Now, now, Eriku. You are not dim at all. I am building a new metaphor, even as we speak.
Religion, what's the point?
- Thread starter TheRedFlag
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I recall hearing of a study that mentioned that of all the numerous afterlife belief systems reincarnation was likely the most probable.
He's either batshit crazy or fantastic at conning support and votes.
http://www.alan.com/2015/04/20/alle...l-injuries-on-separation-of-church-and-state/
Allen West Blames Football Injuries On Separation Of Church And State
Posted by Alan | April 20, 2015 19:00 | Filed under: Politics Religion
You see, not saying state-led prayers before games leads to players getting hurt, says former Rep. Allen West.
“Now see, I remember growing up in the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia,” he said. “I went to Grady High School and I played football and we didn’t have all this high-speed gear and everything like that, there was no such thing about ‘targeting.’ I mean, you were not a tough football player unless you did try to hit someone head-on. And even in high school, before every game at Grady Stadium, the pastor would come down and pray before every football game. I don’t remember catastrophic injuries. I don’t remember anyone getting carted off that field paralyzed.”
This history of football injuries is something Mr. West should read.
http://www.alan.com/2015/04/20/alle...l-injuries-on-separation-of-church-and-state/
Allen West Blames Football Injuries On Separation Of Church And State
Posted by Alan | April 20, 2015 19:00 | Filed under: Politics Religion
You see, not saying state-led prayers before games leads to players getting hurt, says former Rep. Allen West.
“Now see, I remember growing up in the inner city of Atlanta, Georgia,” he said. “I went to Grady High School and I played football and we didn’t have all this high-speed gear and everything like that, there was no such thing about ‘targeting.’ I mean, you were not a tough football player unless you did try to hit someone head-on. And even in high school, before every game at Grady Stadium, the pastor would come down and pray before every football game. I don’t remember catastrophic injuries. I don’t remember anyone getting carted off that field paralyzed.”
This history of football injuries is something Mr. West should read.
Why would I be the one to make that argument? There is no proof of the existence of a celestial deity, benevolent or malevolent, bearded or clean shaven.
Theocratic Fascism at its finest.
It's as improbable as all the rest but it does have the merit of being fair.
Using the likes of Anjem as an example of Islam is akin to using the example of Westboro Baptist Church as an example of Christianity.
He has about as much relevance to Muslims in the UK (let alone worldwide) as a packet of bacon rashers.
I wasn't dissing Muslims, just Choudary. I realize he's a nut and not representative of the mainstream.
Ah k, no worries
My guess is he suffered one too many concussions while playing football
Still holding out hope West, Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Santorum enter the race.
I was hoping for Bill Murray or Eddie Murphy.
Very good read this(It's too long to post the whole article) -
http://www.theguardian.com/global/2...-ex-muslims-non-believers-hidden-crisis-faith
http://www.theguardian.com/global/2...-ex-muslims-non-believers-hidden-crisis-faith
Very interesting albeit somewhat depressing too. Cheers.
Reza Aslan made the interesting point on Maher that the genius of religion is that it is all things to all people. No matter what your views are, you can always find something in one of the holy books to justify your beliefs, no matter how fecked up they might be.
Hannity back on form with a segment called 'Christianity under attack'. Invites on two people who agree with him vs. David Silverman and then proceeds to give him maybe 20 seconds before interrupting.
Its not been fun since Herman left us...
I hope he still reads the Caf so he knows just how much he's missed.
The rise of Arab atheism
Across the Middle East, governments are cracking down on non-belief. But Arab atheists are becoming more visible
Across the Middle East, governments are cracking down on non-belief. But Arab atheists are becoming more visible
Atheism is the wave of the future, especially as people begin to share ideas across technology. They will quickly realize that religion compartmentalizes societies from one another, at a time when human barriers are being eroded.
The more extreme the govt is in respect of imposing there version of religion on the people, the people will naturally oppose it. I think over zealous religious people drive away more people than the non-believers could ever attract on there own if the people were left to mind there own business.
