There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.

Path with a capital P?

 

Yep, religeon is very big on Capitalisation

 

Capitalisation or capitalism?

 

Bit of both as far as I can tell

 

Not that you genuinely don't understand it, but:
For one thing, I can't bear the sloppy thinking that leads to religious faith.
For another, I think humanity would be better off if we didn't go around believing in fairy stories. It would make us less easy to exploit.
But finally, and most importantly, I really can't stand the self-righteous nature of these bloody people! Who the hell do they think they are?

 

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the Path

 

I guess the ad under discussion does not bother me so much because I think I have greater faith in the common person's ability to sort out for themselves what they need. My own personal experience in this life has been that people I have met who have made a great issue about religion don't seem to do a very good job living the precepts that they say that they believe in. The people that I like to be around are the ones whose faith seems to be a natural expression of their day-to-day life. I don't imagine that such people are easily influenced by placards on the side of a passing bus. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

And another thing I can't stand is the love for compromise that people seem to have when dealing with issues that are in fact black and white. A supreme being either exists or doesn't exist. There is and can be no middle ground. This insipid, lilly-livered moderatism seems to have seeped over from politics, where, frankly, it is just as unwelcome.

 

Religion iz ere 2 stay. Deal wiv it al prayz b to Alan!

 

And that's a load of steaming manure too. In other societies an end too, say, ritual sacrifice or the stone handaxe would have been seen as unthinkable. Who are you to say religion will be with us for ever?

 

I think its the type of religion, ie the creator god types and the “thou shalt not's” “saintly than thou” that are the most annoying of any.

But, believe it or not, with most things there are asshats and very nice people. To say all religious people are stupid evil people is a mistake and almost nazi like. I have come across some very nice religious people, much nicer than the 'non' believer and vice versa.

I'll openly admit looking back i was developing very racist views...then it dawned on me that i could probably count the number of decent white English people i knew on one hand. This led me to realise people of all walks are full of idiots. Does this mean i think all white English are idiots? of course not and the same can be applied to any 'label'. We might not agree with spiritual belief, but there are good and bad on both, and no matter what 'belief system' you crush there will always be another to contend with.

It doesn’t have to always be all one way or all the other.

 

i think if people are of the book, its fine, but it would be great of they didnt hold to tight to what the book says.

I wonder why people such as Muslims and Christians hold so tight to what they are told, is it just a total fear of death? the unknown? or is it just a way of life, are they glad to have a clear structure to follow that some how gives them stability in life? or perhaps both?

All i know is it would be cool if they could put the barriers down sometimes and see that we are all human, we all just want to get through life in peace no matter what and you belive in which god you want but if god is there only he can judge in the end, non of us mere humans noi matter what the label can.

 

And why should that belief system of necessity be religious? Or focused around something that does not exist? Besides which, there are no grounds to say that there can never be a society without a belief system. Before Iron was invented, there was no such thing as a society without stone tools.

Yes, I've met some perfectly pleasant people who happen to be religious. There are a few flies in the ointment, however:
1. They are in the minority of religious people.
2. The fact that I find them pleasant does not mean their views are any less misguided. and, most dammingly,
3. Their moderate views provide an acceptable face to a religion that is either partially or for the most part made up of extremists.

There's no shame in admitting that you were developing racist views because you had the intelligence and education to see past them. It's a shame more people don't have your honesty and backbone.

Why the scare quotes around non-believer?

And finally, yes, the creator-god religions are intensely annoying.

I dunno. I have a deep-seated objection to people who are prepared to accept what some book has to say when it's so full of contradiction, racism and in some cases exhortations to holy war.

To my mind, it's more than either of these things: it's a form of behaviour dictated by primate instincts that we don't fully understand.

Fine, I suppose. But I've never accepted that that blood-soaked tyrant has the right or the authority to judge us.

 

im not sure about the scare quotes, i think i got putting them in too much from ckava!

I just think for most people God is still there, just god takes different forms, for most in the west the new God is buying things and attending mega mosques er i mean mega stores on a sunday.

 

Frankly, I think calling shopping a religion is stretching the definition of 'religion' to breaking point. I don't think you can, except facetiously.

 

Perhaps so, im just trying to look at it from different angles.

I just think religion for most people in the west has declined in the strict sense of the word - for example calling your self a practicing Christian and attending church, but the decline in certain rituals only leads to us obtaining others.

But you’re right in the fact that at least the rituals should not be based around some invisible power that has no proof of existence; I take that on board as having some sense to it.

But also, a lot of other ways of living that have developed out of more traditional religious type societies, for example the modern world we live in today, might be a step forward in some areas, like we don’t let "god" be used as an excuse to damage/kill/indoctrinate people, but the new way of life is threatening to destroy and harm us in other ways, for example; capitalism - consumerism and the free market the way it is currently is destroying the planet. That has harmful effects to a all of us, and more sadly, the ones yet to be born.

 

But the choice is not between religion on the one hand and laissez-faire, dog-eat-dog capitalism running amok and destroying the planet on the other, is it?

 

I'm with Timmy Boy here too. I don't see many societies these days including the overtly religious ones offering more enlightened versions of capitalism. Extreme capitalism isn't a product of not being religious... heck, if you believe Max Weber being religious is part of what kicked of the whole capitalism schtick.

 

Im not saying one is better than the other, or that either has no problems or answers. Far from it guys - rather that every way of life will have problems. Some more than others and for different reasons is all i am saying.

 

Yes, but it's a bit unfair to pit religion against capitalism in your arguments when in reality the most extreme capitalists are also the most self-righteous religionists.