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 ...
I Cor 1:18-23For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The wisdom of this world is that we don't need God, science can do it for us. Science has made my life much more comforatable and has spared it, but I don't see making it the main reason for my existance.
They use the same thing that the God people do: subjective human decision making.
B.S. Someone who doesn't need the crutch of faith has nothing to be ashamed of. Quite the reverse, if you ask me.
Of course they do. They wouldn't be creationists if they didn't.
Just sneaking on to the end of the discussion...This is what the Vedas say:
There are four kinds of people who do not surrender to the Supreme Lord. One is those whose knowledge is stolen by illusion - great thinkers, intellectuals, scholars - who think themselves so wise, that they are greater than God. Therefore they are befooled by their worldly knowledge, and true wisdom is stolen away. They cannot see the truth, although they think themselves wiser than everyeone else.
Also reminds me of this story:
A simple boatman is rowing a great scholar across a wide river. The scholar looks up at the sky asks the boatman - "Have you learned astronomy? Look at the sky - the vastnesses - the plantetary movements - do you know this science?"
The boatman answers thus: "No, I'm a simple boatman and I haven't had time for higher education."
Then the scholar sees the huge river and asks: "Well, have you studied the currents of the rivers, and oceanography, and climatology?"
The boatman again answers: "No, I've had no time to study all those sciences."
The scholar asks him a couple of more questions, and the answer is the same each time. Then the scholar sees that a storm is brewing, and after asking the boatman about the science of weather, (to which the boatman answers again in the negative), the boat starts to take on water as the waves rise.
The boatman now asks the scholar: "O scholar, the boat is about to sink. We have to swim for the shore. Do you know how to swim?"
The scholar in fear says: "No, I never learned."
We all have to face death. Will we die like a foolish man who considers himself wise - in fear and confusion? Or will we trust in God and know that He will be there to take care of us? We have that choice. Obviously a person doesn't need to be an illiterate to have faith in God. But placing faith in one's own or others' intellects is a sure fire way to drown.
Well, Hitler was a Catholic and a creationist who believed that he was doing the work of Providence. And as for the others, if they were atheists, they didn't kill because their atheism told them to (unlike some religious people), they killed because they believe in the irrational system of Communism. It is that irrationality, be it based on religious or nonreligious feeling, that is objectionable.
LOL... Magic fruit, talking snakes, a woman being turned into salt...
LOL... The atheist is not "hiding from God" anymore than you could be said to be "hiding from Frodo the Hobbit." One does not hide from fictional characters. And to the atheist, God is a fictional character.
But if there are no absolutes, there can be no standard by which to determine right and wrong, good and evil. It's ALL subjective. Therefore your opinion on the subject and your value system and perception of *moral* is as worthless as you think those of the religious people you despise are.
Great observation.
Dang, should have previewed first! I usually do.
LOL... The difference is that Communism was (is) false. Evolution is true.
That may be true, but it does not bode well for such a society to ostracize those who need no crutch. A wise society would accept these strong people and nurture them. We'll see whether America wishes to be strong.
- Karl Marx
I think that a greater number of the people who bash the religious folks here are leftist trolls whose only purpose is to undermine the Republican party. I say this as an unapologetic atheist. I know how the leftist subterfuge works and the one thing they really hate, just like the Islamists do, is Mosaic Law...
Some of them are so myopic and have such a need to do anything contrary to the Christians that what they forget in their own blind, raging ignorance is that Moses wasn't a Christian (this is just one way I spot them).
Cultural Marxism has a goal to feminize males, making them docile and compliant.
Marijuana is a chemical warfare agent. Homosexual monogamy is a psychological and biological warfare tactic.
Some of the Bozos out there can't get past that word “God,” so they would just piss the entire country away and join the enemies of America; all because they have this polemic need to bash the Christians and do everything in contravention to them. I say screw them and the filthy practices they want to live by. My children are not going to inherit their squalor if I can help it.
Of course, what a lot of the leftists and misguided, myopic liberal-tarians don't want to admit is that Christianity (and they do hate Christians) is just their politically correct proxy for their war against what is written in the book of Genesis.
They will jump up and down and snivel about the Ten Commandments and Christians; but the reminders that Moses was not a Christian, that Genesis, Deuteronomy and Exodus are Jewish literature really sticks in their craw.
There are actually Marxist trolls here on FreeRepublic who cloak themselves in liberaltarianism and attack anything related to Genesis...
I could give you quite a list of their user names. They can be found a lot on the evolution, drug, genetic engineering threads, and have been bleeding over into the marriage issue threads. Their only purpose is to wage a psychological warfare on conservatives.
Are all cultures equal? Hell no... Only a cultural Marxist would think so.
Nope, there is generally accepted societal opinion. Something is good or evil because society accepts it as such. It provides a benchmark against which someone's actions can be compared. For example, it used to be an accepted opinion in certain societies that slavery was not evil. Some went so far as to claim it was a positive good. It was not until the society changed its opinion on the matter did the current accepted moral conclusion -- that slavery is abhorrent and evil -- come about.
Remember, at one time, in some society, it was (at least officially) held to be moral to kill: infidels, homosexuals, Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, polytheists, idolaters, witches, Canaanites, disobedient children, heretics, etc., etc., etc. Tell me again about "objective" morality...
Therefore your opinion on the subject and your value system and perception of *moral* is as worthless as you think those of the religious people you despise are.
Nope. And I don't despise religious people. I may despise their opinions or their beliefs, but I don't despise them.
Some people find it easy to hate.
Your question is not relevant. That's probably because it's not terribly well thought out, and only your doctor can tell us why that might be.
Yep, that it does. I really don't understand the motivation of such writers, or why they believe atheism is rational. At some deep level they seem to be in revolt not only against God, but also against the human condition and the order of nature itself. Sigh. In ancient times such a state of mind was considered pathological (e.g., by Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, et al.). Go figure.
Thanks so much for the ping, metmom, and for your fine posts.
Vegetarians are not adherents of a higher morality. Rather, they simply hunt game that can't run away or fight back.
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