My mom had a flat tire today.
Stop pitting Der Trihs. Pit the mods. Der Trihs NEVER NEVER EVER EVER has anything legitimate to say in any discussion relating to anything spiritual.
The entirety of anything he has to say on the subject.
‘If you believe in any of that you are an evil moron.’
And then it’s really just variations on that. All he ever does is come in to threadshit, and he’s completely immune to moderation, no matter how many threads he takes over.
I personally avoid religious threads on this forum specifically because of Der Trihs and people like him. This forum is like speaking to a bunch of children about those topics because there is a small group of atheist assholes that has nothing of value to say on the topic and turns it into berating you for believing in something they don’t believe in. So it’s fruitless and a waste of time to discuss them.
It’s really too bad that the mods let this happen because it really brings down the quality of this forum. But oh well. That’s the culture here, the atheists rule the roost, it’s their forum.
So I post on other things. For some reason no one lets Der Trihs’s idiocy ruin political threads where he’s just as big a douchebag moron.
If atheists ruled this forum, then all the believers’ premises would be deemed extraordinary claims requiring extraordinary evidence. But instead believers are exempted from this strict Straight Dope “fighting ignorance” dictum–specifically, believers in Christianity, though sometimes some other special beliefs are granted a tiny bit of slack. Not believers in Scientology, however, or other out-there lunatics like KGS, whose feet get held in the hire by SD enforcers, to provide evidence for their claims.
So once again you are 100% incorrect, mswas. It is Christians who are granted an utterly anomalous, wholly contradictory special protection on the SD, while you complain about the atheists’ completely non-existent rule.
WooHoo! Hail to the King, Baby!
or, maybe, it’s because you like to make shit up and then pass it off as a typing mistake?
At the risk of further hijacking this thread, ummm… what? Since when did Christian posters here start going around posting their beliefs as fact? Maybe it’s a GD thing, but in the fora I post in, Christians definitely do not receive any special protection from Dope standards. If anything I get the impression we are afraid to post anything overtly religious lest we are ridiculed and mocked, although I guess with the tone of your post you would consider that a good thing?
That would be fabulous, if Christians asserting their beliefs in GD received anything like the treatment Scientologists routinely (and deservedly) get. Making any sort of assertion about God that doesn’t begin “It’s my own wholly personal, non-supportable belief that…” would and should (but will never) get hooted out of GD in a flash. Even a mild statement like “God is good” ought to get a reaction like “What? Cite? Demonstrate that this ‘God’ you speak could possibly exist, please?” and not be entertained for a second if the SD were anything like reasonable or consistent, but I’ve spent years demonstrating that this doublestandard, favoring Christianity, is incorporated into the SD, due in my estimation to SDers either being Christian themselves or extending a special tolerance to Christians as a result of having grown up in a Christian culture–a tyranny of the majority, in other words. People like KGS, with precisely as rational a belief system as your mildest Episcopalian, are routinely mocked and teased and otherwise persecuted (as I feel is only appropriate) while Christians get a pass to assert whichever part of their irrational and unreasonable beliefs they please. I’ve come to accept this as a price to pay for the benefits of the SD, but that doesn’t mean I have to admire it, and I don’t.
So, if I understand you correctly, you claim that Christianity is as equally irrational as somebody who has experiences with auras, spiritual hitman pals, and various magicks, and that the only reason people are piling onto KSG is because Christianity is socially ingrained into us? Well, obviously as a Xian I disagree with the former claim, but I’m not in the mood to argue or discuss it much further, mostly just seeking a clarification.
I would. I see no reason why belief in God should be treated with any more respect than belief in Thor, or Cthulhu, or gorgons.
Well, I appreciate your reluctance. That is precisely what I claim, and have claimed many times here, to such little useful effect that I’ll be glad not to get into another such discussion on the SD again. BTW, Autolycus, I got a lot of grief from your fellow believers last time around for daring to use the abusive abbreviation “Xians”–be careful you don’t get gang-attacked. Oh wait, you’re a professed Christian–no worries.
