[g®eg]

never mind.. Rich forgot to take his meds again...

[richw]

nihilist

Yes you are the greatest development of the universe

no wait

that's Britney Spears

[Josephd14]

Originally Posted by DucDave

There are a few good books out there but I highly recommend "God Is Not Great : How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hutchins

Bad people do bad things, it has nothing to do with believing in some religion, or not.. If someone feels they can be a better person by praying and believing in something, all the power to them, if they can do it on thier own, then all the power to them too..

[richw]

uh oh cogent thought

Eat a liberal
There not bad just hard to clean

[TESTINGurTOMATO]

+1 although sometimes people use a faltered interpretation of thier religion to justify doing bad

Originally Posted by Josephd14

Bad people do bad things, it has nothing to do with believing in some religion, or not.. If someone feels they can be a better person by praying and believing in something, all the power to them, if they can do it on thier own, then all the power to them too..

Originally Posted by DucDave

There is no such thing as 'Gods Work'.

only if you don't have faith there is a God. Even if your faking it and use the 'God's Work' verbage as a crutch, it can be you simply helping your fellow human get through a bad/traumatic/life threatening/incurable disease/greiving/unexplainable situation. This is another tool that can help the community of humans get along without being self/ego-centered.

? to the athiest community, what do you base your good deeds upon? How do you decide what is right or wrong in any given situation? How do you determine a consequence for doing things out of your set of parameters?

Originally Posted by richw

You confuse God's work from what humans do in his/her name. Most religious people are good and use the tenets of religion to guide them in doing good.

+1

It is specious reasoning to say because of an infinitesimal percentage of bad that religion is bad. When I pee in the Atlantic should you stop swimming in it ?

Like saying Motorcycling is bad because the public interpreted a skewed statistic on accidents involving motorcycles when it's really only 1 -2 % of bikers that die while doing stupid and irresponsible things while riding and then crashing. Meanwhile the other 98% are gear wearing normal everyday riders in legit non fatal accidents. Should we all be considered squids based on the 1-2%??????

Originally Posted by richw

Religion and an all seeing God is the best tool to control barbaric behavior

Using fear and consequence in a responsible way is great resource for child rearing. Having a reference book (the Bible) and a third party (God/ your conscience) to consult for interpretation is not such a bad thing. Unless of course you are that evolved and based on your parents teachings know the correct/right thing to do all the time. Haven't met any people capable of this, believer or non-believer.


The children will be happy knowing there is:

A heaven where someday they will see Grand Pa again

HOPE

That bad people will get there come uppance some day by a just Deity.

JUSTICE

They would gain comfort by praying or asking for help from a compassionate Deity.

TRUST

Good behavior has a benefit and reward


CONSEQUENCE

+1 and bad behavior has a consequence Ok maybe just a


FYI Only folks that take their interpretation of the Bible as absolutely literate have a problem with evolution and the age of the earth.

The Darwin guys still need to find your missing links and transitional creatures.

My personal theory is environmental stress altering gene code in similar ways. This would allow for creatures as a group to change in both predictable and group ways. This as opposed to a single creature breeding a new master species.

None of this requires the absence of a God it just threatens organize religion and their dogma

Lefties have as much Dogma as anybody


ALL PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED
usually the answer is NO

Humans hate being told NO. NO is a boundary, and boundaries are bad???
Funny thing, most Lefties and some on the fencers I know don't use NO when rearing children. They substitute with indecision, which most of the time leads to confusion and a loss of parental control. It isn't until they lose all control that they try to say NO and by then it's too late. the child has already learned that doing whatever they want is ok and there are no consequences for acting selfishly other than Mom or Dad showing how much they have lost the "parental advantage" and yelling and screaming which is easily 'tuned out'.

Thus the evolution of the democratic experiment

[DucDave]

Grrrr.....really don't want to get dragged any further into this discussion. Its like trying to teach a pig to sing. Its a waste of time and it annoys the pig.

I believe that there is no God. Further, the horrid things that men do in Gods name suggests that the 'notion' of God creates more quantifiable evil than good.

You do not need God for the Golden Rule to make sense.

I know I am not going to change anyone's beliefs and you are certainly not going to change mine.

My initial point had to do with my unhappiness with the Evangelical Right having so much influence on the conservative platform. And that athiests need to speak out and let candidates know that they do not need to kowtow to the fundamentalists to get the conservative vote. Not that we need to embark on the pointless excercise to CHANGE fundamentalist idiots but rather to let the parties know that there are a lot of voters who don't subsribe to the tenets and dogma of the Evangelical right.

