RE: The reason humans believe
October 8, 2015 at 4:04 pm
(This post was last modified: October 8, 2015 at 4:05 pm by TheRocketSurgeon.)
(October 8, 2015 at 3:03 pm)Drich Wrote:(October 8, 2015 at 12:04 pm)drfuzzy Wrote: Summed up in this chart. Every single point applies.If you were truly honest with yourself you could apply Each and every one of these thing to why people don't believe as well.
An excellent point.
That's almost the perfect definition of Skepticism as a way of thinking. We do apply those to ourselves, as a constant error-checking method. To us, it is a compliment to point out an error in thinking, or a mistake of fact, to a fellow atheist.
It's a little shocking to us, then, when we do the same as we do for one another to a fundamentalist who comes here, and they react to our information with hostility or silence, pretending we did not demonstrate what we did.
It's the source of the term "intellectual honesty", being willing to recognize when our intellects can fool us, and make the necessary corrections. We are just as capable of those errors as anyone; the difference is in how we prefer to apply the recognition of such errors in revision of our beliefs the moment it becomes clear that we have swallowed something based upon fallacious reasoning or bias.
Dogma is the precise opposite of that.
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.
