(October 8, 2015 at 2:41 pm)drfuzzy Wrote:(October 8, 2015 at 2:25 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Meh, basically with theists it comes down to a fear of thinking.
True, true . . . I was raised Pentecostal. A lot of them believe that any doubt will send them to hell. So when it comes to their religion, they are actually incapable of thinking.
It's why I compare fundamentalism to a memetic virus, a program (another example might be the communications protocol program called English Syntax, Grammar, and Vocabulary version 3.1) input into the brain that "installs" on the brain's operating system and as soon as it unpacks, it immediately destroys the skeptical Immune System antivirus-program that it slipped past (usually because that immune system was weak due to youthfulness or emotional trauma), and switches off the thinking portions that might evict that virus from the system by convincing that person there will be horrible consequences if it does so. It's a highly-efficient virus, which I quite literally equate with the function of HIV, attacking the very immune system that would otherwise fight it off, and taking up permanent residence in the command center as it wears down that immune system to nothingness, while using the command center to activate other systems which will try to propagate the virus to other cells, releasing clouds of viral particles into the area around itself in the hopes that one of them will find and infect another cell.
Also called "proselytizing".
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
