Comment

Comment by Dennis Michael Pennington on February 20, 2013 at 6:26am

As I keep following the comments here I'm reminded of a girl at work. She told me recently of what she believes. Everyone has some variation of what they have been taught, or some variant of the cookie monster in the sky. Nobody wants to die, nor can they imagine that consciousness  stops. The lies enter like stars in the sky. Nobody is honest. Only an honest person will admit that we simply do not know. Furthermore, there is no possible way for us to know. This is what being a non-theist is all about.

Comment by Austin Miller on February 19, 2013 at 7:29pm

I think his epistemology is different than mine because of his reasoning.  I think it likely that English is not his first language, or he his not very competent with it.  I do not think he is more intelligent.  I do not feel superior to him.

Comment by Mathew T. on February 19, 2013 at 11:24am

"The person posting that comment likely knows nothing about cosmogony, abiogenesis or evolution and doesn't want to know it.  He or she was probably taught to sing, "Jebus loves me" from the time they were old enough to talk, and the indoctrination is fully and properly welded to their brains."

I think Loren has made a very valuable observation here. To me, their whole model is built around acquiescence of "deepity" nonsense. The poster goes on yahoo (in this case), or google, or youtube, or wherever the hell else you can make asinine comments like this, vomits a few lines of melodramatic, philosophically void bullshit, and thinks they've really done something for the world. 

He's right. They don't care about knowing the truth. They will INSIST that they do - and that they know the truth, and dogmatically assume that anyone who disagrees has bought into a lie from hell, but have no method or reason to substantiate this with at all. If they cared about truth, even one little bit, they'd look into every other fucking religion on earth, just IN CASE they were wrong, but they were still sure there was a god... but they don't. It's a lot easier to assume truth and authority than examine it. 

In short, no, I'm not surprised it got to you - this kind of thing drives me insane as well. 

Comment by Luara on February 19, 2013 at 10:25am

Loren,

Having grown up in this kind of threatening environment - not using a religious context, though - I perceive this kind of message as hostility, a wish for someone else's harm, that they mask by displacing it onto "God". 

Hell being a very extreme example of that (!) - sadistic depictions of one's enemies being tortured for eternity. 

Very common for people to displace something they want to express that's risky somehow, onto someone or something else.  Very often people will say their spouse is the reason they can't visit or whatever ... Here, it's God, very convenient because nobody is going to boom from the sky, "HEY that isn't what I said!!!"  :) 

Comment by Loren Miller on February 19, 2013 at 9:59am

Very true, Luara.  It seems as though their beliefs are dependent on threats: of death, of hell, of the disapproval of their fellows.  It's the whole carrot-and-stick routine which presumes a supernatural arbitrator who dishes it all out.

It also puts them in a presumed position of power.  The problem happens when we fail to acknowledge that power, which pulls their plug and leaves them out in the wind to twist.

Comment by Luara on February 19, 2013 at 9:41am

There's a death threat in it, maybe that's why it bothered you.

Comment by Stephen Honeywell on February 19, 2013 at 9:35am

God is the one who cares about me? What about my wife, kids, family, and friends? They care about me enough to actually go out of their way to help me, not threaten me with punishment if I don't dedicate my life to them. 

Anyone else notice how in screeds like this, truth is asserted by being "just" true and "just" this and "just" that? Just stop, please.

Comment by shavante williams on February 19, 2013 at 9:20am

Thanks for the feedback guys. Glad i'm not the only one who sees what's so wrong about this statement and others like it.

Comment by Tammy S on February 19, 2013 at 8:37am

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.” - Seneca

Comment by Dave Godfrey on February 19, 2013 at 7:59am

Why do these people feel the need to CAPITALISE CERTAIN WORDS almost at RANDOM? Don't waste your time with such people, there are far more intelligent people to debate with.

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