that's all they offered me. i mean, what else do atheists have? the truth? ha.
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:05 (eleven years ago) link
atheists really need to develop an enticing cuisine.christian bbq - YUMbuddhist thai brunch - YUMsecular humanist clam bake - YUK
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:08 (eleven years ago) link
You hurt delicious clam bake's feelings. ;__;
― purveyor of generations (in orbit), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:10 (eleven years ago) link
why does it have to be a clam bake? was elvis presley some kind-of spiritual father of secular humanism?
― Spectrum, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:11 (eleven years ago) link
Unitarians iirc
― purveyor of generations (in orbit), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:11 (eleven years ago) link
people get mad about chik fil-a but no way am i eating at Agnostic Nuggets.
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:15 (eleven years ago) link
when people do shit like this http://www.gardenvisit.com/assets/madge/mao_zedong_tiananmen/600x/mao_zedong_tiananmen_600x.jpgit's hard not to draw comparisons to religions. but that's a seperate argument to whether "religion" (however broadly you want to define it) is the root of all evil.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:20 (eleven years ago) link
what does it even mean that religion is the root of all evil? religions are just human constructs. really it's just a cute way of saying that human constructs are the root of all evil?
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:23 (eleven years ago) link
things human do are the root of evil. okay! might as well say that satan is the root of evil in terms of how useful that argument is.
also i thought evil doesn't exist bc all actions have chemical, behavioral, socio-political, psychological sources. saying that religion is the root of all evil embraces the central claim of religion ie: that there is such a thing as evil.
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:24 (eleven years ago) link
Is that really the central claim of "religion?"
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:26 (eleven years ago) link
Also I'm pretty sure that saying that if something has a discernible (or even a non-discernible but infer-able) natural cause it has no moral valence is a false dichotomy but I realize I'm probably in over my head here.
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:28 (eleven years ago) link
in a way i feel that's right -- you can't get people to do things in a coordinated fashion without a religious mandate -- or at least it's really fucken hard. so insofar that any mass activity is evil, you can't do it without religion.
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:29 (eleven years ago) link
well, obv not since i don't believe the stuff that falls under the term 'religion' can be said to share anything in common. but it is certainly a central feature of abrahamic religions xxp
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:29 (eleven years ago) link
how do u reconcile a natural cause w/ moral valence?
if you can answer that you will help me greatly
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:30 (eleven years ago) link
you can't get people to do things in a coordinated fashion without a religious mandate
how do you explain motor vehicle traffic?
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:32 (eleven years ago) link
I suppose that depends on where one thinks morality originates from, doesn't it?
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:32 (eleven years ago) link
morality suggests free choice that is incompatibility w/ material explanations afaict
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:33 (eleven years ago) link
incompatible* i mean
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:35 (eleven years ago) link
eh I don't think that's true, but I would need to hit way above my weight class to argue it effectively, so I'll just leave it at that.
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:35 (eleven years ago) link
but I don't think "materialism" = "determinism"
w/out hearing your argument i'm going to speculatively posit that your belief that morality + materialism are compatible is probably the lacuna in which your atheism breaks down + you believe in GOD.
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:37 (eleven years ago) link
"how do you explain motor vehicle traffic?"faith and threat of biblical violence
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:38 (eleven years ago) link
well done
― cake-like Lady Gaga (DJP), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:41 (eleven years ago) link
Knock yourself out! xxp
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:41 (eleven years ago) link
http://biblicalproof.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/its-gods-way-or-the-highway.jpg
― Evan, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:42 (eleven years ago) link
ok now ur gettin ur troll on
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:42 (eleven years ago) link
i would like to point out the cute reversal where the atheist is backing out of the argument w/ the theist. i don't think it means anything, but i often read arguments between dumbass religious believers and atheists where the atheist runs circles around them and i always wish that someone smart - like a theologian - was on the other side of the discussion.
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:44 (eleven years ago) link
in any case, the quality of the arguer shouldn't impact the inherent argument so it doesn't really matter
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:45 (eleven years ago) link
Highways seem like an attractive choice. They let you travel smoothly and quickly to many wonderful places.