With the internet in full flow now, anyone is now only one click away from a Hitchens/dawkins lecture or just simply a website showing the basic wrongs of religious books. So as far as the Abrahamic religions go you would think their time is pretty limited and what we should see is a constant watering down of them over time. Until at the end they are all pretty much like The Church England(Basically cake sales and light homophobia, which is still bad mind).
The only edge I think Religion still has now is that it's normally the first set of big ideas people hear(Mostly from their parents). ''Put's on atheism cap'' because still the most efficient way to make this stuff believable is to teach it to people who thinking putting Lego up their nose is a productive use of their time.
''Takes off cap''
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I agree. Atheism is easily the fastest growing fundamental cult, nay religion, out there at the moment. Lots of easy to access material to brainwash the unwashed so to speak.
You consider the free and open exhange of ideas cult like brainwashing? Intersteting.
I'm a die hard infidel to your free thinking religion.
Christianity will be the first casualty imo....mainly because it's the religion of the world's advanced societies where people have access to technology and the free exchange of ideas....which tends to be Kryptonite to totalitarian religious dogma. Sadly. .. Islam will not join the party for another generation.
I reckon the west has delayed it through its own actions by making it us vs them. Ive seen regular muslims becoming more religious when they started feeling that there religion is being attacked.
Yes that's probably true.
Should have let the middle east go into the soviet camp, majority of the leaders already had socialist leanings back then. You would have had more non-religious people in the region today.
Meh, works both ways though... I know a lot of people (me included) who've gone the opposite way.
yes. atheism is our religion, god delusion is our bible, and science labs are our churches.
in sam harris' name, ramen.
I think that a lot has to do with the readings and the views of the inner circle of each person. There are articles and theories about the life of Jesus that can provoke doubts but then surprisingly the archaeologists continue to use the Bible because of its high reliability. Once a novice of the Order of Carmelites (a contemplative and spiritual order) told me that everything is based on faith, some receive the gift of faith, others not. It´s not good to be overwhelmed if we have not received it, is not indispensable since there are many other gifts or charisms. The Church is the set of them. Those who have this gift know that Jesus is the Son of God and Mary is a virgin.
Jesus knows our way , gives us freedom and guidance in the gift that means the life.
Although there are missionaries in my family and I have always been a believer I had my moments of doubt, this Carmelite novice told me about his experiences in Medjugore in Bosnia, where he had the opportunity to meet people who had visions of Jesus, he was captivated for the purity and modesty with which they lived and helped him to strengthen his faith. He recommended me to read the life of Jesus according to Maria Valtorta. I'm still reading it since it´s a very long work . I think the name in english is "The poem of the man God"
Jesus knows our way , gives us freedom and guidance in the gift that means the life.
Although there are missionaries in my family and I have always been a believer I had my moments of doubt, this Carmelite novice told me about his experiences in Medjugore in Bosnia, where he had the opportunity to meet people who had visions of Jesus, he was captivated for the purity and modesty with which they lived and helped him to strengthen his faith. He recommended me to read the life of Jesus according to Maria Valtorta. I'm still reading it since it´s a very long work . I think the name in english is "The poem of the man God"
The three Middle Eastern states most firmly in the Soviet camp during the Cold War were Syria, Iraq and South Yemen.
Cheers for this, as an Arab Atheist I can relate to this very much.
Whitaker has a book out on the subject if you're interested - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arabs-Witho...qid=1436427712&sr=1-1&keywords=brian+whitaker
He's one of the better journalists writing about the Arab world today IMO.
Its not so much about the likes of Hitchens/Harris/Dawkins etc, but more so about the ideational contagion of social media in general. The more people communicate with one another across geographic boundaries, the more it decompartmentalizes human identity, and since religion is generally a massive identity construct, it will eventually get eroded by a newer one that rejects separating humans by religion, race, gender, sexual orientation etc.
I saw a post on Reddit once saying 'imagine where we'd be if rather than everyone congregating at church on a Sunday to pray to an imaginary God for an hour everyone congregated and did science stuff for an hour instead'. It really made me think, bloody hell he is right, we'd be so much better off and more advanced as a society if this had always been the tradition. It's actually slightly depressing to think about.