tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199853211454757595.post6192458664137962717..comments2023-10-19T07:26:37.046-07:00Comments on Thinking Through: The New Atheism© Peter Bollandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09793775395811878556noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199853211454757595.post-45304597309635936092012-01-06T08:42:55.254-08:002012-01-06T08:42:55.254-08:00I don't think that focussing on Dawkins' i...I don't think that focussing on Dawkins' ilk as atheists is any more useful than using Santorum's as Christians. I submit there is a huge difference between Capital-A Atheism, and simply living an atheist life.<br /><br />Becoming atheist is just as much of a internal journey of search and self-discovery as that of any spiritual one. To shine the piercing light of reason into every dark corner of one's psyche, using truth to strip one of all illusion; that's what it is to live without god: To be disillusioned. Try to think of is as yet another face of Enlightenment. To travel by one's own moral compass, rooted in reason, devoid of superstition, can be liberating.<br /><br /> I'm convinced that small-A atheists don't require a god to know what's right or wrong any more than they need "priests" like Dawkins to tell them what to think. On the question of morality: Is a flexible worldview based on evidence and reason any more likely to incline someone to good or evil than a religious approach based on a holy book from a divine authority? I think not, and probably even less so. People use the tools they know. The Golden Rule is just as much an intellectual precept as a spiritual one.<br /><br />I remember reading somewhere that the King James Bible had a vocabulary of only 8000 words. The average educated English speaker knows about 20,000 words and uses about 2,000 words in a week. I don't know if one's use of language ever delineates one's reality, but it certainly describes it.<br /><br />An atheist is still filled with awe in the face of nature and the seeming limitlessness of the Universe. A walk in the deep woods is still just as much of a wonder. Believing in Woden, Pan or Yahweh wouldn't make it any more enjoyable, although actually knowing about them might. Knowledge. That may well be just the thing.Motorodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01322117787943047449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199853211454757595.post-10825074409629737322012-01-04T12:17:39.926-08:002012-01-04T12:17:39.926-08:00Professor Bolland,
Thank you for opening up a muc...Professor Bolland,<br /><br />Thank you for opening up a much deeper discussion rather than the argumentative debate we often hear. I have shared this we many of my friends on both sides of the equation and it has brought us closer together rather than farther apart. How refreshing.<br /><br />Thank you.Kalani Gattishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11614693138964735020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199853211454757595.post-83757220098690052122011-12-31T10:14:05.577-08:002011-12-31T10:14:05.577-08:00"It's literal NONSENSE from a period in o..."It's literal NONSENSE from a period in our human existence when we had no answers and had to figure things out for ourselves. "<br /><br />God or no God, we still have to figure things out for ourselves. If there is a God, then he/she/it might appreciate us working on that. There are things that will probably always be beyond our knowing, but the effort and intention to try and make sense of our existence are important. Exploring one's spirituality is one way to do that.Andy Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11616530592229594391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199853211454757595.post-74212595064797473612011-12-31T09:56:33.579-08:002011-12-31T09:56:33.579-08:00Jp, thanks for your comments. In my piece I worke...Jp, thanks for your comments. In my piece I worked hard to separate the God idea from the vagaries of man-made religion, a distinction you seem uninterested in making. Like Bishop Shelby Spong, Bart Ehrman and many others, you correctly point out the problems in a literal belief in the Bible or any ancient text and its teachings. But a thoughtful discussion about existence of a source reality beyond sensory data is completely distinct from these reasonable and widely accepted criticisms of mainstream religion.© Peter Bollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09793775395811878556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199853211454757595.post-72845860812937209322011-12-30T13:31:06.246-08:002011-12-30T13:31:06.246-08:00As an infant, I'm born without any religion an...As an infant, I'm born without any religion and as I grow up, I try to figure out why things happen and why sometimes it seems like that happen to me. I start using logic to figure this out and when I can't figure out and answer on my own, I ask others why a particular thing happened. Usually, the result is that "GOD" did it.<br /><br />Without that input we might just scratch our collective heads and keep working on the problem until we understand it. However, when "GOD" is introduced into the thought process, we stop that quest and just blame anything we don't understand on "GOD." <br /><br />When we learn math, an equation has parts that create a sum so that the equation balances. Without the proper numbers in that equation, thinks don't make sense and we keep working on the numbers until we get them right. If I were to introduce a number into the equation and just say well, "GOD" doesn't want us to know this because he's mysterious and all knowing and our puny little minds can't possibly balance this formula, we give up looking for the proper numbers and shrug our shoulders at the real answer.<br /><br />I can only imagine taking a test in school where instead of creating a working equation, I put as a variable, "GOD." I'm pretty sure that that instructor would mark that item as a wrong answer when graded, however that same teacher might believe in "GOD" and accept that "GOD" is the answer to all questions that s/he can't figure out in other relevant topics.<br /><br />"GOD" is a cop-out. ..A "throwing up of hands".. a "give up" when you just don't know. It provides nothing to society but a way to cop-out of real critical thought.<br /><br />"GOD" therefore is dangerous. It wounds the human species and retards the human brain. And, if the "GOD" that I was raised to believe in, did not supply the everyday miracle that fills the void of what we don't know, it must be wrong because it's not YOUR "GOD."<br /><br />One last thing to THINK about. What if you were born in another country, say Africa or the Middle East instead of North America. Which "GOD" would you believe in? That of the Jews, or Mohammed or would you be a Christian? <br /><br />Shouldn't "GOD" be the same one no matter where you live? Shouldn't all of the bible be the same since day one, not re-written several times. I mean this IS the word of "GOD" no doubt. <br /><br />Why is the story of "Jesus" copied from engraved tablets about Horus dating back 2,000 years B.C.?<br /><br />Why did the accounts in there get written 50-100 years after the death of Jesus? Why was it re-written in 331 AD if it was all correct in the first place. Why were some stories left out and others included? Why was Nazareth not established until about 30 years AFTER Jesus of Nazerath's death?<br /><br />When you do the "math", none of this adds up. It's literal NONSENSE from a period in our human existence when we had no answers and had to figure things out for ourselves. We had no idea where the Sun went at night. Why babies were born... It was a period of no reasoning whatsoever other than fighting each other for land and trying not to get killed or eaten.<br /><br />I find it very odd that the same people who use reason for everything else in their lives can shut off the logic in their brain for any reason. <br /><br />It's time for the world to grow up.Jphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08444754125115120629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6199853211454757595.post-35915946912491168782011-12-30T09:28:19.546-08:002011-12-30T09:28:19.546-08:00One day I realized that G~d is a lot like love- wi...One day I realized that G~d is a lot like love- with a wealth of meanings, as numerable as the souls in communion with its essence. They (love or G~d) can only be worthy within an authentic self realization, or discovery.Laura Vigneauhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14863472048982619018noreply@blogger.com