Believe what you want...ghosts, aliens, esp, God, predestination, heaven, hell, whatever.

But keep it the hell out of politics.....

[zombie]

Originally Posted by DucDave

Grrrr.....really don't want to get dragged any further into this discussion. Its like trying to teach a pig to sing. Its a waste of time and it annoys the pig.

I believe that there is no God. Further, the horrid things that men do in Gods name suggests that the 'notion' of God creates more quantifiable evil than good.

You do not need God for the Golden Rule to make sense.

I know I am not going to change anyone's beliefs and you are certainly not going to change mine.

My initial point had to do with my unhappiness with the Evangelical Right having so much influence on the conservative platform. And that athiests need to speak out and let candidates know that they do not need to kowtow to the fundamentalists to get the conservative vote. Not that we need to embark on the pointless excercise to CHANGE fundamentalist idiots but rather to let the parties know that there are a lot of voters who don't subsribe to the tenets and dogma of the Evangelical right.

Believe what you want...ghosts, aliens, esp, God, predestination, heaven, hell, whatever.

But keep it the hell out of politics.....

quite brilliant..
Last time I checked an Atheist never went to war over their beliefs or lack thereof.

[richw]

Soviets
Chinese Communists
North Koreans
North Vietnamese

The following were probably claimed to be religon members but religon did not direct their actions. Most used lefty like pseudo-science of the day to justify themselves.

Hitler
WW1 both sides
Napoleon
British Empire
Vikings
Mongols
Goths
Rome

etc etc etc.


Actually accept for the Crusades almost all wars were for simple human greed and perversion against the beliefs of their religon.

Just hope God believes in you.

Dogma
15 billion years ago 2 branes in the eleventh dimension collided and caused the big bang and everything came into being in this universe.......
Its science it must be true

[DucDave]

Dogma
15 billion years ago 2 branes in the eleventh dimension collided and caused the big bang and everything came into being in this universe.......
Its science it must be true

Its like trying to teach a pig to sing. Its a waste of time and it annoys the pig.

I rest my case....

[Josephd14]

Correct me if i'm wrong I always understood Atheism was a religion in it self?

[TESTINGurTOMATO]

Hey Dave,

My rant was not an attempt to prove or disprove God to you. Simply to ear mark a couple of questions.

I asked a Buddist the same questions and he didn't freak out ... just had a really good discussion on the differences and came to a realization much to the effect you stated ..... doesn't matter what you believe IN just as long as it perpetuates the synergistic nature of humans ..... to habitate, procreate, tolerate, educate, wish good well to others, and die with inner peace

[TESTINGurTOMATO]

there's one I missing ??????

[DucDave]

Originally Posted by Josephd14

Correct me if i'm wrong I always understood Atheism was a religion in it self?

Correct....theism...it is a system of belief.

[DucDave]

Originally Posted by TESTINGurTOMATO

Hey Dave,

My rant was not an attempt to prove or disprove God to you. Simply to ear mark a couple of questions.

I asked a Buddist the same questions and he didn't freak out ... just had a really good discussion on the differences and came to a realization much to the effect you stated ..... doesn't matter what you believe IN just as long as it perpetuates the synergistic nature of humans ..... to habitate, procreate, tolerate, educate, wish good well to others, and die with inner peace

Matt...if I were going to adopt a religion other than Athiesm...I would probably become a Buddist.

Oh...and the one you are missing? Its ...to ride motorcycles...!

[TESTINGurTOMATO]

hey dave you still leading the seacoats last ride of the season?

[TESTINGurTOMATO]

ding ding ding THAT's IT

[Josephd14]

Originally Posted by DucDave

Oh...and the one you are missing? Its ...to ride motorcycles...!

Also a Religion to some..

[CMG241]

how the hell do I unsubscribe from a thread?????

[DucDave]

Thread Tools...top bar. Click on UNSUBSCRIBE.

Certainly you can't mean this one though....

[richw]

The brane collision is the latest craze in the ivy halls

[g®eg]

uh oh.. Godwin's law applied.. discussion ended

[DucDave]

Originally Posted by gï½®eg

uh oh.. Godwin's law applied.. discussion ended

Bingo...

Of course, rich will argue that the comparison was valid and you are abusing Godwin's law.

But I'm with you! Case closed!

(...that pig just ain't gonna sing!)

[bigred875]

you guys post like the theory of evolution isnt riddled with holes

[richw]

Actually had never heard of Godwin's Law before
It is true but mostly because it is the last refuge of liberals to
compare conservatives to Nazi's

Well we all wish you a very happy
Sieg Heil

Can Tom Tom direct me to Checkoslovakia (sp?)