RE: God: No magic required
January 28, 2014 at 5:23 pm
(This post was last modified: January 28, 2014 at 5:26 pm by lweisenthal.)
Regarding: "pure asinine reasonings" and "Bulls--t"
The longevity advantage associated with religious belief is an extra two years of life, which is equivalent to the population impact of curing all forms of cancer. For some people, there is no impact. For others, there is a large impact. Average it all up, and it's the same impact as curing cancer. As an oncologist, I was impressed. So I did what I did, and I'm happy I did, and I see no compelling reason to go back to how I was. It's all upside and no downside whatsoever.
You want to laugh at me; be my guest. You want to claim that religion is a bad thing, at the level of the average individual, show me the data. You demand physical world proof of the physically unprovable. I'm asking for proof that being a theist is, at the level of the individual, objectively disadvantageous, compared to being an atheist. This is a physical world claim, and should be eminently provable, if true. In contrast, I've provided objective, peer review studies to indicate that, in the U.S.A., where I live, there are objective statistical associations between health/longevity and religiosity, which are perfectly compatible with common sense a priori predictions, relating to mechanisms from stress to suicide and much in between.
So who is laughing at whom?
Reminds me of a poem I read in middle school.
This is the grave of Mike O'Day
Who died maintaining his right of way
His mind was clear
His will was strong
But he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong.
This is admittedly a bit of a taunt, but it's offered simply to make a point. It's not illogical to consider that there may be pragmatic advantages to religiousity (from longevity to mental health to behavior modification). It's not illogical to consider whether the concept of a theistic deity is plausible, based on modern theories of cosmology. It's not illogical to attempt to determine if it's possible for oneself to develop a theistic belief system, motivated chiefly (at first) by the pragmatic considerations.
You may say, for yourself, thanks but no thanks, but it's beyond presumptuous to make the command decision that it's bad for everyone.
- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
The longevity advantage associated with religious belief is an extra two years of life, which is equivalent to the population impact of curing all forms of cancer. For some people, there is no impact. For others, there is a large impact. Average it all up, and it's the same impact as curing cancer. As an oncologist, I was impressed. So I did what I did, and I'm happy I did, and I see no compelling reason to go back to how I was. It's all upside and no downside whatsoever.
You want to laugh at me; be my guest. You want to claim that religion is a bad thing, at the level of the average individual, show me the data. You demand physical world proof of the physically unprovable. I'm asking for proof that being a theist is, at the level of the individual, objectively disadvantageous, compared to being an atheist. This is a physical world claim, and should be eminently provable, if true. In contrast, I've provided objective, peer review studies to indicate that, in the U.S.A., where I live, there are objective statistical associations between health/longevity and religiosity, which are perfectly compatible with common sense a priori predictions, relating to mechanisms from stress to suicide and much in between.
So who is laughing at whom?
Reminds me of a poem I read in middle school.
This is the grave of Mike O'Day
Who died maintaining his right of way
His mind was clear
His will was strong
But he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong.
This is admittedly a bit of a taunt, but it's offered simply to make a point. It's not illogical to consider that there may be pragmatic advantages to religiousity (from longevity to mental health to behavior modification). It's not illogical to consider whether the concept of a theistic deity is plausible, based on modern theories of cosmology. It's not illogical to attempt to determine if it's possible for oneself to develop a theistic belief system, motivated chiefly (at first) by the pragmatic considerations.
You may say, for yourself, thanks but no thanks, but it's beyond presumptuous to make the command decision that it's bad for everyone.
- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
