Religion. The evolution, creation and everything in between megathread

[Kayne]

It's great.

I don't have to thank anyone for the food I eat.

I don't have to spend valuable TV watching time praying to imaginary friends.

I don't get offended and go to war when someone challenges my beliefs.



And I love sleeping, so am looking forward to the day I die. Eternal deep sleep sounds great.

100% my thoughts. Eternal sleep sounds so nice. I realise I won't *Probably* enjoy it, but it sounds nice

[Bell]

The time after you death is exactly like the 5 billion years that passed before you were born.
Noone seems to be too phased about that.

[ThaFleastyler]

Well, if the series finale of Lost taught us anything ...

[ThaFleastyler]

By the way, I love the fact that this thread goes round and round in circles. The same arguments keep coming up again and again. Its good times.

[cobra]

By the way, I love the fact that this thread goes round and round in circles. The same arguments keep coming up again and again. Its good times.

it is almost like the religious people only have a limiting arsenal of weak arguments to pull from and the rational people put up the same responses, then the religious people rage quit, as their world view doesn't let them adjust their position based on rational arguments and evidence and they prefer to live in ignorance, and then new religious people come along with the same weak arguments. very almost like that anyways.

[ThaFleastyler]

In my head, your comment sounded like a cat fighting (that 'rrreeeooowwwwwww' noise).

Also, I didn't rage quit. I just got tired of being talked down to by some invisible person ...






... wait a second.

[Dr Woomanchu]

At least these invisible people aren't just voices inside your head

[cobra]

In my head, your comment sounded like a cat fighting (that 'rrreeeooowwwwwww' noise).

i guess for some people that is a workable alternative to thinking

[ThaFleastyler]

I love you.

[varkk]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3791254/Controversial-atheism-campaign-to-hit-billboards Coming soon to a billboard near you.

and you can make your own
http://www.nogod.org.nz/generator/

[ThaFleastyler]

Oooh, fun!

[Virus.]

Ohhh fun!

[cobra]

stumbled across an interesting essay on the interweb:

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/06/07/the-just-world-fallacy/

A giant amount of research has been done since his studies, and most psychologists have come to the same conclusion: You want the world to be fair, so you pretend it is.

“Zick Rubin of Harvard University and Letitia Anne Peplau of UCLA have conducted surveys to examine the characteristics of people with strong beliefs in a just world. They found that people who have a strong tendency to believe in a just world also tend to be more religious, more authoritarian, more conservative, more likely to admire political leaders and existing social institutions, and more likely to have negative attitudes toward underprivileged groups. To a lesser but still significant degree, the believers in a just world tend to ‘feel less of a need to engage in activities to change society or to alleviate plight of social victims.’”

- Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez from an essay at The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

interesting that there is a correlation between this view where you ‘feel less of a need to engage in activities to change society or to alleviate plight of social victims.’ and religion

[Tiwaking!]

stumbled across an interesting essay on the interweb:

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/06/07/the-just-world-fallacy/

I take offence at this article.

I believe in a just world!

The world "Just Is".

[SteddieEddie]

I am reading Tom Robbins book Wild Ducks flying backwards.

Here's his take on myths/religion.

If " the proper study of man is man" then mythology is the lens through which man is properly examined. Yet most of us, including the ostensibly well-educated, wouldn't know a myth from a Pentagon press release. We've been taught to equate myth with lie.

In actuality, myths are neither fiction nor history. Nor are most myths, and this will surprise some people, an amalgamation of fiction and history. Rather a myth is something that never happened but is always happening. Myths are the plots of the psyche. They are ongoing, symbolic dramatizations of the inner life of the species, external metaphors for internal events.

 Myths come from the same place dreams come from. But because they're more coherent than dreams, more linear and refined, they are even more instructive. A myth is the song of the universe, a song that, if accurately perceived, explains the universe and our often confusing place in it.

