However, were it not for religion, those who practice inhumanity would simply choose some other handy rationale for justifying inhumanity.
No.
Maybe there are some people who would continue to do inhumane things without religion, but there are also those who do inhumane things because of religion. Therefore it is inaccurate to say that all people who do inhumane things would continue to do them without religion.
I lack statistical evidence, but I'd not be surprised to learn that the number of people who do inhumane things for religious reasons is orders of magnitude higher than those who do them for no reason. I suspect this because of the religious claims of so many of the people who are doing inhumane things.
Current Catholic theology is the result of about 1500 years where some of the most powerful minds of occident contributed to build a quite solid intellectual building. It might be based on nonsenses but still it's internal coherence and its resistance to foreign attacks is quite good.
Indeed. Its success is, oh the irony, a proof of Darwin's theory applied to religions.
Bingo, my friend. They've had 2000 years to file off all the rough edges until that fucker gleams like a diamond. Religion is a fascinating study of evolutionary process.
I get so tired of this narrow-minded garbage. By your logic, no one should use any code they haven't written themselves.
When will you recognize like most of the rest of us have that it's in a company's best interest to treat its customers as best they can. Sure, shit happens, but shit will always happen. Let people and companies like Google do what they do best so that the rest of us, whose specialty is not IT, can do what our specialty is, whatever it is.
Or do you only fly on planes you've built yourself?
What would prevent Microsoft from striking similar deals with other OEMs, effectively numbing the effects of European regulators? They should go for it.
Oh my god that's classic! You, sir, win teh internet.
I agree with you that Christians 'pick and choose'. In truth, if they didn't ignore the particularly distasteful parts, we would live in a horrible world.
But this is in fact my point. Religion is wicked because it commands you to do horrible things. We are fortunate that its followers are human so that they will find these commands distasteful and ignore them.
Are you serious? You weren't aware that the Bible commanded the death of homosexuals, adulterers, and Sabbath workers? Time for you to do a little reading, methinks.
You need to read a little more history, if you think that the 5th commandment has ever stopped Christians from butchering their enemies.
Please tell me where it says you are supposed to pick and choose! I know many Christians who would be very relieved to know they weren't expected to follow the entire Bible. Please have compassion on them and inform me where the Bible says it's okay to ignore the more grisly bits. Rest assured I will pass this incredible, and liberating, information on to them immediately!
As far as the New Testament goes, it clearly says the homosexuals will not go to heaven (which just leaves hell) and should be put to death. You want to rethink your suggestion?
You realize that the only evidence we have for Jesus is FROM the Bible, right? I fail to see how that's "nothing to do with the Bible".
Christianity may not mean Catholicism to everyone, but the two are inextricably intertwined. It just so happens that most Christians, loathe to call themselves 'Catholic', fail to realize that their entire belief system has been formed by Catholics for 1500 years. Only in recent history has their been a schism.
The problem, jmac_the_man, is that you left some things out of your first list (I don't know enough about the Koran to comment on the second list). Allow me to make it a little more complete for you:
- Kill adulterers. - Kill homosexuals. - Kill people who work on the Sabbath.
You have to follow those rules too.
It's easy to pick and choose the good things, but to be a REAL Christian you can't pick and choose. You have to do all of it.
As to the Hitler and Stalin arguments, you must provide evidence that they did what they did because they were atheists. Both men had facial hair. Does having facial hair make you a mass-murderer?
And besides, Hitler, at least, was probably not an atheist. And even if he was, he used overtly religious rhetoric to get his followers to carry out the killing. So whether or not Hitler was an atheist, he couldn't have done what he did without religion.
The Pope has been forced by science to concede that evolution is more likely than creationism. Rest assured that if it were not for the persistent efforts of scientists everywhere, no such admission would have been made.
But that's not the point. What is the point is that the Bible claims to be without error, so as a Christian you must accept literal 6-day creation. So, no, the Pope isn't a Christian because he rejects central tenants of the religious faith. He simply either doesn't know it yet, or realize it yet.
Not so. 'Crazy fuck fundamentalists' are people who are actually doing what their religion says that they should do. 'Normal Religious' people are people who are not doing what their religion says they should do.
This is the insidious evil of religion: the 'Normal Religious' people are generally quite happy to ignore what their religion demands and act as decent human beings, but can sometimes be persuaded, in a fit of religious passion, to do horrible things. If there was no religion, it would be vastly more difficult to persuade humans to do horrific acts.
Consider how many Christians would, if asked politely, go into the neighboring town and kill 'everything that breathed'. Not many, I'd wager. Now consider how many Christians would do it if they felt it was the direct and specific will of God? Substantially more. Thus religion allows atrocities that a lack of religion would forbid.
Yes, serving ads from the same server would defeat AdBlock. But what I'm saying is that the technology of AdBlock would then change to defeat these new ads as well. It doesn't defeat them now because it doesn't need to.
It's possible that you can't think of any way to defeat ads without turning images off, but someone will, and they'll make the next AdBlock.
Slashdot Mirror
However, were it not for religion, those who practice inhumanity would simply choose some other handy rationale for justifying inhumanity.
No.
Maybe there are some people who would continue to do inhumane things without religion, but there are also those who do inhumane things because of religion. Therefore it is inaccurate to say that all people who do inhumane things would continue to do them without religion.
I lack statistical evidence, but I'd not be surprised to learn that the number of people who do inhumane things for religious reasons is orders of magnitude higher than those who do them for no reason. I suspect this because of the religious claims of so many of the people who are doing inhumane things.
