Obama's Undoing

[Stonehead]

If you listen really closely, it sounds like the woman at the end is saying: "Open the door. Al Gore". Freaky!

 

You mean that you can hear all of this without playing it backward?

 

:pagetop:j_b, you're a RTRD. I thought with the Guided by Voices video and the reference to Joyce you might figure out it's all about the subjective experience. Jeez!

[JosephH]

KKK - yep, when it comes down to three-letter enlightenment, GOD is definitely not the way to go. In fact, I'd go so far as to say with GOD you have no idea where the ingredients came from or their quality. About all you can say is that the final tablets delivered a really bad trip mankind still hasn't recovered from.

LOL. You've got it all figured out allright - so much you have to resort to hallucinogenic drugs (your crutch) to make your pathetic life livable for you. That and playing god at your little climbing crag.

Why thank you! When it comes to religion I definitely do have it completely figured out. And you have a grossly ignorant perception of the capabilities of the other three letter form of enlightenment. Crutch? Hardly. I like to think of it more as short term leasing and bio-integration of Quad GPUs on a Parallel Hyperbus w/ 512gb of GDDR5 memory - pretty good for figuring out tough problems. But, then again, YMMV and in your case I suspect it's best if you keep yourself at an arm's reach distance at a minimum.

[ivan]

KKK - yep, when it comes down to three-letter enlightenment, GOD is definitely not the way to go. In fact, I'd go so far as to say with GOD you have no idea where the ingredients came from or their quality. About all you can say is that the final tablets delivered a really bad trip mankind still hasn't recovered from.

 

LOL. You've got it all figured out allright - so much you have to resort to hallucinogenic drugs (your crutch) to make your pathetic life livable for you. That and playing god at your little climbing crag.

 

 

i would not recommend anyone do acid w/ you, Mr Major Downer

[pink]

KKK - yep, when it comes down to three-letter enlightenment, GOD is definitely not the way to go. In fact, I'd go so far as to say with GOD you have no idea where the ingredients came from or their quality. About all you can say is that the final tablets delivered a really bad trip mankind still hasn't recovered from.

 

LOL. You've got it all figured out allright - so much you have to resort to hallucinogenic drugs (your crutch) to make your pathetic life livable for you. That and playing god at your little climbing crag.

 

 

 

...and you just get drunk, like millions of other poor slobs, but hey, I'm not judging you. That would not be Christ-like.

[tvashtarkatena]

There's really not much to figure out concerning religion or any other obviously ridiculous notion. Religion is basically fantasy without the fun.

[pink]

There's really not much to figure out concerning religion or any other obviously ridiculous notion. Religion is basically fantasy without the fun.

 

 

what's not fun about killing stuff in the name of god???

[tvashtarkatena]

KKK - yep, when it comes down to three-letter enlightenment, GOD is definitely not the way to go. In fact, I'd go so far as to say with GOD you have no idea where the ingredients came from or their quality. About all you can say is that the final tablets delivered a really bad trip mankind still hasn't recovered from.

 

LOL. You've got it all figured out allright - so much you have to resort to hallucinogenic drugs (your crutch) to make your pathetic life livable for you. That and playing god at your little climbing crag.

 

 

i would not recommend anyone do acid w/ you, Mr Major Downer

 

There could be nothing worse than witnessing a hyper repressed 30 something douche with an lower GI impacted personality suddenly "discover his inner being".

Edited November 19, 2009 by tvashtarkatena

[Stonehead]

There's really not much to figure out concerning religion or any other obviously ridiculous notion. Religion is basically fantasy without the fun.

 

But what about the economic effect?

[j_b]

:pagetop:j_b, you're a RTRD. I thought with the Guided by Voices video and the reference to Joyce you might figure out it's all about the subjective experience. Jeez!

 

am I supposed to post a video of 'monkeys announcing themselves' now?

 

or is it that only you can say things that shouldn't be taken literally.

[mkporwit]

[j_b]

There's really not much to figure out concerning religion or any other obviously ridiculous notion. Religion is basically fantasy without the fun.

 

But what about the economic effect?

 

I haven't read the studies but I strongly doubt that it is possible to assign a positive economic role to religion when comparing developed nations that also happen to have the largest atheist/non practicing populations (apart from a few like the US). Religious institutions played a large role when other institutions where significantly weaker than today but it is likely not the case anymore, in the developed world at least.

[Stonehead]

The idea, if I understand correctly, is that liberty alone will not preserve virtue in society. Rather, left to our own devices, unemcumbered by the moral constraints of religion, corruption and self-centeredness results. Today, the State endeavors to take the place of God and they call the beliefs of the secular state a religion by another name.