― Aimless, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:47 (eleven years ago) link
au contraire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7-h4r3d27A
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:47 (eleven years ago) link
sorry to let you down though, Mordy
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:48 (eleven years ago) link
not the first time!
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:50 (eleven years ago) link
There was an interesting bit on Planet Money about tithing among Mormons and tax collection, and while they don't advocate we switch over public fund collections to tithing, it was interesting how people tended to volunteer more money than they needed to as a tithe. It's hard not to see America as a theocracy to be a vastly more efficient enterprise.
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:51 (eleven years ago) link
However will I live with myself?
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:53 (eleven years ago) link
Maybe pray to GOD?
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 19:53 (eleven years ago) link
Don't hold your breath.
No, on second thought, hold your breath.
― a shark with a rippling six pack (Phil D.), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:57 (eleven years ago) link
Can somebody just spam this thread with a bunch of existentialists already? They're not all atheists fwiw.
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:57 (eleven years ago) link
What if I can't pray to God, Mordy?
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:58 (eleven years ago) link
I don't know, Michael. Is that a riddle?
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 20:00 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, me too. I liked this debate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVjjpfQgJ2k
Haldane presents a sophisticated argument that the existence of God is the condition for the possibility of anything's having moral significance, and Hitchens doesn't have a decent response to it.
― jim, Monday, 24 September 2012 20:07 (eleven years ago) link
Pray: to ask that the laws of the universe be nullified on behalf of a single petitioner, admittedly unworthy. - A. Bierce
I am often reverent toward creation in an entirely human, irrational way yet I cannot conceive of praying without humility, without reverence and I cannot conceive of a God whom I wouldn't think a made-in-man's image of an imaginary but powerful friend who makes sense of the senseless and helps a bro out of jam every now and then when stuff gets squirrely.
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Monday, 24 September 2012 20:08 (eleven years ago) link
i used to be a pretty religious catholic when i was a kid (pursued it on my own, family didn't care much about religion), but lost the faith in teen years after thinkin bout shit. i wish i could go back to those days, it was nice to have a friend in jesus. but can't unring rung bell etc. etc.
― Spectrum, Monday, 24 September 2012 20:13 (eleven years ago) link
a made-in-man's image of an imaginary but powerful friend who makes sense of the senseless and helps a bro out of jam every now and then when stuff gets squirrely.
yeah, I wouldn't pray to this dude either.
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 20:15 (eleven years ago) link
My best answer off-the-cuff for Haldane would be that the agency that is required for the possibility of anything's having moral significance is not an existant god, but the idea of transcendence, of which an existant god is a sufficient instance, but not a necesssary one.
― Aimless, Monday, 24 September 2012 20:17 (eleven years ago) link
Yet, Judaism (and by extension, Xtianity) has in its very creation myths an anthropocentric vision of mankind as being about as close to the divine as anything in God's creation. It doesn't strike you as self-serving tribal cheerleaderism?
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Monday, 24 September 2012 20:18 (eleven years ago) link
this is my fave prayer of rosh hashana service
All mankind will pass before You like a flock of sheep. Like a shepherd pasturing his flock, making sheep pass under his staff, so shall You cause to pass, count, calculate, and consider the soul of all the living; and You shall apportion the destinies of all Your creatures and inscribe their verdict.On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by upheaval, who by plague, who by strangling, and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted. But Repentance, Prayer, and Charity avert the severe Decree!
On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by upheaval, who by plague, who by strangling, and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted. But Repentance, Prayer, and Charity avert the severe Decree!
you know. just chillin with my bro, God.
― Mordy, Monday, 24 September 2012 20:18 (eleven years ago) link
do you need a transcendent dimension in order to have morality? there are computer simulations of environments where morality spontaneously evolves as a game theoretic optimum.
― Philip Nunez, Monday, 24 September 2012 20:20 (eleven years ago) link
Maoism and Stalinism aren't religions/cults IMHO, but the worship of the Kim family in NK is.
― Matt Armstrong, Monday, 24 September 2012 20:20 (eleven years ago) link
Or, Aimless, if we aimed lower, we could say that not to be a dick is its own reward, regardless of the au-delĂ .
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Monday, 24 September 2012 20:20 (eleven years ago) link