RE: No reason justifies disbelief.
March 30, 2019 at 6:57 pm
(This post was last modified: March 30, 2019 at 6:58 pm by fredd bear.)
(March 30, 2019 at 1:37 am)Astreja Wrote:(March 27, 2019 at 7:14 pm)Catharsis Wrote: It's implausible man created the god that created man.
On the other hand, it's eminently reasonable to believe that man created gods that, being imaginary, are incapable of creating anything at all.
I have never seen any evidence sufficient to convince me that any god was real, and hold the position that they are all figments of the human imagination until otherwise demonstrated. Arguably they have value for some people in that the idea of a specific god can be inspiring, but IMO gods have only the power that the human imagination bestows upon them.
There's two scenes in the 1960 version of Spartacus with Sepronius Gracchus and a young Julius Caesar (this 70 bce, Third Servile War)
---Caesar says " with such a sum I could bribe Jupiter himself"
Gracchus replies, chuckling " For a much lesser sum I have"
Gracchus has just made an irreverent remark about the gods. Caesar is shocked.
Gracchus " Now don't you be so stiff necked. Privately I believe in none of the gods, neither do you. Publicly I believe in them all"
I mention the above scenes because I think they probably reflect the attitude of many of the Roman upper classes at that time..
Not sure who wrote this , possibly Epicurus (?) Something like "To the ordinary people, the gods are true. To he wise man, nonsense. To the ruler, useful"
Is it still true that it is difficult for an openly atheist or gay person to be elected to say a State government position?
I ask because in Oz, traditionally, members of the Labor party haven been atheist. Currently, we also have a couple of openly gay members of parliament. One, Penny Wong, is a Minister (like a US secretary). She has a gay marriage and they have a child.
I wonder how long it will be before gays are welcome in all Christian churches and in Islam?