 

So, the House passed a climate bill. Another bill passed committee and will be up for vote in the Senate but with little modification. It remains to be seen what Obama's administration will offer at Copenhagen although they sound committed to action. Congress, meanwhile, will probably lurch into next year to forge a common agreement in an election year no less. And then there's the EPA which SCOTUS has provided blessings too for regulating carbon dioxide as a health hazard. So if, the legislative branch cannot make progress, the administration can use the heavy hammer of the EPA.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

...and you just get drunk, like millions of other poor slobs, but hey, I'm not judging you. That would not be Christ-like.

 

sorry, no dice. I don't get drunk, but hey, keep pretending you know me.

 

 

 

[JosephH]

Government is a 'religion', Atheism is a 'religion' - what's next? Rationality and reason will no doubt become 'religions' as the religious desperately attempt to bring any competing modes of thought down to an imposed parity with their lowest common denominator - fear.

[tvashtarkatena]

You've gotta love the idea that religion fills some 'vital role' in society, which must be 'substituted' for something else when missing.

 

A drunk justifying the sauce has a more credible argument. Religion is a cult; for many, an addiction. Far from being the eternal spring from which all morality flows, it more often than not hampers right thinking, compassionate action, and improvement of the human condition. Its primary role is to provide a make-believe, magical kingdom from which relentless tide of cartoonish tantrums thrown by today's childults flow, the consequences of which must be cleaned up by the rest of us. Hardly a vital one. Any society would be much better off without such bullshit.

Edited November 19, 2009 by tvashtarkatena

[Stonehead]

Government is a 'religion', Atheism is a 'religion' - what's next?

 

If you look closely, you'll see I never made the assertion of equivalence of government and religion. Now, atheism is a special case because it seeks to eliminate religion altogether by castorating it of anything that might resemble something beyond our normal experience, i.e., the supernatural, thus relegating the functions of religion to ethics. Even if you are a strict rationalist, if you have been exposed to ideas such as expressed in Edwin Abbott's Flatland, you will see the inherent poverty of the atheist POV which limits itself primarily to the sensible world including the expansions of same allowed through technology.

 

Rationality and reason will no doubt become 'religions' as the religious desperately attempt to bring any competing modes of thought down to an imposed parity with their lowest common denominator - fear.

 

You have reasons for believing as you do. However, this (RE: "...any competing modes of thought") appears to be an error. Religion viewed properly does not seek to displace all other modes of thought, rather it complements other modes of thought for a picture of completeness. This is why, I believe, the founding fathers spoke of the freedom to think as you wish within limits (of course) as exemplified in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Here, they also were wise to allow for the free exercise of religion yet were cautious to prevent the exclusion of the practice of other religions through the establishment clause.

[Stonehead]

You've gotta love the idea that religion fills some 'vital role' in society, which must be 'substituted' for something else when missing.

 

It sounds like a problem with integration. Might I suggest psychological counseling?

[Off_White]

All too often religion is just another tool to parse the world into us and them. If you have any doubts about that hypothesis, all you have to do is read this thread.

[Fairweather]

Oh, I think there's plenty of us v them to be had without religion brought to account. If you accept the premise that religion has been used merely as an excuse for war, then, by default, you admit to more humanist causes and motives. It seems to me the only ones being intellectually honest in religious debates are agnostics.

[mkporwit]

[bradleym]

It seems to me the only ones being intellectually honest in religious debates are agnostics.

 

It might be wise for us all to adopt the same approach to more than just religious questions.

[tvashtarkatena]

It seems to me the only ones being intellectually honest in religious debates are agnostics.

 

Yeah, that's bullshit. That's like saying "Well, I don't really KNOW one way or the other about Santa Claus or Jim Jones." Um...some of us actually do know one way or the other.

 

Speaking of honesty, you're every bit the atheist I am, but I suppose we should applaud your attempt at being politic with your fellow right wingers, which do have a tendency to thump a bible now and then.

Edited November 19, 2009 by tvashtarkatena

[Pete_H]

I actually would have to agree with FW. Atheists are just as dogmatic as the religious if they assert that beyond a doubt there is no godish type entity, who for all we know could be an omnipotent bacon producing octopus-monkey creature. But I think the term atheist is often used loosely to include agnostics.

[tvashtarkatena]

actually, it's the more like other way around. Far more people are afraid to admit that they think religion is complete hooey because of the popularity of that hooey, so they settle for the softer sounding, if less intellectually honest, agnostic label for themselves.

Edited November 19, 2009 by tvashtarkatena

[Jim]

Religion viewed properly does not seek to displace all other modes of thought, rather it complements other modes of thought for a picture of completeness.

 

Uh-huh Teaching evolution for instance.