indeed

[lauralh]

Somehow the library system fucked up its hold list and let me check out God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. I blazed through it in one night and am currently reading it more leisurely, for such gems as this:

Actually the "leap of faith" - to give it the memorable name that Kierkegaard bestowed upon it - is an imposture. As he himself pointed out, it is not a "leap" that can be made once and for all. It is a leap that has to go on and on being performed, in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary. This effort is actually too much for the human mind, and leads to delusions and manias... Now that religion's monopoly has been broken, it is within the compass of any human being to see these evidences and proofs* as the feeble-minded inventions they are.

Also of course the chapter "Why Heaven Hates Ham."

* including arguments from design, revelations, punishments, and miracles.

Comments

[doyouhaveaflag.livejournal.com]

have you read the god delusion? i'm quite enjoying it, i like dawkins.

[patrick.livejournal.com]

Radio Open Source had a really interesting interview with Christopher Hitchens. I haven't read the book yet, but the conversation was fascinating.

Sorry about the multiple comments there.

[verybadlady.livejournal.com]

hah I saw that book at the store the other day, the lady working there recommended it to me and I chuckled to myself as I picked something else out.

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

SOME OF US WANT SODOMY WITH OUR CAKE

[leeloolala.livejournal.com]

Assuming religious folk are ignorant is just plain ignorant. More specifically, just plain arrogant. (In the time line of human history, how large/minute is the sliver of time we've subscirbed to the scientific method?) Some people just look at reality from a different perspective. I would guess you'd know there are an infinite number of perspectives from which one can perceive reality.

Jesus woman, give me a fucking break...

[octal.livejournal.com]

(I haven't read this book; I must get...I doubt bookstores in muslim countries sell it, though)

There are many ways to look at reality, but some of them are less successful in predicting the future than others. In some cases, where you're actually powerless, religion might have some psychological benefit, like praying for rain. As science develops, using that psychological placebo to deal with situations becomes less and less optimal; witness the "Christian Scientists" who don't allow their children to receive medical care.

Religion serves a sometimes-useful psychological/social purpose when it stays out of science's way, but as science develops to explain more and more of the world, religions which don't get out of the way, and stand in direct opposition, cause cognitive dissonance among believers who are otherwise rational.

One solution is for believers to just give in to irrationality, and be "consistently irrational". Jihad results. Another is to try to reconcile religion with facts, and you end up with stuff like Unitarianism or Deism. Another is to just overlook a lot of details, and you end up with mainstream christian/jewish/hindu/etc. mostly-secular society, where people just don't think much about "my religion says the world was created 4000 years ago, yet we have fossils".

[leeloolala.livejournal.com]

And regarding your fossil argument...

...from the tools of analysis I'm currently working with, I must agree.

and the wheel keeps on spinning...

[leeloolala.livejournal.com]

I have no problem giving into irrationality. Though I'd have to argue that being consistently irrational would be naturally challenging to equate. :)

I've also witnessed/experienced people being "consistently irrational", acting out in genuine kindness and compassion for other human beings. If it 'taint be obvious here, what I'm saying is that I care less what individuals perceive/believe, so long as the results are generally net-positive.

But then again, we introduce the vast arena of personal judgment on what's collectively net-positive.

Simply put, I don't care if this is a placebo, so long as its effective.

Yup.

Re: and the wheel keeps on spinning...

[tyrven.livejournal.com]

In my experience, religion (and I include secular faith and ideologies in this) is more frequently used as a yardstick to judge others than used as a tool of compassion, kindness or other "net-positive" results.

Something I find interesting, for example, is the relationship between morals, guilt and judgement. If a moral code is so strict as to exclude natural instincts (sexual desire, for example) then become incapable of mitigating the difference between their beliefs and their nature, so they repress and hide them. In these situations, when other people fail to effectively hide the same nature then this moral code is used to condemn those people. That inability to cope with one's own guilt fuels the need to project that guilt onto others, and is especially extreme with people who are not apologetic about their nature.

Again, the same thing happens with secular religions, such as liberalism. You see this especially within feminism: feminists condemning/resenting women who take on traditional roles/activities (such as sewing, knitting or wanting to show off your tits).

[herbaliser.livejournal.com]

SOME OF US WANT SODOMY WITH OUR CAKE

[octal.livejournal.com]

SOME OF US WANT CAKE WITH OUR SODOMY