And now back to our previously scheduled program? In any case, goodnight thread.
That’s a pretty good summation, yes.
True, because we can be sure that Autolycus isn’t abbreviating for the sake of disrespect. You? Not so much.
Otherwise, you have a case. I remember only last week when I was recounting some tale of how my friend dropped down dead when we were out jogging, and I called on the Lord and brought him back to life, and you dared to question me on this, and all the believers circled the wagons and shouted you down. I’ll try to remember that next time I’m spouting off about all the miracles I can perform - fair’s fair.
The problem, as I noted before in discussion with Finn, is that discussion on matters pertaining to religion is basically not happening on this forum - because there are sufficient posters dedicated to, essentially, mockery and abuse of anyone professing any form of religious faith.
Since most normal people would prefer not to be mocked or abused, the only people likely to start or continue discussions of these issues are those who are either somewhat crazy, or who are really, really dedicated to some religious issue or other.
Otherwise, it simply is not worth it. Any thread relating to religious topics quickly degenerates into the same-old, same-old.
Well, that’s because religion is simply wrong, and makes no sense. It gets mocked by the unbelieving minority, just as the larger group of unbelievers mock the supposed moon landing hoax, “Magick”, Scientology, and psychic powers, and for the same reasons.
And yes; KGS’s professed beliefs aren’t any sillier than Christianity or religion in general, and religion does get mostly a pass here, and a near total pass most other places.
Because religion IS “the same-old, same-old”; it’s the same nonsense that’s been repeated dogmatically for millennia. It’s not like science; nothing new or original comes from it, just the same regurgitated nonsense, that can and is refuted by the same arguments that have been repeated again and again.
Well I remember last week one of you blabbering about a magick sky fairy who got a virgin pregnant and for some reason this kid had to be killed in a gruesome way so all the rest of us, if we were good little boys and girls, could go live in candycane land and drink chocolate fairy milk with the invisible sky father. When I scoffed I did get get ganged up on by a bunch of shrill deluded harpies. (well not really but if I did I would, just like your friend probably didn’t drop dead either…)
This is nonsense, of exactly the sort I’m describing.
Not all “religious” beliefs are the same - Taoism isn’t the same as Scientology, which is not the same as Buddhism, which is not the same as Sufism, which is not the same as Catholicism. Moreover, there are differences within each religion which are as significant as the differences between them. The philosophical Catholicism of (say) Chesterton has something to say even to a total non-Catholic like myself.
Not all beliefs, even ones you do not hold, are equally wrong or bad.
Disagree, but obviously there is no value in debating the point.
See, here is the problem: there is no common ground, no room for any actual argument here. If it is all “nonsense” then there is, really, nothing to say.
My POV is very different.
I do not believe in the literal existence of deities, or in any form of non-natural phenomina; however, that doesn’t prevent me from finding a lot of real value in discussing the philosophy of people who do.
Religion isn’t really about physics any more than mythology is about history: what they are both about, is humans. Religions help explain how most humans interact with other humans and their environment - some better, some worse. Moreover, “religion” and “mythology” (in the form of non-rationally finding meaning in human life and interactions) is more or less ubiquitous - few people, including self-professed atheists, do not have it in some degree. Better to discuss and think about what people believe, than simply dismiss what most of humanity thinks and believes as “nonsense”. One might even find out that people one once dismissed with contempt have something to teach one about life.
They are all the same, in that they are all wrong. Being wrong, there isn’t much to choose between them.
You could come up with some evidence that showed that it WASN’T nonsense - but you can’t, because there isn’t any.
No. Religion is about pretending that mythology is real, and it doesn’t “explain” anything; it makes things up instead.
They already have; they’ve taught me that given the effects religion has on people, it’s best rejected wholesale. Even if it was true, given how destructive it is, I’d recommend it be treated like the Necronomicon in Lovecraft and avoided lest it warp your mind.
Hey wait, you guys scared the crazy guy away!
Guess I should have washed my aura.
I’m still here, standing aside in awe of my creation.
Hmm…is that a little from column A, or column B? 