Teaching everyone how to think...

[bennyboy]

The problem with quotes like this is that they can be used by both theists and atheists to state that the other is lacking.

Yes. But what separates the delusional from those that misconstrue reality, is a willingness to change ones position in the light of new information. Those that are convinced that God answers all of their questions turn a blind eye to more explanatory data. The quest for knowledge is never ending and faith is an artificial sign saying "end of the road". The moment we think we've found the end is the moment our internal alarm should sound off, alerting us that we've fallen victim to intellectual dishonesty. People of faith are not open to the criticism of their ideas because faith is a pacifier for ignorance. It's the end of the road for intellectual discovery. People that attempt to spin what I've said in favor of their flawed epistemology are incapable of grasping the bulk of the text that Plato surrounded those words with. Let them misinterpret the meaning of those words, but don't let their misunderstanding prevent you from teaching the right way to everyone else!


(I sound like a preacher) #IRONY

I don't think it's really true that all religious people, and only religious people, are willfully ignorant and refuse to adapt their ideas to new evidence. When viewed as a doctrinal body, science, philosophy, and religion have ALL evolved over the years: but that doesn't mean the ideas of any particular individual or population of individuals has evolved.

Many scientists have fought to their dying day to prove that new ideas (even if coming from new observations) are false. On the other hand, many religious people, even Christians, have evolved their ideas. There are even observant Christians who see much of the Bible as metaphor and mythology, and fully embrace science of all kinds.

In general, I'd say there's religion, and then there's fucktardism. In America, those two have an almost perfect correlation, so you see them as the same. However, in many countries, people are much more open to actually thinking about religion instead of blind "faith."