31–40 of 49 posts
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Using words "faithful" and "godless" is sort of irritating to me. It's a little one sided.
So is assuming that religion and development ought to be antithetical.
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I expect it's mainly in response to the argument that without religion you cannot have morality which lots of religious types seem to believe. The hijacking of morality by religious people can be pretty irritating.
While I agree the conclusion isn't true, I have yet to see any modern, public atheists write anything one quarter decent about morality. I have seen some very bad writing about morality, such as in The God Delusion, which can't be helping matters. If you disagree, post a source.
In my experience growing up in the uk (majority of people are not religeous), the majority DO have a good sense of what is right and wrong.
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Wow, what ignorance. The course of civilization has been profoundly influenced by the Abrahamic traditions, and within the Abrahamic holy books lay the recounting of the tribes' histories and developments.
Dude, how do you measure history? Check out the history of the Indians and Asia. While the Abrahamic(s) were a bunch of smelly tribes in the desert, the Asians were already charting the stars.
That reminds me of this article: http://nukemanbill.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-sell-your-sof... where the author discusses finding niches to sell big dollar software. Good stuff.
If you found a lot of value in this article, check out their website (http://www.horizonsoftware.com/). Although it's not interesting, unless you are interested in successful, multi million dollar software startups.
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While I agree the conclusion isn't true, I have yet to see any modern, public atheists write anything one quarter decent about morality. I have seen some very bad writing about morality, such as in The God Delusion, which can't be helping matters. If you disagree, post a source.
The us is roughly twice as religeous as the uk. Is it twice as moral? I'd say crime is quite a bit higher in the us. In my experience growing up in the uk (majority of people are not religeous), the majority DO have a good sense of what is right and wrong.
"We had written all this software. The best was our warehouse and distribution package. I had been using it for years in my own stuff. We decided to try selling it. I thought it would be like the paint: I'd just go out there and introduce myself, distributors would pick it up, and I'd be home free. Well, I had a rude awakening. When those big boys are in there, they just stomp you. I realized I had to have a niche."
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Wow, what ignorance. The course of civilization has been profoundly influenced by the Abrahamic traditions, and within the Abrahamic holy books lay the recounting of the tribes' histories and developments.
Dude, how do you measure history? Check out the history of the Indians and Asia. While the Abrahamic(s) were a bunch of smelly tribes in the desert, the Asians were already charting the stars.
I made no cross-cultural comparison, I merely suggested that the influence of one group was of great intensity.
Your refutation is kind of like me saying "peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are great!" and you saying "dude, how do you measure greatness? a bowl of french onion soup is better than that child's food -- it is served in restaurants."
You tried to change the argument about the value of the bible as a historical document into an argument about the relative technological achievements of different societies.
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You know, the Bible helped me too! Things like "Don't kill your neighbor"... I never would have came up with this myself!
It's people like you who inspire me to post examples of Christianity genuinely helping people. I am an atheist, but I don't agree with the hateful or mocking attitude many atheists have.
Example: "Don't kill your neighbor." Hey that makes sense, let's become Christian! And then later you read in the Bible that "if your neighbor does X or Y, KILL HIM WITHOUT MERCY!"
As for the problem of inconsistencies in the Bible, the usual response is that you need someone to sort it out for you... But what's the point of having a reference if a big part of it is bullshit and you need someone like a priest to sort it out for you? And then you lose your self-determination...
As for the arbitrary stuff, one good example would be "Don't work on Sundays", though I admit that's not a very popular one anymore. I think it's normal that everyone holds some arbitrary beliefs without good proof but it's appalling when a MASSIVE amount of people standardize on a common body of arbitrary beliefs and then collectively "refute" your rational objections (oftentimes by refering you to "authoritative" sources like the Bible, and then you can never win against "Bible lawyers").
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It's people like you who inspire me to post examples of Christianity genuinely helping people. I am an atheist, but I don't agree with the hateful or mocking attitude many atheists have.
The annoying thing with religion is that each has a body of good principles which serve to lure new believers, and then after that it's: "Now that you've learned all the good stuff that actually makes sense, here's more 'good stuff'" and then they proceed to teach arbitrary principles and even harmful ones that sometimes completely contradict the actually good principles. Example: "Don't kill your neighbor." Hey that…
It's not like any of our traditions are without flaws, and it's not like starting from scratch is better than modifying existing traditions, so be kind to Christians.