Bill Nye Booed in Waco for pointing out Moon reflects the Sun

[JJ Rodriguez]

We live in a cruel world.

 

[Pauly]

Depressing how so many people have completely lost the point in spiritual practice, and take a book of metaphors, and little tales of expedition 100% literally and seriously. (Not to mention how much of certain books have been rewritten and fiddled about with for centuries).

There are people that believe the Earth is flat still, and all the space imagery we see is fake. :|

 

[Thomas]

There are people that believe the Earth is flat still, and all the space imagery we see is fake. :|

Sad but true: The Flat Earth Society
They even have a forum. If I was completely bored, I'd join just to make fun of them.

 

[Zepp88]

Why are people so stupid!

 

[El Caco]

Depressing how so many people have completely lost the point in spiritual practice, and take a book of metaphors, and little tales of expedition 100% literally and seriously. (Not to mention how much of certain books have been rewritten and fiddled about with for centuries).

There are people that believe the Earth is flat still, and all the space imagery we see is fake. :|

And yet when a literal translation causes conflict they change their tune.

There was a time when I was studying to be a preacher (yes I know), part of my training was a diploma of Bible studies, I studied the Bible and world religions full time for many years and it was during this time of unbiased study that I left the faith.

Modern Christianity has become ridiculous, if christians studied the Bible and the history of the church with the goal of learning the truth they would not be christians and they would discover that the new testament contains at least one forgery, that there are at least two religions in the new testament that they are in direct opposition with each other, and that there are contradictions that can not be explained.

I have presented some of these contradictions to both members and elders of many different denominations and not one has been able to answer them however they allways state that the Bible is infallible and that it is beyond their understanding but wiser men have studied these before and if there was a conflict that surely it would have been known a long time ago.

There lies the problem, people rely on other people to tell them the truth instead of searching for it for themselves and they blindly believe and pass on lies, forming another link in the chain.

Surely history has shown us that religion is the greatest evil on earth and of those christianity is chief.

 

[Leon]

Why are people so stupid!

it's in our nature. what, like you've never done anything completely irrational?

 

[Zepp88]

it's in our nature. what, like you've never done anything completely irrational?

Well, of course, everyone has. But it's not just pure stupidity...come on we've seen the fuckin earth from SPACE!

 

[ohio_eric]

Surely history has shown us that religion is the greatest evil on earth and of those christianity is chief.

I wrote this a while back I think it applies.

Recently I’ve heard it said a lot that religion is to blame for this problem or that war or that religion is the worst thing to ever happen to humanity. While I do agree certain people have used religion to achieve ends that are far from holy. I can’t blame religion for the world’s ills. I can’t blame religion any more than I can blame xenophobia or greed or prejudice or any of a thousand other reasons people have sought to hate and destroy one another.

I know there seems to be a growing resentment towards religion. Christopher Hitchens has made a tidy sum of money banging the drum against religion. But really you can’t blame religion.

Here’s the real problem. Religion has never really started a war or a crusade or an inquisition. Religion has never tortured anyone. Religion has never blown up an abortion clinic. The sad truth is it’s us who does that. It’s a basic fault of the human race. We have this nasty streak in us and I’m pretty sure it’s as much nature as it is nurture, if not far more.

We like the cold comfort of being led. We look for leaders. We like it when someone seems strong and confident and seemingly has all the answers. Even if we forget to ask the really important questions like “Why am I listening to this person?” or “Is this going where I really want to go?”

Humans are territorial. We like our land and our house and our possessions and our money. We sure as Hell aren’t going to share it either. It’s mine and keep your filthy hands off of it. Of course being territorial on a 4.5 billion year old planet that we get 100 years on, if we’re lucky is pretty silly actually. We exist for but a bat of an eyelash of Mother Earth we really don’t own this planet. It owns us.

We seem hardwired with this behavior. Other primates, our animal cousins, have been shown to declare wars and murder and to defend their corner of the jungle or forest. Fortunately they haven’t figured out how to make sub-machine guns and H-bombs yet.

I think we have it hardwired into our DNA to defend our stuff and gather into groups. It’s our nature no matter how inhumanely it makes us act.

So I don’t buy that religion really causes wars or hate or jihads or any other unspeakable evil unleashed on humanity. It’s us. Only us.

God has never waged a war. Jesus has never tortured a prisoner. Allah has never ignited a car bomb. Moses has never ordered genocide. The Holy Spirit has never dropped an atomic weapon. It’s us. Only us. Just because some self-important megalomaniac does something in the name of this god or that god doesn’t mean anymore than if he did it in the name of money or country or race or his favorite football team. The actions are what are evil. The evil little bastard simply chooses the path that allows him to manipulate the most people. Sadly this often is religion because too often the necessity of having faith and reason isn’t emphasized. Having faith without reason is like handing a blind man a gun. You just know someone is going to get hurt.

If you’re going to get all excited about getting rid of religion to end all the world’s ills. You jolly well better be ready to get rid of nationalism and greed and property ownership and everything else that has ever sparked a conflict. But because nationalism and greed don’t try and dictate people’s sex lives or chemical intake it seems to me that those who are so zealous to eliminate religion aren’t quite so hot to eliminate that other stuff.

Also people like Christopher Hitchens are always so excited to tell you all the bad things religion has done, but why do they never mention the good? Why do they never bring up the schools and hospitals built by religions? Or why don’t they talk about the humanitarian aid done by religions? Why don’t they talk about the people who have gotten through severe hardships because of religion? The late Kurt Vonnegut postulated that what Karl Marx really meant by “Religion is the opiate of the people” is not some dictum against religion. Rather Marx was simply comparing religion to opium, the primary painkiller of Marx’s time, which Marx had used. He was simply stating that people took comfort from religion. Selective observation is an intellectual fallacy. You’d think there people who claim to be so skeptical would know that.

