In what may represent a new standard for dishonesty for d’Souza, he intimates that followers of radical Islam who murder others in the name of their faith aren’t really motivated by religion, since they generally don’t promote the idea that they’ll derive special benefits in the afterlife by committing terrorist acts.
“My own study of the rhetoric of the Islamic radicals shows that their exhortations make onlyperfunctory references to paradise, on the rare occasions when they mention the subject at all. The predominant theme in this literature is that “Islam is under attack” from the forces of global atheism and immorality, and that Muslims should fight back to protect their religion, their values and their way of life. So even in the special case of Osama bin Laden and his cohorts, the 72 virgins hypothesis could be flawed.”
Got that? If you blow up people and things under the influence of radical Islam, you’re not motivated by religion - unless you harp on the 72 virgins thing.
And atheism is something we need to fear as much as radical Islam.
Richard Dawkins is at least as big a threat as Osama bin Laden.
"If we need to watch out for heaven-seeking Muslims bent on killing innocent people and flying planes into buildings, we need to be just as vigilant against atheist fanatics who are willing to murder millions in order to establish their version of heaven down to earth.
Here’s what surveys say about seculars:
[ul]
[li]61% are for the status quo.[/li][li]21% want abortion permitted, but with greater restrictions.[/li][li]16% want abortion to be illegal, with few exceptions.[/li][li]1% want a total ban, no exceptions. [/ul] So about 40% of seculars want additional restrictions on abortion and just under half of those want abortion to be mostly or entirely illegal. I conclude that the arguments against abortion and stem cell research for that matter are not wholly religious. [/li]Pragmatic Americans Liberal and Conservative on Social Issues | Pew Research Center
If he says no , I want to live there. i am as deep in religious nuts. I grew up and know a slew of Catholics,. I live in Dearborn Hgts, Mich. a hot bed of middle easterners . Muslims and women in bee keeper outfits are teeming through the streets.
Aside from people on these boards, I only know 3 people who will acknowledge being atheists. So I for one do have religious friends, and by and large they are very nice people, but I just can’t figure out how they can get through life being so delusional.
[ul]
[li]Delusional people have immense difficulty getting through life[/li][li]Christians are delusional people[/li][li]Therefore, Christians have immense difficulty getting through life[/li][/ul]
What do rationalists do when the facts don’t match the logic?
That’s the right approach, certainly. You look at the syllogism, find it is well-formed, and then examine your major and minor terms. I guess *one *approach is to say “Huh. Well, delusion can’t be as big a handicap as I thought, then”.
Yup, the way it suddenly gets safe to stick your fingers in a light socket as long as enough people think it’s safe.
the people I work for are quite religious, and run the company on faith…you have no idea what its like working for people who make decisions based on their interpretation of the bible instead of you know logic/actual business knowledge. the best part is that they also ignore advice from people with this knowledge and then get pissed off when things go wrong.
they are the kind of business that goes under the moment a competitor comes along with an ounce of vision because they simply can’t imagine that there is a better way than theirs.
I am curious if there are any competing religious companies out there that are top of their market (outside the obvious religious market that is)
