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Has anyone here had any experience with "spiritual not religious" theists? They always try to make the argument that there really isn't any disagreement between science and their "spirituality".

As wacky as some of the mainstream religions are, the pagan/witch/new age/ spiritualist/ UFO cult crowd leave me in awe of the human capacity for self deception.
Personally, I'm a little tired of the old "science can only answer the question of how but not why" argument.

I usually deal with the "woo-woo" crowd with either respectful skepticism or a bemused smirk depending on the degree of kookiness involved.

Lets give the Christians a break and talk about the more exotic faiths.

How about you A/N?

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Permalink Reply by Goz on March 2, 2009 at 6:53pm

I have a friend who was an MRI tec..he'd tell me stories of them constantly takeing elderly people who could no longer take care of themselves down for yet another MRI. WHY? So what if they found this person had yet another stroke,there is nothing they can do about it...The person is not going to get better,no matter how many expensive MRI's the MD orders.

Permalink Reply by funk Q on February 15, 2009 at 9:44pm

LeaT, I can't see a problem with the implimentation of euthanasia.

Currently it's possible to instruct "Not to be revived" or similar, we have organ donor cards and we can make legal wills. All that needs to be done is pass legislation and use these methods and others to record a decision of yes or no and verifying voluntary choice.

Maybe a panel would be required for the very young, mentally impaired and those who haven't said they don't want it. But ways can be found.

What is lacking the willingness of governments to listen to people and not priests, pastors and profiteers.

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Permalink Reply by Фелч Гроган on February 15, 2009 at 10:20pm

What is lacking is that all politicians hear are the loudest voices - they don't for a second stop to count them. It is these voices that prevent a referendum, which would pass. If it was by the 50+ demographic, it would be a landslide.

But our politicans live in terror of these voices. It won't happen until they can realise what an illusion the loudmouth "majority" really is.

Permalink Reply by Фелч Гроган on February 13, 2009 at 5:28am

Valis: BTW Felch, do you know what your name really means? LOL!

Duh, no I don't. It just seems no one ever wants to use that nick anywhere. That's convenient.

Maybe it has something to do with some distant relatives in Michigan.

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Permalink Reply by Richard on February 13, 2009 at 11:12am

Well, lets see.

My mom was a Wiccan when i was about 7, still too young to understand what the hell was going on all the time. Then she moved on to the Correlian (sp?) branch, and took a course in it, joined a group and stuff like that. this was when i was 11. We usually went to a friend's house who believed in the whole druidery thing, so they held rituals and stuff, and talked, and it was all very woo-woo, juju...

I then went up to my grandma, when i was 12, at the end of grade six. My mom then picked up The God Delusion and turned to atheism...

Moving on, i would say that my early years have given me a slant, where I am inclined to not say too much about the Wiccans. I don't mind them all that much, as they are really just harmless hippies, sans smoking weed...I have no problem with that. :)

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Permalink Reply by Jason Torpy on February 13, 2009 at 11:59am

I agree, the non-traditional faiths like blood-type diet, supplements, 9-11 conspiracies, and magnets are disturbing. However, we have a much more important task of finding, educating, and organizing the atheists that are out there.

If your preference is anti-religion, the arguments are clear, simple, and incontrovertible. People will either choose to listen or not.

If your preference is skepticism and debunking pseudo-science, that might be a little more interesting. It's not particularly difficult, but it might take a little more legwork to debunk false/biased studies or find counter-studies with more accurate results.

In the end though, there's plenty of work to be done. You focus on the new age jokers and others might focus on something else.

Jason

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Permalink Reply by Фелч Гроган on February 13, 2009 at 7:30pm

Jason Torpy: If your preference is skepticism and debunking pseudo-science, that might be a little more interesting. It's not particularly difficult, but it might take a little more legwork to debunk false/biased studies or find counter-studies with more accurate results.

You know the really sad thing ? Most "pseudo-science" conducted today is by universities with grants from large corporates (usually the pharmaceutical industry), and not god freaks. Research that gives bad results will mean less grant money. A direct byproduct of government's abandoning education and leaving it to rot. Which in turn generates credulous imbeciles vulnerable to theistic and supernatural idiocy. Its a downward spiral.

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Permalink Reply by James on February 21, 2009 at 5:49pm

I think all irrational, supernatural beliefs have the potential to be dangerous. That being said, I have several pagan friends; I attend a meeting almost every Wednesday where we discuss paganism and related themes. None of them shows any interest whatsoever in converting others -- they tend to be very against that.

They are more easy to get along with than Christians because they don't hate people for having different beliefs, or even skeptics. Nor do they shun anyone for being gay, bisexual, or trans.

I find many of their beliefs ridiculous, although I like some of their rituals, some of which can be very meaningful without having any supernatural beliefs at all.

Overall, they're a fun group to hang out with. The Christians hate them just as much as atheists, at least. When this group was first started on campus 10 years ago, it made national news because Christians were writing over their invitations on sidewalks, protesting, writing letters, claiming that the college belongs to Jesus Christ, and so forth. Christians have also purposely taken spots the pagans reserved in advance, in order to stop the activities going on....

New Age beliefs can be dangerous, but this group is very laid back.

James