 It is only when it is allowed to crystallize into history that a myth becomes useless and possibly dangerous. For example, when the story of the resurrection of Jesus is read as a symbol for the spiritual rebirth of the individual, it remains alive and can continually resonate in a vital, inspirational way in the modern psyche. But when the resurrection is viewed as historical fact, an archival event that occurred once and only once, some two thousand years ago, then its resonance cannot help but flag. It may proffer some vague hope for our own immortality, but to our deepest consciousness it's no longer transformative or even very accessible on an everyday basis. The self renewing model has atrophied into second hand memory and dogma, a dogma that the fearful, the uninformed and the emotionally troubled feel the need to defend with violent action.

[Retardobot]

Hahaha,

Christians have invaded the billboard site.

[Tiwaking!]

In actuality, myths are neither fiction nor history. Nor are most myths, and this will surprise some people, an amalgamation of fiction and history. Rather a myth is something that never happened but is always happening. Myths are the plots of the psyche. They are ongoing, symbolic dramatizations of the inner life of the species, external metaphors for internal events

Myths are to reality what melody is to music.

Wank on about what style you like and why it is more artistic than another, but the truth is plain to see.

Music is noise. One note at a time.

Myths arent reality. They just make reality seem more interesting than it really is.

[Apostrophe Spacemonkey]

Nice post Eddie, very interesting.

[cobra]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/local/3820792/They-ve-destroyed-150-years-of-our-heritage

church says "fuck the people, fuck heritage - make way for my tax free business/indoctrination centre"

[Retardobot]

Reading comments from some people is a really bad idea.

The Hutt Valley is proliferated with trees. It is stupid that people who live in wooden houses and sit on wooden chairs and sleep on wooden beds bemoan saving a tree, albeit an exaggerated 150 year old one. The day a tree means more than people is a sad day for Taita. Well Done to the church and council for vision and progress. People need to stop living in the past.

I wonder if this person knows what trees actually do.

[cobra]

Reading comments from some people is a really bad idea.

The Hutt Valley is proliferated with trees. It is stupid that people who live in wooden houses and sit on wooden chairs and sleep on wooden beds bemoan saving a tree, albeit an exaggerated 150 year old one. The day a tree means more than people is a sad day for Taita. Well Done to the church and council for vision and progress. People need to stop living in the past.

I wonder if this person knows what trees actually do.

yeah didn't really understand the comments, no doubt written by christians.

the whole "The day a tree means more than people is a sad day for Taita", doesn't seem to understand that no people would be harmed if the tree wasn't destroyed

[toofast]

Reading comments from some people is a really bad idea.

The Hutt Valley is proliferated with trees. It is stupid that people who live in wooden houses and sit on wooden chairs and sleep on wooden beds bemoan saving a tree, albeit an exaggerated 150 year old one. The day a tree means more than people is a sad day for Taita. Well Done to the church and council for vision and progress. People need to stop living in the past.

I wonder if this person knows what trees actually do.

yeah didn't really understand the comments, no doubt written by christians.

the whole "The day a tree means more than people is a sad day for Taita", doesn't seem to understand that no people would be harmed if the tree wasn't destroyed

Not to mention, pohutukawa is our national tree, so means a bit more than the pine trees they are cutting down for furniture.

[SteddieEddie]

That tree they cut down was a magnificent example, but a big part of me was happy that it got cut. Fuck me trees seem to have more rights than we do these days. Especially the

 

Religion. The evolution, creation and everything in between megathread

They are prolific in these parts and the laws surrounding the removal of them is bullshit

[Scunner]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/local/3820792/They-ve-destroyed-150-years-of-our-heritage

church says "fuck the people, fuck heritage - make way for my tax free business/indoctrination centre"

From that article (at the bottom) ...

Most councils have a register of trees, identified as having heritage value, listed for protection in their district plans.

Trees protected under district plans cannot be removed or damaged without obtaining a resource consent. Trees can be nominated for protection by landowners or by the public.

If it was so important why wasn't it listed for protection? Nothing in the article says it was.

[AintNoMeInTeam]

sounds like the locals were ignorant of the law and fell victim to those who had abit more knowledge.