Current Catholic theology is the result of about 1500 years where some of the most powerful minds of occident contributed to build a quite solid intellectual building. It might be based on nonsenses but still it's internal coherence and its resistance to foreign attacks is quite good.
Indeed. Its success is, oh the irony, a proof of Darwin's theory applied to religions.
Bingo, my friend. They've had 2000 years to file off all the rough edges until that fucker gleams like a diamond. Religion is a fascinating study of evolutionary process.
Fantastic post.
I once wrote a paper that claimed America only pushed for 'unconditional' because they had the bomb.
My paper...uh...bombed.
I christen it "Rockoon's Law".
But what if I use my thumbs in physics? What happens to your precious rule then?
I get so tired of this narrow-minded garbage. By your logic, no one should use any code they haven't written themselves.
When will you recognize like most of the rest of us have that it's in a company's best interest to treat its customers as best they can. Sure, shit happens, but shit will always happen. Let people and companies like Google do what they do best so that the rest of us, whose specialty is not IT, can do what our specialty is, whatever it is.
Or do you only fly on planes you've built yourself?
Some chick who's into BDSM, apparently.
While that is good advice, I'm just not going to take it.
Thank you, Captain Pedantic.
Can't I just plug in my USB drive?
What would prevent Microsoft from striking similar deals with other OEMs, effectively numbing the effects of European regulators? They should go for it.
Oh my god that's classic! You, sir, win teh internet.
You fool! You'll destroy us all!
I dunno. Whenever I heard "Root" and "Windows" in the same sentence, I get nervous.
I agree with you that Christians 'pick and choose'. In truth, if they didn't ignore the particularly distasteful parts, we would live in a horrible world.
But this is in fact my point. Religion is wicked because it commands you to do horrible things. We are fortunate that its followers are human so that they will find these commands distasteful and ignore them.
Are you serious? You weren't aware that the Bible commanded the death of homosexuals, adulterers, and Sabbath workers? Time for you to do a little reading, methinks.
You need to read a little more history, if you think that the 5th commandment has ever stopped Christians from butchering their enemies.
Well, that's a delightful twist on things.
Please tell me where it says you are supposed to pick and choose! I know many Christians who would be very relieved to know they weren't expected to follow the entire Bible. Please have compassion on them and inform me where the Bible says it's okay to ignore the more grisly bits. Rest assured I will pass this incredible, and liberating, information on to them immediately!
As far as the New Testament goes, it clearly says the homosexuals will not go to heaven (which just leaves hell) and should be put to death. You want to rethink your suggestion?
What?
You realize that the only evidence we have for Jesus is FROM the Bible, right? I fail to see how that's "nothing to do with the Bible".
Christianity may not mean Catholicism to everyone, but the two are inextricably intertwined. It just so happens that most Christians, loathe to call themselves 'Catholic', fail to realize that their entire belief system has been formed by Catholics for 1500 years. Only in recent history has their been a schism.
The problem, jmac_the_man, is that you left some things out of your first list (I don't know enough about the Koran to comment on the second list). Allow me to make it a little more complete for you:
- Kill adulterers.
- Kill homosexuals.
- Kill people who work on the Sabbath.
You have to follow those rules too.
It's easy to pick and choose the good things, but to be a REAL Christian you can't pick and choose. You have to do all of it.
As to the Hitler and Stalin arguments, you must provide evidence that they did what they did because they were atheists. Both men had facial hair. Does having facial hair make you a mass-murderer?
And besides, Hitler, at least, was probably not an atheist. And even if he was, he used overtly religious rhetoric to get his followers to carry out the killing. So whether or not Hitler was an atheist, he couldn't have done what he did without religion.
Don't put down clown college by lumping it with this one. The acrobatics and personality entrance tests would be beyond most of us.
Please replace the word "clown" with "theological" and insert "logical" in front of acrobatics, and I think we have a winner.
The Pope has been forced by science to concede that evolution is more likely than creationism. Rest assured that if it were not for the persistent efforts of scientists everywhere, no such admission would have been made.
But that's not the point. What is the point is that the Bible claims to be without error, so as a Christian you must accept literal 6-day creation. So, no, the Pope isn't a Christian because he rejects central tenants of the religious faith. He simply either doesn't know it yet, or realize it yet.
Not so. 'Crazy fuck fundamentalists' are people who are actually doing what their religion says that they should do. 'Normal Religious' people are people who are not doing what their religion says they should do.
This is the insidious evil of religion: the 'Normal Religious' people are generally quite happy to ignore what their religion demands and act as decent human beings, but can sometimes be persuaded, in a fit of religious passion, to do horrible things. If there was no religion, it would be vastly more difficult to persuade humans to do horrific acts.
Consider how many Christians would, if asked politely, go into the neighboring town and kill 'everything that breathed'. Not many, I'd wager. Now consider how many Christians would do it if they felt it was the direct and specific will of God? Substantially more. Thus religion allows atrocities that a lack of religion would forbid.
Blasphemy!!
Well said, joocemann. I had not considered this, but it may be the most positive effect to come out of this.
Yes, serving ads from the same server would defeat AdBlock. But what I'm saying is that the technology of AdBlock would then change to defeat these new ads as well. It doesn't defeat them now because it doesn't need to.
It's possible that you can't think of any way to defeat ads without turning images off, but someone will, and they'll make the next AdBlock.
Sir, I salute you!