(June 8, 2014 at 12:34 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: Why are they all so fucking illogical and idiotic? Moreover, why are so many people dumb enough to be "persuaded" by them?
I think most of us are all prone to hyperbole when it comes to debating the existence/non-existence of deities, and this is understandable as it is often representative of the many ideas, thoughts, opinions, etc. we set-out our stalls to.
We have some interesting theory but no one can really say they have the definitive reason for the evolution of the notion of god or gods. On thing I am fairly certain of is that is it not as arbitrary as many of us would like to think. Bobby Henderson's satirical Flying Spaghetti Monster was a wonderful device in it's proper context (as a device used to illustrate his point to the Kansas State Board of Education in the matter of teaching intelligent design in schools) but it does seem to have been adopted as a mascot for those who think the creation of gods is purely arbitrary, which is to massively oversimplify the issue.
Whether religious people like their gods human, eight-armed, elephant or jackal headed, or full non-human animals, one fact is fairly certain, all of them have lasted thousands of years - which for any human ideology is really quite extraordinary. So, it is reasonable to assume something is afoot, quite what we don't yet fully understand but I think it is incumbent upon those of us in a position to be truly disinterested to enquire.
What is for certain is that it is almost certainly not 'illogical' or idiotic', misinformed and ignorant it may be but we cannot blame our ancestors for not knowing about certain things any more that you would want your descendants thinking you were a total moron for the things you believe that they may eventually prove to be otherwise.
I am of the opinion we need to stop ancestor bashing (as the originators of these entities) and make better informed enquiries.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
