jakelafort

If religion vanishes it means that humans have changed. Either the government has meddled with our biology or AI has. Even if the trend away from religion continues there are too many pockets of virus resistant religion.

Your view that twas ever thus during recorded history is not necessarily accurate. It is instructive to look at primitive…[Read more]

fullermingjr, am thinking of Christianity as opposed to all theism. But it all sucks.

I very much liked Davis’ ideas with respect to slavery. It applies to other ills as well.

We can do better.

Davis i am definitely not in favor of forced eradication of religion. I also am less impressed by the holding of irrational/ridiculous beliefs. I have nothing against theists either.

But again, as long as religion exists it will be source of all kinds of unfortunate manifestations. And i view it not from a personal standpoint but as a civilization.

It is a Syrian refugee who called it to my attention. He has felt the discriminatory effects of Christianity in trying to adapt to the life and become a German citizen. And i know there is free exercise but there is entanglement between government and religion.

Church tax
Germany is one of the few countries in the world to levy a church tax. This…[Read more]

Gotcha, fullermingjr…have not studied formal fallacies in many years.

Different, how? Yes arguendo there is on one hand the individual that is conveyed when the phrase drunk drivers is used and a practice when slavery is used. The point is however that theism subsumes three of the four. It promotes racism, it supported slavery, and it supports…[Read more]

Robert and Davis, seems to me you guys see anti-theism through lens of the individual. How does theism affect me? I see it as how does theism impact civilization.

It is same for me and i think others when we consider racism. We are opposed to it even if it has never gotten within a stone’s throw of our lives.

fullermingjr, I did not make an allusion to the oft cited…1000 rejections v. 999. I would not imagine you to be the kind of person who would make fun of others who are attached to different forms of mythology. Quite the contrary.

I stand by my animus. If you hear a person railing against slavery, drunk drivers, rapists, racists are you shocked…[Read more]

Davis, i dont know a lot about it but am pretty sure that Germany does not have separation of church and state. It has certain protections for theists but there is some entanglement between religion and the state. Have heard that Catholic chuch is pretty influential in some rural areas.

fullermingrjr, we both questioned. I was brought up in an atheist family. Never heard the religious nonsense…woops…PERSPECTIVE…phew. So when i was 11 or 12 i realized i’d be no better…woops…DIFFERENT.. than a religious kid if i simply adopted the position of my family. So i read theologians and apologists. Wow was i shocked how stupid…[Read more]

Reg, if you are up to it…whatever you meant to say about Ethiopia..

fuller, just curious whether you have wondered if your upbringing is the reason for your belief in your particular religion. Do you think you would have same degree of faith or belief if you had been born to and lived among Muslims? If you answer in the affirmative then what distinguishes one irrational belief from the other?

You do strike me as…[Read more]

fullermingjr, you seem to be equivocating about the first amendment as it pertains to religion. It is simple…the government can’t establish/endorse an official religion (because history taught the founders that persecution of non-establishment religious groups are hosed)and every idiot can do his or her own thing..practice to your heart’s…[Read more]

That Unseen take reminds me of a linguistic pet peeve. “The MORAL thing to do…” Such sententious shit!

Whose morality? The morality you wish to impose or Joe down the street?

The enslaved ants sometimes do according to headlines. Also Queen Ant will sacrifice colony to retain throne. Those are Trump ants. We think we are smarter/better than ants…

Seems roles were so defined in feudal era that each person was ant-like. Is that where “ants in your pants” originated?

That makes a great deal of sense Davis.

fullermingjr see links to two short articles that may surprise you in revealing intelligence in animals.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200617145957.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200626141418.htm

Unseen points out slavery is natural. Ants are slavers. And if i understand Davis he sees slavery as a resultant of…[Read more]

I like what you said Robert.

But when we discover god who died and made that prick god? What makes his fiats, warnings and proclamations objective? Create a universe and you are the man? The objective man? If we don’t want to smite the Amalekites or stone a so called sinner do we have a leg to stand on?