Do you value religious dogma over scientific evidence?

No. But I've seen him on the youtubes still continuing to put the moves on the unenlightened, in spite of now being a sickly Kojak.

We're all dying of death. What can you do? Just be sure you haven't wasted your life denying yourself pleasure in some desperate, forlorn hope that you'll get to live forever in Magicland as a reward for your sexless, joyless, hateful existence.

^ post of the month? Made me laugh and nodd anyway.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:^ post of the month? Made me laugh and nodd anyway.

Laura, dd no one tell you that Dello is no longer the mod? No need to brown nose any more.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:Incidentally, did anyone see Christopher Hitchens in today's Guardian? The man has aged by a million years. Cancer. What a bitch.

Yeah it's terribly sad, but as Dello said it's brilliant to still see him being as much of a dick (in a good way) as he has always been.

*shrugs* It's not my fault he's funnier than you.

Lara Lara Laughs wrote:*shrugs* It's not my fault he's funnier than you.

Err, I love the guy and think he is hilarious. Not sure what what you meant with this comment.

Re-read the thread and all will be revealed.

Aha. Fair.

Who's funnier than Vilks - Hitchens or Dello? Or both?
This needs to be cleared up.

Both, but he wasn't talking to me (I think).

Well, Lara has always been a puzzling enigma shrouded in mystery wrapped in a conundrum, so no surprise there.

That's that sorted then. SORTED.

tommy2010 wrote:1000 years ago scientific thought believed that the world was flat, 500 years ago science believed that the cure for many illnesses was to apply leaches and bloodletting and they believed that anyone who used herbs to treat ilnesses was a witch, 100 years ago science was using radiation for everything from removing unsightly body hair to using powerful x-rays to get the correct size for your foot to fit a shoe. 40 years ago science believed that when exposed to something like ddt, asbestos or agent orange and you didn't drop dead straight away that the stuff was harmless.
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asbestos lung cancer

And yet Science continuously changes and re-invents itself in light of new data/ evidence, while with religion we're still believing in the imaginary friends from thousands of years ago.

True furri, but that's easily explained .....

with science, when one boffin proves another boffin to be wrong, then first boffin changes his mind

with religion - maybe religious people are still waiting for people to prove their imaginary friend doesn't exist ?

Growler - to paraphrase Hitchens - What is presented without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

They didn't ACTUALLY believe the world was flat, you know.

They understood "horizon", and that therefore the earth was well curved.

However, until someone had circumnavigated the planet and proved it, they were not convinced the earth was a sphere. (Which it isn't, to be exact )

That is pretty much "scientific method" and "sceptical empiricism", isn't it?



It seems odd that those lining up here to condemn one side of a heavily loaded question, have been using wildly sweeping statements (and manichean false dichotomies) worthy of any witch hunt or kangaroo court. ~ I thought that was the sort of judgment you were against?

Be careful, or you will have to expect the Spanish Inquisition. ...

also true, if you choose to

Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all "anti-science" - but while they can answer the question "how"? , they can't answer "why"?

To me, faith (I prefer to use the term rather than religion) can.

Just wanted to add without going down the same lines of debate as before - IIRC, Growler's position is reasonably well known - I should not have used the term 'imaginary friend'. That was disrespectful to someone who believes.

People need to be much more open to the possibility of god, whilst disregarding religious dogma altogether. Modern day religion is thousands of years old, and thus holds core values and anecdotal thought that is completely misaligned to anything that we might respond to. However, once you get past the view point of religion being corrupt, of religion being power in its most corrupt and exploitable form, of religion being man's most logical form of illogic to conceive a reason for all that is happening, you need to set aside a private place in your mind for trying to reason out the Universe based on what you know. This is not about finding god, for god might not exist to be found. This is about being spiritual, of setting aside an introspective branch of investigative thought to enable you to achieve some kind of zen state. Ultimately, there is a nether world between knowledge and conjecture, it is a massive empty space in our minds that contains a realm of incomprehensibility. Everybody reading this knows exactly what it is, it's that moment when you're thinking about something, trying to penetrate the veil of your lack of knowledge, when suddenly your mind kind of pauses, sees a bleak and barren emptiness, then attains total mindf*ck as it turns back in on itself.

Contained therein are the answers to questions that will never be answered. For all of the answers we provide are borne out of the worst kind of hopefulness that we can ever attain - it is called belief. Belief, when it is extrapolated and spread to more than one mind, quickly becomes a virus called religion. UNFORTUNATELY, this beautiful little thing called belief was only ever intended for the self. There is always the slim possibility that one day it could be filled by reality, but looking at this life now there is not a great likelihood of that happening. Personally, I like to ask myself 'the questions'. I like to wonder about the Universe, about the possibility or probability of god, and I like to wonder how much we really understand, and how much BELIEF an atheist truly has in the things that they say. I think there's something of despair in being a hopeless atheist. I think there's an element of unbelief towards everything where atheists are concerned, which is a shame, because spirituality is as much about not god as it is about god. You don't have to believe in god to want to ask yourself 'the questions', nor do you have to want to believe in god to be open to a whole different branch of investigative thought.

If that means turning the lights off, setting the candles, smoking some weed, half-strangling yourself whilst pulling one off to some motivational music AND thinking about what shall be when all the worlds are ending, then that's good. That's real good.

Deep, maaaaan.

lol at the faithyites- I have more faith I will win the lottery (and I don't buy tickets) than in the prospect of a hidden super friend

I'm agnostic.

Deal with it.

DJ_Smerk wrote:I'm agnostic.

Deal with it.

poker, bridge or blackjack?

I like 21.