RE: The Insanity Machine (and the Notion of God)
November 18, 2012 at 5:13 am
(This post was last modified: November 18, 2012 at 5:15 am by MultipleTentacles.)
(November 18, 2012 at 3:34 am)Undeceived Wrote: Common pattern on atheist forums:
Atheist: “The church taught (insert universally-condemned practice).”
Theist: “On the contrary, Jesus taught the opposite. And the church bases its beliefs on Jesus’ words.”
Atheist: “You must first prove Jesus exists.”
Can we stay on topic?
Yes, please. And here's what I'm really saying.
This particular phenomenon, which I've dubbed "The Insanity Machine," is to my mind probably a legitimate phenomenon. And a serious problem. The way to find out which religion it is a problem with is, I shall propose, a simple experimental test. First, identify the religions which worship the exact same God. Then, identify the Insanity Machine. Finally, figure out if there is any correlation between the presence of the Insanity Machine and any particular religion.
In fact, as I've stated, there is such a correlation. Jews and Muslims don't have any problem with hell. They really just don't care. For all the hateful things some Muslims may say about America, they do not seem to walk around with signs which say, "Are you an American? You're going to hell," in the same way in which Christians walk around with signs which say, "Are you gay? Muslim? Jewish? You're going to hell." And Jews? Forget about it. I literally have never heard a Jew even mention the word "hell."
And not only do Christians use hell as leverage, they see it as an ethical imperative to do so. They don't feel like they're doing their jobs unless they frighten someone with the idea of hell.
Now we can get into arguments about whether or not I'm making "generalizations" or "blanket statements," but really this line of argumentation is a distraction. EVERY statement about ANY concept is BY NECESSITY a generalization. If we admit to ANY meaning of ANY category, in this case Christianity, we must first find some way to determine if the idea of Christianity is at all a legitimate phenomenon, and then talk about its characteristics, which in this discussion involve The Insanity Machine. I think it's obvious from any point of view that Christianity is a legitimate phenomenon, and that we can in fact draw statistical generalities among Christians, and so let's now try to determine if the Insanity Machine is one of them. I believe it is.
