Penn Jillette: Why Tolerance Is Condescending

http://bigthink.com

Religion can cause "good people to do bad things," but Penn Jillette gets along better with fundamentalists than with liberal Christians who preach easy tolerance.

• Category

  Science & Technology

[rakninja]

you make the same mistake so many in this country make. i expect better from a fellow veteran (army, cavalry). the USA is not the world, our culture is not the only viable one.

you also avoided my question. i do not doubt you do not consider islam to be the true religion of abraham's god. what i asked of you was to consider "what if it was".

you, of all people, should know the american way is not the only way. our culture is not paramount.

[rakninja]

id do not have to. isaac azamov did a great job of rounding up what we know. i suggest you read his guide to the bible. it is a nonfictional work, and provides good sources for his information.

seriously, read it and learn where your religion came from.

[rakninja]

from what i know of history, religious beliefs always spawn fanaticism.

my arguments do become convoluted as the flow of conversation changes the subject under scrutiny.

i also agree that empiricism (science) is better than philosophy.

[ixthustruth]

Well said Penn..well said

[Incognito TG]

I like what you wrote, reminds me about some of the Huna principles which are very open and go along the lines of "The World is what you think it is" and "Effectiveness is the measure of Truth". I also do agree that the "scientific bullying" is quite tiresome, especially because it is a way that suits only one kind of people and not me personally. Cheers!

[Incognito TG]

Why would you have to or want to prove your subjective reality to anyone? We have brains and they do their jobs. Some is conscious, others unconscious. I see no problem here, when dealing with civilized people. I might have a different point of view, but that doesn't mean it has to turn into a dick-sword fighting about who has the bigger one.

[ImRuzicore]

I feel that there is an infinite amount of ways that anything can go, that there is no one way of becoming something that were all destined to become, so I accept people who want to do this or that and say this or that. To me when Penn Jillette says that, " you're wrong" I feel like he seems there is a one way mission for people to go in order to become something. There are infinite possibilities and we have the power to change our environment, which can change us. Everything is an experiment

[psovegeta]

Negative by the standard of which we agreed to form this union we call America. We live here so we agree to live by the laws that say you cannot kill anyone who simply disagrees with you. I myself am a Christian and do not think Islam is the true religion of Abraham but as an American and Navy vet I have to defend they are right to practice their religion as long as it doesn't stop me from doing the same. Personal choices should only affect the person in America.

[FubarAlAkbar AlAkbar]

Oh, really? Can you provide evidence of this? I'd really like to see that.

[Ohad Balash]

"does it MAKE SENSE for anyone to justify their acts of killing people?"

yes

to them it does.