And I mean the ones who take it literally. They believe it is possible to manipulate the universe to suit them, to make stuff happen, to influence others’ thoughts and so on, by doing goofy rituals and chanting in dead languages and dancing naked around fires and mixing potions and all that other stupid, fucking garbage.
You know, the Wiccans and pagans and believers in voodoo and curses and other morons. What the FUCK is wrong with you fucking idiots? We got a guy with a BA in anthropology (Freyr) who thinks all those ancient peoples he’s been learning about really could do magic! We got a guy who thinks medicine works because he “drew on energies”! (Don’t ask me to explain it, ask him!)
Hey, asshole! Real Magic exists only as the title of a stupid book!
Cast a spell on ME, dumbasses! (Now, watch 'em make excuses as to why they can’t cast a spell on me. It’ll be because the planets aren’t properly aligned or some other horseshit.)
Personally, I don’t see a big difference between discussions in that thread and major beliefs in Christianity or other major religions.
Faith is by definition that which can not be defined by Science. Good Faith is when you can accept something that Science can’t prove. Great Faith is when you accept something that contradicts Science.
I for one am a man of Science, but I don’t see any reason to insult those who have religious beliefs.
Why don’t you go piss on someone else’s belief and faith?
What is pointless is your banal rant which demands others prove something works when you haven’t DISPROVED that it does. Fuck you and the goat you rode in on.
I agree with you, jab1, and salute you for calling out these deluded fools with their hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo. “Magic works if you believe it.” Bah. Utter nonsense.
jab1: You have insulted me to no end. Because of your ignorance I am at work shaking like a leaf with anger.
Beleif is built on faith. Faith in God, faith in Allah, faith in the Goddess, whatever your choice of religion is. Now you may be an atheist. Atheism takes more faith than most any other religion to belive.
I have faith that the power that the Goddess gives me allows me to do things that are not ‘normal’.
If you don’t want to have respect for those of other religions who belive different things what’s next? Going to start bashing Republicans because your a Democrat or vice versa? Perhaps start bashing gays because you are straight?
If you want to argue, then fine, but at least do it with some semblance of intellegence. You don’t have to belive in anything. You can sit there and cuss and scream about all those pagans over there in GD, but you know what? You don’t matter to me which is why I won’t cast a spell on you. You are nothing more than a small speck of dust in the eye, only to be washed out. You are the slight annoyance of a piece of chewed gum on the bottom of my shoe to be picked out with a stick. Go away jab1.
You mean other morons, like maybe the ones who believe Jesus Christ turned water into wine? Or that He walked on water? That sounds like magic to me.
I hardly think that declaring one’s religious beliefs is spreading ignorance.
I see by your sig you don’t believe in religion (at least Christian religion, but your OP pretty much denounces other religions as well), which is your right. But no one pisses on your beliefs for it. No one attacks you for following science and asks you to justify your belief in evolution. And how much of science is proven fact and not just theory? The Big Bang is theory, yet accepted as fact. Evolution is theory, yet taught as fact. (I know some are going to get huffy about that statement, but when you get down to brass tacks, it is a theory.) No one knows for sure how the world got to be the way it is today. Everyone has their own ideas.
And no one has the right to piss on anyone else’s sincere religious beliefs, regardless how ridiculous it seems to you.
I did write out a somewhat long, sneering post that more or less agreed with jab1. After reading it over, I realized that it could be cut down to two ideas:
Religions such as Christianity and Judaism and others promote a way of life. They tell you how to live your life so that you will be rewarded in the end.
Religions such as the one robgruver follows, however, is different than those religions. Why? Because its followers claim that just because they believe, just because they have faith, they can perform superhuman feats. Also, rob states in the GD thread that not only can they do these things, they don’t have to use them. Something about this doesn’t wash with me.
robgruver, I’m sure the faith you follow has other things that are similar to more mainstream religions (codes of ethics and the like) and this is but one facet, but it is a very suspect facet to skeptics.
My own idea about this matter is that what people call “magic” is simply science that they don’t understand. It may be perfectly possible to do some things that are regarded as magic, we simply haven’t found out the scientific reasoning behind it yet.
Yeah, they do. We have the right to make fun of anyone’s anything. For instance, your mother is a cow. It might not be nice, but you always have the right.
Also, evolution is a theory and is taught as a theory. It’s not scientists’ fault that people don’t understand what a theory is.
Scientists call something a THEORY if there’s an amazing amount of evidence to back it up, ie Theory of Gravity, Theory of Evolution. It means, almost certainly true, but we can never be sure.
What normal people call a theory, scientists call a hypothesis.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by robgruver *
Atheism takes more faith than most any other religion to belive.
[QUOTE]
Ya know, I could give a hairy goats scrotum about what other people believe, but you’re just way off the fuckin’ mark here, buddy. One, atheism is not a religion. Two, atheism does not require faith. As for the rest of your argument, well, as I said before: I could care less.
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything on the internet that made me shake with rage. Perhaps in the future you might want to stay out of the Pit. I mean this is the place on the STMB where people says things specifically to piss others off.
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I disagree. It doesn’t take much faith to not believe in something that can’t be proven. I don’t believe in Unicorns or fire breathing dragons does that mean I have more faith then you?
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And some people wear tin-foil hats so alien satellites can’t read their mind. It doesn’t make them any less kooky.
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What makes your beliefs deserving of respect? Granted I’ll tolerate your beliefs because they’re not doing anything to harm me or any other person other then perhaps yourself.
Funny how such a slight speck of dust, which doesn’t matter to you, can cause you to shake with rage. Heh heh heh, kinda funny ain’t it?
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Sure, believing in some supernatural being that you can’t observe or measure is exactly the same as accepting scientific theories. I believe Unicorns are real which is just as valid as me accepting the theory of evolution as being valid.
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Bullshit. Every individual has the right to piss on any idea or belief which they disagree with. That’s what freedom of expression is all about. You’re free not to pay attention of course.
This is utter nonsense. Magic is defined so broadly as to be completely meaningless. robgruver
Sounds like snake oil to me. Freyr
Magic is everywhere! Again, too vague a definition. And if you make claims of the efficacy of magical cures, you’d better be able to back them up with more than “well, I believe it worked”. robgruver
As far as I can tell from this, now robgruver is denying the existence of magic. Freyr
Careful! Don’t jostle the magician! It looks here like magic is nothing but ceremony, like the pomp and circumstance of a catholic high mass. If that’s the case, what’s the point?
It looks to me like you magicians do believe in magic for its own sake, and then wrap yourselves in this “magic as legitimate religion” argument whenever anybody calls you on it. I’ve got no problem with people having religion. It’s the claim that religious belief (or magic) is a viable alternative to medicine and science in general that bothers me.