I Hate New-Agers More Than Creationists

[DanBlather]

Highlights from an articleon the sweat lodge deaths:

In the call Wednesday, Ray stressed the importance of eating healthy food, exercising, resting, meditation and surrounding themselves with “like-minded individuals.”

“Remember all that we’ve learned and experienced and knowing by law of the universe that out of every apparent chaos comes a greater state of order, an order that never existed prior to the chaos,” he said, after asking those on the conference call to imagine themselves standing in a prayer circle.

Ray said he used the call as a way to provide closure to those attending his five-day “Spiritual Warrior” retreat outside Sedona…

A woman identified as Barb told the callers that a channeler at the retreat last Friday said the deceased had an out-of-body experience during the sweat lodge ceremony and “were having so much fun that they chose not to come back.”…

Fewer than a dozen callers were identified in the transcript, all of whom praised Ray and described his intentions as “pure” and their experiences as “profound.” They also expressed sympathy for the families of the victims but suggested that the deaths of Brown and Shore were by choice.

“It breaks my heart to know that the families are suffering,” said one caller identified as Brent. “I think that the people that left, I do believe they made their own choices, whether on this level or the next, but I do feel really for the families.”

[Bryan_Ekers]

In the interests of simplicity, why not just hate stupid people?

[Sampiro]

Stupid beliefs are stupid beliefs and all have the power to kill. At least the New Agers have little to no real political power.

[fuzzypickles]

Meh…most New Agers are just annoying, it’s only the most egregious ones that are potentially dangerous. Whereas Creationists are uniformly stupid all around. I’d have to say that Creationists are on average more detestable, though it’s kinda like saying which flavor ice cream I hate the most.

[Thudlow_Boink]

How does belief in Creationism have the power to kill?

[Ludovic]

Well, if we’re already perfect, there’e no need to useless and immoral stem cell research, right?

[Broomstick]

Bah! I hate this “choosen” death bullshit. Some New Age type whipped that out on me when my sister killed herself: “she chose her death”. No, you moron, she suffered 17 years from a diagnosed mental illness that resulted in her death, she didn’t “choose” to have clinical depression.

I am going to quit now before my head explodes. It’s even more an egregious statement in the case of these deaths.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Sampiro

Stupid beliefs are stupid beliefs and all have the power to kill. At least the New Agers have little to no real political power.

I am now visualizing a Bizarro World where justices of the peace in Louisiana refuse to marry people because their chakras don’t align.

[Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension]

What annoys me most about New-Agers is the buffet approach to religion. “I think I’ll take some Tibetan Buddhism, a little piece of Hinduism, just the happy jesus bit of christianity, and round it out with a sweat lodge. Oh! Kabbalah!”

[Jackmannii]

Ray said he used the call as a way to provide closure to those attending his five-day “Spiritual Warrior” retreat outside Sedona…

Well, a couple of the attendees have really had closure.

@Thudlow_Boink

How does belief in Creationism have the power to kill?

If you’re standing next to a stupidity meter when they spout off, the resulting explosion could be fatal. Or your face-palm could be applied too hard, resulting in an epidural hematoma.

Some of these folks are dangerous.

[lissener]

As a serious answer, Creationism does have something like the power to kill. If we continue the trend of refusing to educate our children on scientific fundamentals, the progress of medical science will be adversely affected. You can’t be a biological scientist without understanding evolution. A stretch of course, but I wanted to make the point that refusing to teach children about evolution is more than just a cultural choice: it has ripples.

Mmm, ripples. Want ice cream now.

[Jettboy]

Creationists versus New Agers? It’s like the difference between shit and manure.

[tdn]

@Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension

What annoys me most about New-Agers is the buffet approach to religion. “I think I’ll take some Tibetan Buddhism, a little piece of Hinduism, just the happy jesus bit of christianity, and round it out with a sweat lodge. Oh! Kabbalah!”

I don’t see anything wrong with that per se – as long as you choose the bits and pieces of your frankenphilosophy wisely. Hell, in May I bought a Tibetan prayer bowl and a painting of the Buddha. They fit into my philosophy nicely.

Shoot me if I ever buy healing magnets, though.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension

What annoys me most about New-Agers is the buffet approach to religion. “I think I’ll take some Tibetan Buddhism, a little piece of Hinduism, just the happy jesus bit of christianity, and round it out with a sweat lodge. Oh! Kabbalah!”

People of all religions do this; most of the world’s major religions borrow from one another, and in any case most Christians (for example) ignore the bits of the Bible that conflict with their worldview.

To take your analogy further, they’re sitting down to a prix fixe meal and quietly slipping the stuff they don’t want to eat to the dog.

[Redwing]

@Jettboy

Creationists versus New Agers? It’s like the difference between shit and manure.

Actually it sounds like a great way to decide which is right. Toss em on an island, Survivor style, the winner gets to keep the island.

[Aji_de_Gallina]

@Ludovic

Well, if we’re already perfect, there’e no need to useless and immoral stem cell research, right?

1. Do creationists say we’re perfect? In Christianity (and I’m not a Creationist) we die because we lost perfection.

2. Stem reasearch is not immoral. Killing fetuses is, at least direct your mockery to the right place.

@lissener

As a serious answer, Creationism does have something like the power to kill. If we continue the trend of refusing to educate our children on scientific fundamentals, the progress of medical science will be adversely affected. You can’t be a biological scientist without understanding evolution. A stretch of course, but I wanted to make the point that refusing to teach children about evolution is more than just a cultural choice: it has ripples.

Mmm, ripples. Want ice cream now.

…“refuse to educate …in scientific fundamentals”, aside from evolution, anything else? Not that evolution isn’t important and everything, but you can do 95% of all scitific research without even touching evolution.

[GIGObuster]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

I am now visualizing a Bizarro World where justices of the peace in Louisiana refuse to marry people because their chakras don’t align.

AFAIR we are in Bizarro World.

It was not Louisiana but in Nepal astrologers told the king that the prince should not marry, that if the prince married before he (the prince) was 35 the king would die.

The prince decided to demonstrate how unreliable the wizards were by killing the king and almost all the rest of the royal family.

One could expect this ugly episode to take place in the middle ages, but it took place in 2001.

[PoorYorick]

@Aji_de_Gallina

1. …“refuse to educate …in scientific fundamentals”, aside from evolution, anything else? Not that evolution isn’t important and everything, but you can do 95% of all scitific research without even touching evolution.

Evolution is the framework of biology; without it, nothing really hangs together. Biology without evolution is a little like, I don’t know, chemistry without atomic theory, maybe?

[GIGObuster]

@lissener

As a serious answer, Creationism does have something like the power to kill. If we continue the trend of refusing to educate our children on scientific fundamentals, the progress of medical science will be adversely affected. You can’t be a biological scientist without understanding evolution. A stretch of course, but I wanted to make the point that refusing to teach children about evolution is more than just a cultural choice: it has ripples.

And Historically one should not forget that refusing creationism could send you to a real BBQ pit or to be drawn and quartered.

Creationists on some occasions show that traditional methods on how to deal with heretics are still considered by some of them.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22924256-29277,00.html

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Aji_de_Gallina

Not that evolution isn’t important and everything, but you can do 95% of all scitific research without even touching evolution.

No you can’t. Biology is an awful lot more than 5% of science, and without evolution you don’t have much biology.