Tooth Fairy Bullshit

[robvalue]

The tooth fairy and "God" are both members of the group of things for which there is no credible evidence. As such, it's perfectly reasonable to assume they aren't real, until such time as evidence is produced. I'll point this out all day long, and if that makes you uncomfortable, it's probably because part of you knows I'm right.

If it's so obviously a stupid comparison, so much so that it's easily dismissed by any right thinking person, I don't know why it would bother you at all.

It's nothing to do with respect. Good ideas don't need hiding from scrutiny. I respect theists. I just don't respect their beliefs, because I find them ridiculous.

[vorlon13]

Man, if I had given all my tooth fairy proceeds to Warren Buffet in the 60s, I'd be rolling in it now.

[Autolite]

Well to be fair, we can't say that religious inspiration has had zero  influence on peoples accomplishments or their motivation.  The German Army (Deutsches Heer) wore "Gott Mit Uns" on their belt buckles and those fellas pulled off some really spectacular shit...

[brewer]

My delusion is better than your delusion? Too rich.

OK, good things were done in/with the delusion. So were bad things, very bad things. 

Has the tooth fairy every done a bad thing?

[energizer bunny]

Has the tooth fairy ever done a bad thing?

Have you seen the movie??? Don't mess with the tooth fairy. Be afraid, be very afraid. 

[Faith No More]

Those who compare God to the tooth fairy are douchebags. I’m sorry but that is truly how I feel. Without even an ounce of shame they ridicule some of the best and brightest thinkers who take up a problem serious and came to serious conclusion. Kierkegaard, Hegel, Kant, Buber, Kripke, Plantinga, Newton, Leibnitz, Putman, and Godel are/were theists. That list doesn’t even include theologians, like David Bentley Hart, or physicists, like, Francis Collins or Max Planck. All brilliant.

Maybe you don’t realize this but it is possible to be an atheist without acting like an infantile little snark. It’s astonishing to me how such ass-wipes will disrespect the legacies of truly great men and women like Dr. King, Bonhoeffer, and Catherine Booth (founder of the Salvation Army) by pretending that their religious convictions did nothing to motivate and inspire them to change the world.

How can anyone seriously believe that the motivating force to build the very first hospitals is in any way comparable to believing in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus? Here in Chicago we have Mount Siani, Rush Presbyterian, Illinois Masonic, Loyola, Mercy, Saints Mary and Elizabeth, Saint Anthony...that’s just a start. They came to be because of religious convictions for which you have no respect.

You believe in an ancient book that says I'm a fool and deserve eternal punishment for daring to believe in something different than you, and I'm the douchebag?

And a believer's brilliance has nothing to do with it. Ben Carson is a neurosurgeon, so I guess I should respect the fact that he thinks the pyramids were used to store grain.

Oh, and while we're talking about the motivations that Christian beliefs have provided, let's not forget all the people throughout history that were tortured and murdered in the name of Jesus. At least no one got killed for not believing in the tooth fairy.

"Wah! It's so unfair that you compare my pet magical being to another magical being! You're such a douchebag!" Lol, triggered.

[robvalue]

Go ahead and pull one of your teeth out, and put it under your pillow. See if there is money there in the morning.

Now, this isn't a great test, but it at least has very clear success and failure criteria. If your bloody tooth is still there in the morning, then that is evidence against the existence of the tooth fairy. If there's some money, then that's evidence for. Evidence, not proof, of course. It's just one data point to be considered.

Name a similar test for "God". See, at least the tooth fairy is reasonably well defined. God is just some floaty arse hole that doesn't do anything.

[downbeatplumb]

Those who compare God to the tooth fairy are douchebags. I’m sorry but that is truly how I feel. Without even an ounce of shame they ridicule some of the best and brightest thinkers who take up a problem serious and came to serious conclusion. Kierkegaard, Hegel, Kant, Buber, Kripke, Plantinga, Newton, Leibnitz, Putman, and Godel are/were theists. That list doesn’t even include theologians, like David Bentley Hart, or physicists, like, Francis Collins or Max Planck. All brilliant.

Maybe you don’t realize this but it is possible to be an atheist without acting like an infantile little snark. It’s astonishing to me how such ass-wipes will disrespect the legacies of truly great men and women like Dr. King, Bonhoeffer, and Catherine Booth (founder of the Salvation Army) by pretending that their religious convictions did nothing to motivate and inspire them to change the world.

How can anyone seriously believe that the motivating force to build the very first hospitals is in any way comparable to believing in the tooth fairy or Santa Claus? Here in Chicago we have Mount Siani, Rush Presbyterian, Illinois Masonic, Loyola, Mercy, Saints Mary and Elizabeth, Saint Anthony...that’s just a start. They came to be because of religious convictions for which you have no respect.

To me there is no difference to the tooth fairy and god.
They are both, in my opinion, fictional characters who are believed by people other than me.

I am sure some really nice people have believed in god, but a hell of a lot of shitty ones have too, so I think that they did good works because they were good people.

The first hospitals were dedicated to the greek god asciepius by the way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepius

I have no respect for their religious convictions but do have respect for them and what they achieved.

[Minimalist]

[robvalue]

If you take swipes at God personally, that only goes to show that God is a projection of yourself.

Comparing it to the tooth fairy isn't even a swipe. It's a way of demonstrating to theists what it's like to be a sceptic. It's a way of showing how ludicrous these things look from the outside.