Posted on 06/11/2002 10:12:35 AM PDT by thinktwice
Edited on 04/14/2004 10:05:12 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
In your June 7 editorial on the moving of the Ayn Rand Institute to Irvine ["Ayn Rand in O.C.''], you stated that you took issue with some of Ayn Rand's positions, including her ardent atheism. In today's world of terrorism and conflicts fueled by ardent religious beliefs, it would seem appropriate that you would take issue with ardent religious people, not with any atheists.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
You don't like God. ... To "like" is an emotion; and to act on emotions regarding an incomprehensible entity is akin to dancing with witch doctors, rattling gourds, and burning witches.
You're angry at him and his 'rules'. ... I'm angry with people that promulgate irrational rules. The third commandment, for instance, recognizes human slavery as a natural condition.
So therefore, he doesn't exist. ... There is a dilemma in saying that God created everything that exists because -- If God exists, then God necessarily created himself. That dilemma casts doubt on Creationist theory, and ... the existence of God.
And if other people are aware of him, then they live in an alternate reality. ... Perception tells me that reality is a continuously changing state, and that you and I are temporary existants within that reality. Imagine that! We exist in reality and God doesn't.
Furthermore, if they are aware of the single most powerful force in the universe, and have the gall to talk about it, then you brand them a dreamer. ... Following requires no thought, thinking does.
It would seem to me, impossible for a human being to have awareness of God and not talk about it. ... Having awareness of incomprehensible things is within the power of humans -- the concept of "Infinity" being one example
In fact, if God does not exist - they why are you so p***d at all his rules? ... If God -- somehow -- exists, the single most probable "rule" I'd expect -- given reason -- is ... Thou shalt think.
If he doesn't exist, then logically, there are no rules. ... It is man that creates rules; and some humans have created rules leading to semi-civilized societies.
An entity which does not exist could not have created rules. ... Correct.
Passing beyond the fact that Christianity and Soviet Communism share the same ethics -- altruism -- I would ask ... What came first: Ethics or Religion?
There are those that believe in Creationism -- those that consider the Bible as the word of God -- that will say that ethics came first in that Biblical moral codes define an ethics upon which certain religions have been founded.
And then there are atheists who say that ethics is a science of human values, that ethics involves answering human questions about behavior, that ethics has purpose, that (quoting Ayn Rand) "Ethics is an objective, metaphysical necessity of man's survival," that ... a "moral commandment" is a contradiction in terms. The moral is the chosen, not the forced' the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments.
And so, upon realizing that ethics arrived with the dawn of rational man, the answer to the question -- "What came first: Ethics or Religion?" -- is (without doubt) ... Ethics.
It is true, as the source article for this thread writes, that ... "Atheists improve society."
I led them to water; they would not drink.
I touched their souls; those souls did shrink.
What caused those souls to reach this brink?
The water is reason; it's needed to think.
I didn't write them down, so I can't provide exact quotes; but Morris explained the liberal's problem in terms such as "Detachment from reality" and "Minds stuffed full of propaganda."
I'll let you connect the dots.
Conversely, the drawback within beliefs ("Matters of Faith" originating from, perhaps, the Vatican "College of Propaganda" instituted by Urban VIII) is the absence of perceptual connection to reality -- you do not know "beliefs" are true.
In short, the word "belief" equates to "do not know."
Consequently, it is good practice to avoid using the word "belief" when you factually know something.
Regarding your use of the term "hypocrite," that word has to do with people that put up a false, religious front. -- People like Bill Clinton, for instance.
Propaganda is not all bad, by the way; the military classifies propaganda as black (disinformation, lies), grey (misinformation, half truths), or white (the truth).
We are all, therefore, stuffed with propaganda of one type or another.
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