Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Some good news to start with; In Europe young people now consider religion to be moribund.

The wife of Raif Badawi is urging Ottawa to speed up her demand for Canadian citizenship. We should do what we can to keep him in the news, whatever way we can.

We should start using the term SPAG in our discussions and debates.

A guide to comfortably debunking most Creationist arguments.

This weeks’ Woo: A quick look at Conspiracy Theories.

Climate Change: The frequency of extreme weather events is to increase.

In the 37 days since the Parkland massacre 73 more teens have been shot to death while hundreds of thousands more march to end gun violence. Here are some pictures of what “thoughts and prayers” don’t look like.

After some other recent massacres the Christian Right were quick to explain that the shooter was an atheist. I have heard none of them mention that the Austin bomber was a conservative home schooled Christian.

The intellectual naiveté of a Catholic priest. Catholic bishops back anti-human rights bill.

The best and worst ways to argue.

You have rights, your beliefs do not.

Richard Dawkins to give free atheism books in Muslim countries. Saudi Arabia has already illegally downloaded The God Delusion over 3 million times.

Why isn’t our Universe perfectly smooth?

How knowledge about different cultures can improve the way psychology works.

Another brief history of Stephen Hawking’s legacy.

In whatever Copenhagen Everett existed in, he would still have left his ashes out for the trash collection. What a weird world to live in.

How millennials compare with the silent generation from 50 years ago.

Is the desire to fit in at the root of most wrongdoing?

Some photographs taken last week.

This week I am reading this book. It is a good springboard for those interested in learning about philosophy. As Hegel said, the study of philosophy is the introduction to philosophy. More here with a good podcast on Skepticism.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil…..

OK, I am off to get me some of that Sweet Jesus ice-cream.

Coffee Break Video:  A misconception about Science. The illusion of Reality. How to choose the right ethics. John Oliver dines out alone with Mike Pence.

• This topic was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Reg the Fronkey Farmer. Reason: added link for catholic bishops story

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Have a great week everyone!!

I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.

John Cage.

[Strega]

Thanks, Reg!

[Old Account]

Thank you @Regthefronkeyfarmer for another thought provoking list of links.

On a couple of them –

I guess I look at SPAG and tribalism (part of desire to fit in?) as two peas in a pod.   To confuse matters more, we could throw in the article about psychology being culturally influenced or culturally dependent.  Interesting article.  I have wondered if my 21 years with a partner who is Northern Chinese and who came of age in the cultural revolution, has worked not in spite of our difference but because of it.  Some people who don’t quite fit into their own culture might do better psychologically with others who are from another culture.  There have been challenges, but the overriding thing is that this relationship continues.  As  an aside, considering the trouble that those parts have gotten me into in life, I might be better off as a Koro sufferer, mentioned in the article, but no such luck.  Also on that article, given the “which belong together:  panda, monkey, banana”, I would also have chosen monkey and banana.  I never did well on those tests.

If we can have Devil’s food cake, Deviled ham, and Deviled eggs, why can’t we have Sweet Jesus ice cream?

 

 

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Old Account.

[Old Account]

This article was apparently first published in Forbes, then removed.  Why White Evangelicalism Is So Cruel.  A quote from the article:  “ The cruelty of white evangelical churches in politics, and in their treatment of their own gay or minority parishioners, is no accident. It is an institution born in slavery, tuned to serve the needs of Jim Crow, and entirely unwilling to confront either of those realities.”

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Old Account.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

I have zero tolerance for the beliefs of white evangelicals or any other group like fundamentalist Catholics and Lutheran types. Once you scratch the surface of their faith you quickly see the racist, misogynistic and homophobic vitriol ooze out. They preach “love thy neighbor” as if it was some magically revealed secret that only they have figured out while at the same time are happy to propose laws that are against the human rights of their fellow citizens.  Their leaders are usually bigots that go around spreading their vulgar beliefs under the veil of false piety.

When I first heard Christopher Hitchens say about “The Reverend” Jerry Falwell that “If you gave Falwell an enema he could be buried in a matchbox”, I knew that one line summed them all up.

[Simon Paynton]

“Is the desire to fit in at the root of most wrongdoing?”

– this is a very interesting article.  To paraphrase Lady Dammage, “they follow orders where people die”.

It seems like there are a number of reasons why people knowingly do wrong, in order to fit in: 1) purely self-serving hypocrisy; 2) socialisation to conformity (like Abu Graibh); 3) fear of causing offense.  The first two, and especially the first one, are the most dangerous.  No.3 can easily be overcome, because the desire not to cause offense is relatively weak on its own.

I would add a no.4: the very common “flying monkeys” syndrome where one bully (narcissist) can create a toxic atmosphere and then bring down unsuspecting flying monkeys – surrounding helpers – on the head of the current victim.  This is what makes a single bully so dangerous – they influence the innocent people around them into helping.

If the question is “why is virtue worthwhile?” then I would say it’s because it brings those things that money can’t buy: love and friendship.  Money and power are no replacement for those.

[Simon Paynton]

“virtue”

– I think the other reason why virtue wins out is self-esteem.  Since we are cooperative creatures, we need to know that we have been as good as possible to others, for our own sense of self-esteem.  It’s interesting to consider the words of ME Thomas in “Confessions of a Sociopath”:

“controlling others is how I validate my own sense of self-worth.”

In other words, she seems like a narcissist, who I hypothesise are born lacking in the cooperative genes that most of us have, and consequently, from a young age, morality has been a complete mystery to her.  It can’t have helped having a father who was a complete self-serving hypocrite, but it does seem like she also went her own way from the beginning.

[Simon Paynton]

“Is the desire to fit in at the root of most wrongdoing?”

– I don’t think so.  I think it comes down to personal preference – “I prefer to do what’s best for me, and never mind you”.  But this is not necessarily a straightforward situation, in that free conscious choice may be constrained by all kinds of things, which the Buddhists sum up as “greed, hatred, ignorance”.  These are not so easy to get rid of.  This is because, everyone’s an individual who has to look out for themselves, naturally, and therein lies our difficulty, morally speaking.  We’re used to thinking of ourselves as individual units, or as individual groups, and it can take great skill and wisdom to do the right thing sometimes – as the Buddha rid himself of desire (wanting/taking too much, “not wanting” too much) and ignorance (lack of information).

Also, and this just shows up how complex things are, we really are free separate agents and sometimes it’s the right thing to do what we want and never mind other people.  Fairness is a balance between what we want/need and what others want or need.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Buddhists are OK once they learn tolerance and don’t engage in genocide, rape and murder of Muslims like in Myanmar, parts of India and parts of Tibet. I prefer peaceful atheists.

[Simon Paynton]

“How knowledge about different cultures can improve the way psychology works.”

– this is definitely something that anyone studying human nature needs to know – we’re not all from W.E.I.R.D. countries and most of the human race hasn’t lived in the 21st century.

It’s interesting how when a Chinese person is asked to think about the “self” and then their mother – the brain activity is almost the same.  This perhaps ties in to the Golden Rule where we put ourselves (or other valued person) in the shoes of someone else – what happens in the brain?  Do the two people merge in some way?

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