SomEone is Being pEdantic.
I do it to annoy those who don’t like it when atheists diminish the importance of of their beliefs. Evidently it’s effective. Now try to bring something constructive to the table.
Spiritual belief doesn’t embrace the supernatural? I’ve never heard it described that way. I thought it always had an element of “higher power” to it.
I agree. The hungry person being fed doesn’t care if the person giving believes in God or not. I could say that statistically speaking the guy is more likely to get $10 from the believer than from the non believer but that’s not my point.
When we ask what moved person A and person B to give ten bucks we’d get two different answers. “Because I just like to help people” is not more or less valid than, “because my religion teaches me to have compassion toward others.”
Human development, our emotional , intellectual state is complex. There is no way for you or I to know what the best path is for someone else to make them a “better” person. Accepting that as fact, we can take responsibility for our own choices and their consequences and expect that of others. Per the OP, that means we don’t have to act like dicks to each other to be tolerant and within reason , let people find their own way. Religion for some, no religion for others.
I’d like to see that statistic.
A nice theory but rather pointless supposition. We have no way of knowing and it ain’t likely to happen. The fact is you have no way of knowing what is or isn’t a necessary component for other people. It’s because that is a fact that I stress the acceptance of religion and no religion as a valid path to follow. We can judge {as best we can}individuals and groups based on their actions. If they are feeding the homeless and needy great. If they are opposing human rights based on their religious beliefs we’ll address that as well.
btw; I believe people are a mix of good and bad but in general, something moves us forward toward human growth both in seeking scientific knowledge but in our relationship with our fellow man. People will choose to express that in different ways and that’s just the way we are.
I think we’ve already done that on the boards but here
I’m saying that believing in a higher power doesn’t have to be the same thing as believing in the Judeo Christian Muslim God as a separate being, creator and ruler of the universe.
Whatever the unsolved mysteries are it’s okay if people give them a spiritual or religious tone while we’re still in the process of discovery if that’s what works for them.
You just admitted to trolling. Nice job.
Interesting you put it that way. For many believers the spiritual journey is exactly that, “the impulse to look beyond”
Though some religions may claim to have all the answers a lot of them don’t. They simply claim the right to seek and worship their concept of god in their own way.
Oooh, what you going to do? Report to a Mod?
I’ll probably hear the collective laughter down here.
What part of capitalization do you actually consider a comment? (And you might want to reconsider your haste to post this sort of thing given the rather large number of comments that you post that appear to have no purpose except to rile up other posters.)
Further, consider the paragraph just below the one you posted:
Just as the poor inner-city youngster on the receiving end of a $1000 cash gift from a gang leader doesn’t care whether his benefactor believes in committing homicide or not.
“Violent inner-city gangs do good things along with evil things! Anyone who wants to eliminate all street gangs is an arrogant, short-sighted, Der Trihs-like poopy-head!”
You can see where this could go…
Ah, the expected response. Are you or any of the mods going to do anything about her flagrant violation of the rules? She just said she does it to annoy people. That’s being a jerk. Unless, somehow, it’s OK if you agree with the poster’s politics in general. What other reason could there be?
The mods can put her on “the naughty step” with me. I’ll look after her.
What’s that I hear?
IMO it’s important that we , believers and non believers alike, learn how to improve our dialog and respect each others right to choose our own way. I can understand some resentment and hostility toward religion, but I don’t think it helps move us forward. Standing up to religion when it gets out of line is another matter. I agree with you and am willing to let people’s faith or lack of it be a private matter but our lives touch and there will be confrontations. I refuse to let religious beliefs be an excuse for shoddy, ignorant behavior. The same goes for the imagined intellectual superiority of some non believers. If you claim the right to worship as you choose , or not to worship at all, then please extend that right to others. A good healthy discussion can be a positive thing, but imagined superiority, or outright hostility, doesn’t seem to accomplish much.
I can…I can’t see that it’s relevant to the discussion at hand though.
Perhaps the atheist giving ten bucks is cheating on his wife. perhaps the believer is secretly paying a male prostitute for gay sex. Perhaps perhaps…so what?
Did you say the say the same thing to Guin?
Why not?
Waaah? Kalhoun not capitalizing the names of deities is somehow on par with Two and a Half Inches of Fun? Um, okay.
Damn.