So getting rid of religion will solve absolutely nothing. Wars would still go on and people would still commit atrocity upon atrocity. The reasons might change but the blood would still be red and the deaths would still be just as painful.

The real solution is for everyone to realize they have a very powerful tool. They have the power of the question. They have the power to ask why. The power to demand answers. People need to realize that they have to ask questions of those who would tell them what to do. People need to take this responsibility seriously. Even when the asking these questions makes them uneasy as they already deep sown inside know the answer and that answer makes them very uneasy. It sometimes requires that you stand alone and go against the grain and that might just not be in everyone’s nature.

I know this idea of mine won’t suit a lot of people. As they already have made up their minds and religion is evil and has caused this war and that problem or whatever. But I can’t see how religion is to blame. It’s always human behavior that starts all these problems. The National Rifle Association has a slogan that goes, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” And so it goes that, religions don’t start wars. People start wars. Religions don’t protect child molesters. People protect child molesters. Religions don’t teach people to hate. People teach people to hate.

It’s all our fault. God help us all.

 

[JJ Rodriguez]

That didn't really happen. God wouldn't allow something as sacrilegious as space travel.

Well, of course, everyone has. But it's not just pure stupidity...come on we've seen the fuckin earth from SPACE!

 

[Leon]

Well, of course, everyone has. But it's not just pure stupidity...come on we've seen the fuckin earth from SPACE!

yeah... well, i think...

i think it's a matter of social maturity. our specie has been around for hundreds of thousands of years (you hear me, Waco, TX? hundreds of thousands...) while society has only existed, roughly, in the last several thousand. modern society is moving even faster, with new technologies, bigger weapons, creating the demand for more social maturity to deal with how it changes our lives.

for example, take fast food. back when we lived on the plains of Africa, you only got to eat fast food if you were fast enough yourself. ...and the fatty part tasted good because our bodies needed it, and there wasn't much to go around. these days, our tastes are the same, but we can supply fat in enormous qualtities. so, it takes a more mature person to be able to handle it.

...or, i could be completely wrong. i'm just killing some time at work

 

[Zepp88]

All statements are irrelavent. I'll just wait for my people to return for me in their UFO and take me back to my homeworld of Zeta Reticuli.

 

[Leon]

All statements are irrelavent. I'll just wait for my people to return for me in their UFO and take me back to my homeworld of Zeta Reticuli.

...you come from Z_Butt?

 

[Zepp88]

...you come from Z_Butt?

uhh..yeh...

Is this thread finally getting derailed? ...it's about that time.

 

[Leon]

i'll take the blame

 

[Zepp88]

i'll take the blame

Okay cool, soo uhh....Z_Butt?

 

[El Caco]

I wrote this a while back I think it applies.

Rep given.

You raise some thought provoking points but I think this view is over simplistic.

IMO religion is like the A bomb in the sense that it is man made and has the ability to devastate. However religion is more like a virus with no known cure.

While there are those that will use religion as a tool to achieve their goal, there are others who will gladly perform an abomination in an attempt to be righteous, in the name of religion. It is those that religion has corrupted to perform evil that they would otherwise not perform. In this regard religion is evil, through the ages religion has corrupted people to believe that it is moral to do things that they themselves believe are immoral in the quest to be righteous.

I know of a church that will argue about wether they have gods approval to give assistance to those in need and as a result give less then one man could raise by passing a hat around at the local pub. I am confident that every member of this church genuinely desires to do the right thing but have been corrupted to the point where they no longer know what is right.

Of course histories examples have been terrifying in comparison to this.

That didn't really happen. God wouldn't allow something as sacrilegious as space travel.

It's funny, God stopped man from building a tower that reaches the heavens but allows man to build spacecraft that can travel to the heavens. I think not.

 

[Pauly]

My friend lent me this book called The Power of Now, and while a bit of a new-age spiritual enlightenment-fest, the author had some interesting views on how nearly all religions have lost their original meaning, and how all of them more or less (in their original states) shared the same common goals.

Eckhart Tolle was the name. Interesting read, for one so usually atheistic as myself.

 

[Leon]

My friend lent me this book called The Power of Now, and while a bit of a new-age spiritual enlightenment-fest, the author had some interesting views on how nearly all religions have lost their original meaning, and how all of them more or less (in their original states) shared the same common goals.

Eckhart Tolle was the name. Interesting read, for one so usually atheistic as myself.

the study of religion, for me anyways, is more than the study of dieties, but rather the study of people who believe in them.

[action=Leon]is also rather athiestic.[/action]

 

[El Caco]

My friend lent me this book called The Power of Now, and while a bit of a new-age spiritual enlightenment-fest, the author had some interesting views on how nearly all religions have lost their original meaning, and how all of them more or less (in their original states) shared the same common goals.

Eckhart Tolle was the name. Interesting read, for one so usually atheistic as myself.

If you go back beyond the modern religions and study the original beliefs of man, you will find that nearly all beliefs were practically identical, they used different names and terminology but they believed the same thing despite not being able to communicate with each other as they were at opposite ends of the world.

I believe there are things out there that we don't know or understand, I think that religion contains clues not answers.

 

[playstopause]

I believe there are things out there that we don't know or understand, I think that religion contains clues not answers.

+1.