Posted on 10/28/2006 8:46:36 PM PDT by Jacob Kell
In the United States, atheists are becoming an ostracized minority. But now evolutionary biologists are trying to turn the tables: According to their argument, religion is the source of evil. Morals and selflessness are not God-given - they are the result of evolution.
When Richard Dawkins, a zoologist at Oxford University, steps up to the altar he seems visibly pleased to see the pews in the church fully occupied. In the best Queen's English, he reads from his book: "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
THe "original Hebrew" is not the "original language" of Genesis. It must necessarily have been handed down in something comprehensible at Babel, right?
The attitude your post expresses, that people who don't believe in your religion are less than you, has historically lead to some of the most disgusting and barbaric treatment of other humans in history. Today, you people just try to violate the First Amendment.
In other words, if I was as brainwashed as you, I'd be brainwashed, too.
Moses penned Genesis and he was raised under the Egyptian Pharaoh, not quite the picture of some dumb sheep herder as like to be presented by some opposed to the Genesis instruction.
LOL... Of course, one has to actually believe the Moses was real.
So, why should we set an axiom that killing each other is bad? Don't you taste good or what.
The fact that there is no consciousness without neural activity is my first clue.
That and the simple fact that harps, clouds, and magical invisible patriarchs are patently ridiculous.
Am I my brother's keeper or what.
Moses said he existed, and given that such information is so rare, I'll accept that he existed, or another guy with the same name existed.
YOu, in fact, do not know that there is no consciousness without neural activity. You cannot demonstrate that. In fact, let me go this far ~ no one knows where the seat of consciousness resides, and that's a scientific fact!
Nope. We are African Great Apes. The genus homo arose in Africa, as did our species. There's no such thing as an "Indian Great Ape."
Now, what was it you were saying Christianity, or religion in general, REQUIRES of us?
I'm saying that religious people who have the mindset I described are not self-reflective, because they reject science because their religion requires it, without even recognizing the stupidity of doing so.
It's the very reason we don't spend a lot of time condemning the ancient Greeks or Romans, or even today's Hindus.
How nice of you. I'm sure they're happy that you don't treat them as, for example, the Catholics and Protestants have treated each other over the years. Of course, it just may be that they're right and every "Christian Doctrine" is meaningless...
You have a way out of the dilemma, and without accepting any of the axioms of any religion, or even one of those so-called ethical systems.
That it was an accepted basis for the conversation goes to why it was not a fallacy.
So, why should we set an axiom that killing each other is bad? Don't you taste good or what.
Enlightened self-interest. Reciprocal altruism. The fact that we've evolved as social beings for whom cooperative behavior led to increased reproductive success.
I think some Catholics a long time ago put a lot of thought to the matter and came to the realization that God probably always speaks the truth to mankind, but mankind has difficulty hearing God. God, on the other hand, is always available to hear us.
It's up to us to figure out what He's saying, and sometimes human beings make mistakes ~ that does not negate the message God sent, nor condemn all the folks He was trying to reach to a humorless Episcopalean Hell filled with rude waiters and sloppy chefs.
No, I'm not telling you to do anything. Believe what you want. Just don't try to impose those beliefs on anybody else, get the government to enact them into law or punish those people who disagree with you. There are lots of people believing ridiculous ideas. So long as they don't try to make me believe them, I don't care what they do.
Wow. Gilgamesh was named in ancient documents. So were Apollo, Zeus, Uhuru Mazda, Oedipus, etc., etc. You think they were all real, too?
Moses said he existed, and given that such information is so rare, I'll accept that he existed, or another guy with the same name existed.
In Moby Dick, the narrator said, "Call me Ishmael." Do you think he existed, too?
It simply doesn't require enlightened self-interest to have sex or dine well.
See Post 82:
The "God said it; I believe it; that settles it" mindset rejects the fact that humans are descended from non-human primates and blinds them to the fact that they are shutting out science because of their religion.You have a way out of the dilemma, and without accepting any of the axioms of any religion, or even one of those so-called ethical systems.
I don't see any dilemma here, but, please, enlighten me.
Nobody said Zeus was "people" ~
YOu said you are "WildHorseCrash". Now, prove to me that you are real.
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