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Why are the religious so sensitive?
#51
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive?
First of all, the property of "being alive" is very foggy and arbitrary, same problem as with transitional forms in evolution: we talk of "species", so it's either one or the other, not in between. If it IS in between, the species model is revised to allow the new one to be categorised as well (think of it as being a visitor to an alien world and ignorant of colours but trying to categorise all the colours he meets, adding to the list whenever he encounters a new one). So it's not "magical" that non-life eventually GAVE life -- the two states are just defined arbitrarily because we never had to mess with transitions before (in fact, abiogenesis isn't something you'd see often in your daily life).

The definition of being "alive" in a philosophical sense, i.e. as opposed to simply being "animate", is even more foggy and arbitrary. According to some definitions some mentally retarded and many animals aren't really "alive", but does that make them "non-alive" in the practical sense? I think the better labels are sentient and sapient, even though these qualities are even harder to recognise and describe rationally (although neurobiology is making a huge progress lately, despite the religious and cultural opposition).

On the "I can speak German in sleep" bit: "bitten" is an infinitive form of "plea" or "ask for". The German word for "please" (as in "Please don't kill me") is "bitte" -- you've likely bumped into it at one point or another, whether you were paying attention or not. It's certainly not a word that would magically turn a German heathen on his heels, though -- especially after you tried to "speak in tongues", as you said.

ALL of those things you said boil down to "a voice in my head told me". You probably have a mental or neurological condition you should see a doctor or psychiatrist about. The phenomena you describe are no different from what someone with a history of severe drug abuse might experience -- it's a rather odd wiring that's pretty common in very strong believers apparently; so common that the part in the brain that can instantly cause hallucinations was termed the "God spot" or something like that. It's just more active in some people, who then often mis-attribute it to divine intervention and think they are prophets or something and might eventually go on a killing spree when their voice happens to say something inappropriate.
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Messages In This Thread
Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Darwinian - August 25, 2008 at 5:46 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Meatball - August 26, 2008 at 1:40 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Darwinian - August 26, 2008 at 1:48 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Brick-top - August 26, 2008 at 5:09 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Ace Otana - August 26, 2008 at 5:23 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by WOKE UP - August 31, 2008 at 10:21 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Pete - September 1, 2008 at 5:11 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Jason Jarred - September 1, 2008 at 10:15 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Pete - September 1, 2008 at 11:30 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Jason Jarred - September 1, 2008 at 11:50 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Pete - September 1, 2008 at 11:58 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by allan175 - September 2, 2008 at 5:13 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Pete - September 2, 2008 at 7:40 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by allan175 - September 2, 2008 at 9:13 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Jason Jarred - September 7, 2008 at 10:02 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Ace Otana - September 2, 2008 at 11:09 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Meatball - September 7, 2008 at 8:02 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by chatpilot - September 2, 2008 at 10:12 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Eilonnwy - September 2, 2008 at 10:56 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by allan175 - September 2, 2008 at 11:06 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Tiberius - September 2, 2008 at 7:07 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by KRW1612 - September 2, 2008 at 7:41 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by FutureAndAHope - September 8, 2008 at 5:16 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Ace Otana - September 8, 2008 at 6:01 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Eilonnwy - September 8, 2008 at 5:06 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Jason Jarred - September 8, 2008 at 7:11 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Tiberius - September 8, 2008 at 6:50 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Ace Otana - September 8, 2008 at 7:28 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Tiberius - September 8, 2008 at 1:30 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Ace Otana - September 8, 2008 at 4:42 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by FutureAndAHope - September 10, 2008 at 4:51 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Ace Otana - September 10, 2008 at 5:45 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Eilonnwy - September 10, 2008 at 9:19 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by FutureAndAHope - September 11, 2008 at 6:39 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Brick-top - September 11, 2008 at 12:21 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Eilonnwy - September 11, 2008 at 9:50 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Ace Otana - September 11, 2008 at 12:53 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Ace Otana - September 11, 2008 at 1:01 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by allan175 - September 12, 2008 at 4:01 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by allan175 - September 11, 2008 at 7:15 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Edwardo Piet - September 22, 2008 at 7:00 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by starbucks - September 24, 2008 at 12:33 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Edwardo Piet - September 24, 2008 at 12:49 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by starbucks - September 24, 2008 at 3:01 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Jason Jarred - September 24, 2008 at 12:59 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Spashie - September 24, 2008 at 7:48 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Jason Jarred - September 24, 2008 at 11:55 pm
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Spashie - September 25, 2008 at 12:52 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Edwardo Piet - September 26, 2008 at 10:20 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by starbucks - September 26, 2008 at 10:30 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Alan - September 26, 2008 at 10:31 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by starbucks - September 26, 2008 at 10:39 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Alan - September 26, 2008 at 10:51 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by starbucks - September 26, 2008 at 11:08 am
RE: Why are the religious so sensitive? - by Alan - September 26, 2008 at 11:39 am

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