenesis, a fairly specific sequence of developments were required. My beef with the word 'accident' - and the reason I objected to it in this vid - is that, to me, it implies a pejorative dismissal/denial of relevant non-random parameters.

[codeXenigma]

well don't panic or throw in the towel its Somebody Else's Problem... lol

[upisoft2]

@codeXenigma Indeed, no one can change the plan, except Vogons.....

[upisoft2]

@codeXenigma If you look at the OT you'll see that God gave the order "thou shalt not kill" and then ordered them to do a genocide.. so religion is an excuse to do whatever your subjects may find morally wrong. About Christianity .. I think it was failed attempt to change things to better with religions. At some point the love message was moved out of first place by fear message about hell. Again the religion did have the means of controlling subjects.

[codeXenigma]

@upisoft2 also i found: Some readers subsequently noticed that 6 {*13} × 9 {*13} = 42 {*13} (using base 13).

so maybe u r right and there was a purpose for the Golgafrinchan landing on earth.. maybe it was all part of Deep Thoughts plan.. lol

[codeXenigma]

@upisoft2 i remember watching a film about how they use to make kids practice hiding under their desks in case of war.. and thinking thats mean to fill them with so much fear. if a bomb hit their desk won't help anyway. to tell the truth if ppl did believe in religion we would live in a very different world. 1)thou shall not kill. 2)love all as your brother or sister. hmm now where is the love.. tsh lol evidence is a pretty easy thing to prove if they really believed in the teachings.

[Satankitteh]

Why is it that whenever I look at atheist videoes theres always that "bring the bible to your browser" add on the right?

[codeXenigma]

@upisoft2 ahhhhhhhhhhh what happened to deep thought? ; )

[upisoft2]

@codeXenigma That only Deep Thought may know.. ;)

[upisoft2]

@codeXenigma Yeah, but you can see the votes above for this video. Despite the fact that the country with most internet users is deeply religious and probably half of the population will dislike videos like this, they are liked disproportionally too much. The point is, these people probably don't go to places where they can learn something different ans stick with their dogmatic religious sites. However they like to vote...